Always an immigrant destination, Hamtramck is the first U.S. city with an all-Muslim council and mayor
Is the pride flag political? Hamtramck, known for its immigrants and artists, won't fly the pride flag on city property anymore, passing a flag "neutrality" code.
“It's city council’s attempt to keep the city’s flag poles neutral,” City Manager Max Garbarino told The Detroit News. “Last year, there was a pride flag up there, and there was a dust-up in the community in regard to that. There was a lot of the community that was for it. There was a lot of the community that was against it.”
The Hamtramck City Council marked Flag Day by unanimously passing its “ “flag neutrality” resolution banning the “political” flags on city land.
The resolution argues only five approved flags can now be flown on city property (including sidewalks):
- The U.S. flag.
- The state of Michination’s.
- The city flag.
- The POW flag.
- The nation’s flag, which includes the flags of multiple countries. Hamtramck has long been dominated by immigrants (71 percent of residents speak a language other than English in their homes).
Hamtramck’s last Polish mayor flew the pride flag — and 68 percent of voters rejected her after 18 years in office
When former Mayor Karen Majewski cast a tie-breaking vote to fly the pride flag at city hall, the Muslim majority population balked.
The pride flag, flown throughout Pride Month, is a rallying call for LGBTQ and inclusivity. Pride, defined as a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from a group or your achievements, is considered sinful by practicing Muslims and Christians.
On Election Day, 68 percent of voters rejected Majewski, the Ph.D. Polish American scholar and author, after 18 years of consistent wins. She was replaced by a young immigrant challenger who once worked in a factory, Hamtramck’s first Muslim mayor.
“I will do my best to represent and serve all corners of our community: No matter your faith, your background, who you love, or your political views,” the new mayor, Amer Ghalib, declared.
When approving the new flag code this week, h“ stressed, “We serve everybody equally with no discrimination but without favoritism. Those people who accused me of hating them, half of my boards and commissions are either LGBTQ or supporters of LGBTQ, I never fired anybody who belongs to the LGBTQ.”
But a packed meeting of LGBTQ supporters saw the resolution as an attack on their community. Darren Shelton, executive Hamtramck’s Hamtramck’s Planet Ant Theat“e, argued, “The LGBTQ community is the lifeblood of our orgadon’tion. I don’t think sexuality is a poli”ical issue.”
Ghalib led a sweep making the mayor and entire City Council all Muslim, an apparent first for a U.S. city. Most pointed to her decisive vote to fly the rainbow pride flag (and her support of legalized marijuana) as the mainMajewski’sr MajewHamtramck’s
Hamtramck’s small urban ethnic scene is unique
Hamtramck is a small city (surrounded by Detroit on every side) where people walk to the main street of Joseph Campau Avenue (known for its 200 bIt’sclubs). It’s still a hub for Polish events with its Polish restaurants and institutions, including a cathedral-like Catholic Church, St. Florian (21 feet taller than the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris).
But Hamtramck (and the greater Detroit area) is also increasingly known for its growing new wave of Muslim immigrants. In addition, Michigan is now known nationally for being a significant destination for Muslim immigrants.
Nearby Dearborn, with 109,000 residents, is the biggest majority Muslim city in America, while Hamtramck has grown at a faster rate, with its population soaring 27 percent from 2010 to 2020Hamtramck’s
Hamtramck’s population has been on a rollercoaster ride for decades: leaping from 3,559 residents in 1910 to 48,615 in 1920, peaking at 56,268 in 1930, and dropping to 18,372 in 1990.
In the 1990s, Hamtramck began its comeback, v“ted one of “the 15 hippest neighborhoods in the United States and Canada. Hamtramck is a destination for punk and alternative music. But its diversity is extensive: its public schools accommodate 26 languages). The city is known for its laid-back, hipster, blue-collar neighborhoods and mosques.
Ghalib stressed t“at Muslims “have our own values”and beliefs“ and said, “Respect g”es two ways” in a YouTube debate. Majewski said she supported flying the Pride LGBTQ flag as a human rights issue, knowing it would cost her political support.
Majewski stressed Hamtramck’s “weak mayor” form of government means mayors always serve as tie-breakers whenever the city is divided.
For more than a century, Hamtramck, a two-square-mile city surrounded by Detroit, has been a city of immigrants. But, for the entire 20th century, Hamtramck’s immigrants were mainly Polish.
But Poles, still one of Michigan’s largest ethnic groups, began moving to the suburbs and up the economic ladder as Hamtramck’s old Dodge Main and Chevy Gear plants scaled back and shut down. As a result, most of today’s immigrants filling Hamtramck’s now 100-year-old houses are Muslim, mainly from very different parts of the world, including Yemen and Bangladesh.
While the city is 55 percent white and 26 percent Asian (mainly from Bangladesh), many whites and Asians are Muslim, with Polish Americans (once a majority) now making up about 8 percent of the population. Black residents are now just 10 percent of the people, down from 19 percent in 2010.
So newcomer Amer Ghalib pounded her on the flag issue, saying a mayor must vote the way most city residents would vote.
“People think because of my background and my religious beliefs that I will be anti-LGBT or something, but we are in America,” Ghalib told the Detroit Free Press. “The same constitution that allowed me to practice my religion here, to pray the way I want, it gives others the same freedom to practice their beliefs and express their values the way they want.”
Flags go from symbols of unity to being closely related to causes
Just 20 years ago, in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a large number of Americans (including businesses and political leaders) began flying U.S. flags to show their support for their nation.
Other flags arose after other crises, with many businesses, local governments, and nonprofits quickly jumping on the bandwagon and showing support. Still, a recent YouGov poll shows the various flags connected to one party or the other.
For example, the YouGov poll found 15 percent of Democrats (but just 2 percent of Republicans) considered it “obnoxious” to fly the American flag, with 11 percent of Democrats (but just 2 percent of Republicans) saying it could be “racist” to fly the American flag.
However, most of both parties (77 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of Democrats) said it was patriotic to fly the American flag.
The partisan divide was even more intense with other flags:
- For example, more than two-thirds of Democrats (69 percent) and Republicans (70 percent) said they associated the Black Lives Matter flag with Democrats.
- A majority (53 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Republicans) said they associated the LGBTQ flag with Democrats.
- Most Republicans (51 percent) and a plurality of Democrats (38 percent) said they associated the Thin Blue Line flag with Republicans.
- A majority of Republicans (51 percent) and a plurality of Democrats (47 percent) said they associated the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag with Republicans.
- What is the most significant division of any flag? A full 68 percent of Democrats (but just 32 percent of Republicans) said they associated the Southern Confederate flag with Republicans.
- An even greater split? Sixty-six percent of Republicans but just 13 percent of Democrats said they associated the American flag mostly with Republicans.