It has been nearly two weeks since the Boston Marathon bombings, yet no amount of time that will pass can alleviate the remaining shock of having, once again, become targets in our own backyards.  This time, the attack took place during one of our country’s most cherished annual traditions.  The first thoughts that Muslim and Arab Americans had were those of horror, fear and grief for the loss of innocent life. The second thought:  “Please don’t let the perpetrators be Muslim.”

The June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon that led to the occupation of its capital Beirut again exposed a glaring lack of Arab opinion in America's mainstream media, and it became a breaking point later that year for three individuals from different worlds who wanted to make a change. The biased reporting on Arab issues that continued to dominate world affairs and accompanying twisted, distorted portrayals of Arabs had become too damaging and too much to bear, and they knew something needed to be done.

There's no such thing as a perfect Election Night, but for the Arab American community in Dearborn, this past Tuesday's results, and the historic turnout in our community that made them possible, constituted something pretty close. 

Even though former Dearborn School Board member Mary Petlichkoff had the endorsement of Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly, five Dearborn City Council Members, the current State Rep. and a former State Rep, she failed to win a seat on the School Board, and was defeated by a wide margin.

There's a true disaster going on in this country today. It's a crisis of no conscience, a revolution over race, a dance with the devil, a handshake with hate. 

Another year has passed since the awful attacks on 9/11. As always, we send condolences to all those who lost loved ones on that day, and praise and gratitude to all those who so readily assisted in the rescue and recovery of survivors. What other Americans rarely think of are the millions of Arabs killed by us in wars in the Arab World subsequent to 9/11 with 9/11 being mistakenly cited as the reason those wars had to be fought. We also join with the rest of America in condemning the attacks and fervently hoping similar incidents never happen again.