XPost: alt.politics.radical-left, alt.drugs.heroin, alt.journalism.criticism   
   XPost: alt.arguments   
   From: black.lies.matter@abc.com   
      
   The city of Hamtramck, an enclave of Detroit, made history this   
   week when it became what is likely the first city in America to   
   elect a Muslim-majority city council.   
      
   Historically Polish, the city of about 22,000 voted three Muslim   
   Council candidates onto the six-member panel, one of whom was an   
   incumbent Muslim council member not up for reelection this year.   
   This means that the freshly formed council now has a two-thirds   
   Muslim majority. The mayor, Karen Majewski, is Polish.   
      
   According to Bill Meyer, a Hamtramck community leader who isn’t   
   Muslim, the incumbent Muslim councilmen have accomplished a lot   
   for the city.   
      
   "[They’ve] helped bring stability, security and sobriety while   
   lessening the amount of drugs and crime in the city,” he told   
   the Detroit Free Press.   
      
   The election was also a landslide, he added. "The election was   
   far from close, with the three Muslim winners each gaining over   
   1,000 votes, while the other three candidates garnered less than   
   700 votes each."   
      
   Many believe it’s the first time an American city has elected a   
   Muslim majority city council, though the city itself has been   
   under a similar spotlight before. In 2004, Hamtramck garnered   
   heavy attention when the city council allowed a mosque to   
   broadcast its call to prayer from loudspeakers. Opponents   
   claimed it was an intrusion of Islam into their lives.   
      
   At that point, only one city council member was Muslim.   
      
   But Hamtramck’s Muslim population has been steadily growing,   
   thanks to heightened immigration. Today it is estimated that   
   half of Hamtramck is Muslim. According to University of Michigan-   
   Dearborn professor Sally Howell, Hamtramck might have become the   
   first city to have a Muslim majority in 2013.   
      
   “The growth is taking place in these Muslim communities, and   
   they are transforming the city scape,” Howell told Washington   
   Post. “It’s become much more visible in the last 15 years.”   
      
   In the early 20th century, Polish immigrants flocked to   
   Hamtramck because of a Dodge Brothers plant built in 1914. By   
   the 1970s, Polish-Catholics made up 90 percent of the city. But   
   Asian and Arab immigrants began to settle there as the Poles   
   moved to the suburbs. Most of them come from Bangladesh and   
   Yemen.   
      
   The latest US Census surveys found that Hamtramck is now 24   
   percent Arab, mostly Yemeni, 19 percent African American, 15   
   percent Bangladeshi, 12 percent Polish, and 6 percent   
   Yugoslavian. Out of the four new Muslim council members, three   
   are Bangladeshi and one is Yemeni.   
      
   Getting to a Muslim majority wasn’t easy. In the past, Muslim   
   candidates have been harassed, accused of terrorism, and some   
   Bangladeshi voters were asked to show proof of citizenship by   
   poll workers.   
      
   One of the winners Tuesday is Saad Almasmari, a 28-year-old   
   student who received the highest percentage of votes – 22   
   percent. He moved to the US in 2009 and two years later, he   
   became a US citizen.   
      
   At the end of the day for Hamtramck, he said, it’s not about   
   religious unity.   
      
   “Although we are Muslims, it doesn’t have anything to do with   
   serving the community,” Almasmari said. “It’s not about   
   religion. It’s not about Muslim unity. We are planning to work   
   for everyone.”   
      
   http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/1108/Michigan-city-   
   elects-for-the-first-time-a-Muslim-majority-city-council   
          
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)