Public urged to encourage elected officials to keep doors open to Syrian and Iraqi refugees

DEARBORN, Mich.—Community leaders, individuals and elected officials came together today at the ACCESS headquarters—the largest Arab American nonprofit in the U.S.—to oppose the anti-refugee rhetoric and legislation that is causing Michigan and local communities to deny humanitarian efforts to refugees.  

Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner speaks at a media conference Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 at ACCESS headquarters—the largest Arab American nonprofit in the U.S.—to oppose the anti-refugee rhetoric and legislation that is causing Michigan and local communities to deny humanitarian efforts to refugees. Behind him (left to right) are: Fayrouz Saad, Director of Immigrant Affairs for the City of Detroit; State Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit); ACCESS Executive Director Hassan Jaber; Cindy Estrada, UAW Vice President; and Donnell R. White, Executive Director of the Detroit Branch NAACP. See more photos here.

Public called on to contact local, state and national elected leaders to keep doors open to refugees

DEARBORN, Mich.—The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a program of ACCESS, and its Campaign to TAKE ON HATE invite you to a media conference regarding HR 4038, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would effectively reject humanitarian efforts and close the door to Syrian and Iraqi refugees. 

The House of Representatives passed HR 4038, a bill that would effectively reject humanitarian efforts and close the doors to Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Our country is repeating the same mistakes of the past when we closed the doors to Jews fleeing the Nazi regime and punished Japanese Americans for actions that they were not responsible for.

We need true leadership at this time of crisis where we join the international community against the common enemy terrorizing our nations. By closing our doors, we are not only victimizing families in need, but we lose credibility around the world with this hateful and divisive piece of legislation. This bill only divides and increases fear. 

The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, led by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a program of ACCESS, urges you to please contact your U.S. Senator through our form and urge them to stop this irresponsible bill. Ask your Senator to uphold our American values by welcoming refugees and not discriminating against certain ethnicities or religions.

Join ACCESS and the Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, led by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), in Dearborn on Monday, Nov. 30 for a chance to learn about and discuss community safety, civil rights and liberties, anti-refugee/immigrant bias and more with experts and community leaders. 

FROM THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE BLOG:

Fol­low­ing the ter­ror­ist events in Paris, hos­til­ity and attacks against the Mus­lim com­mu­nity around the coun­try have esca­lated on the ground, online and in the pub­lic discourse. 

Such anti-Muslim inci­dents and sen­ti­ment not only cre­ate an atmos­phere of fear, but also feed into claims made by ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tions such as ISIS of America’s inher­ent ani­mos­ity towards Islam and Mus­lims. They use this nar­ra­tive as a tac­tic to gain more support.

Below are reported threats, attacks and other inci­dents directed at the Amer­i­can Mus­lim com­mu­nity in the week fol­low­ing the Paris attacks:

Novem­ber 13: Threat­en­ing calls to a Mosque in St. Peters­burg, Florida
A man was arrested after he left sev­eral threat­en­ing voice­mails for the Islamic Cen­ter of Pinel­las County in Pinel­las Park. He report­edly cited the Paris attacks and warned that he was going to go to “fire­bomb you and shoot who­ever is there.”

Novem­ber 14: Michi­gan woman tweets threats against Mus­lims in Dear­born, Michi­gan
A woman from Fort Gra­tiot was inves­ti­gated by police after she posted a threat on Twit­ter that read: “Dear­born, MI, has the high­est Mus­lim pop­u­la­tion in the United States. Let’s (exple­tive) that place up and send a mes­sage to ISIS.”

The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, led by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), calls on you to join us in elevating the voices of the refugee community. We urge you to contact your local, state and national elected leaders. 

TELL YOUR SENATOR: Stand Up for Refugees and Reject Bill 4038

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TELL YOUR GOVERNOR: Stand Up for Refugees!

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Depending on your state, you can contact your governor about one of three things: thank them for their commitment to welcoming all refugees, demand that they reconsider their dangerous and disappointing refusal to accept Syrian refugees, or urge them to publicly declare their support of all refugees if they’ve remained silent.

Here is how you can take action: 

Across the nation, our communities will be holding local elections. We encourage all citizens to exercise their right to vote. However, we strongly oppose and condemn negative campaigning based on tactics that are anti-immigrant, refugee, Arab and Muslim, and otherwise racist rhetoric that spreads hate. This year, numerous incidents from California to the Midwest to Maine have been documented in the media.  We ask our supporters during our week of #TakeOnHateWithAction to speak out against those who use fear-mongering tactics and demand that they stick with what matters: issues that impact our quality of life.

The Campaign to #TAKEONHATE pledges to take action against hate and foster love and understanding with Arab and Muslim American communities. Join us for our online week of action from Oct. ​19 to 23 by sharing on social media examples of how you #TakeOnHateWithAction. Print our pledge card (see below) to use in your social media photos.

When faced with negativity, it is up to us to focus on the positive. We the undersigned organizations stand together to support the following community based projects that promote service and justice in the name of unity. We stand together against hate.  We encourage you this weekend to stand with us in serving the community, supporting our youth's dreams of being leaders, discussing how to combat hate-filled movements and helping to make our neighborhoods beautiful.

We hope you and your family and friends in Michigan will join us this weekend at one or more of the empowering and impactful events happening right here in metro Detroit (listed below). Join us!

ACCESS

Campaign to TAKE ON HATE

Michigan Muslim Community Council

Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion

Michigan United

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan

Interfaith Center for Racial Justice (ICRJ)

American Civil Liberties Union-Michigan

American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Michigan

Welcoming Michigan - Michigan Immigrant Rights Center

Arab-American Civil Rights League 

Look who’s talking about TAKE ON HATE! Daily Show Correspondent Hasan Minhaj expresses his support for the Campaign to TAKE ON HATE in a message filmed on The Daily Show set, calling on people to stand against all forms of bigotry and discrimination.