Guest Editorial: Is it the mayor’s plan to drive out people?
By Catrina Stackpoole
I want to thank the mayor (Amer Ghalib) for going on the Tudor Dixon podcast and admitting your plans to join the national campaign to attack gays and drive them out of town.
You said there is a big shift coming and only the militia of the former mayor is standing in your way.
So first you target the gays, easy pickens right?
Then what, drive out the progressives, the youngsters, the artists, the blacks, the drinkers of beer and those who love pork or rock-n-roll, or the blues or polish pastries or trees and good public schools not segregated charter schools?
Those who love diversity and sharing of food and culture. Are you going to drive out next? The Buddhists? The Hindus?
The progressive people of this city are not leaving. We were the ones who welcomed you, protected you, stood up against the Islamophobia of the rightwing, we defended your right to broadcast the call to prayer.
We have been your allies and now we feel betrayed.
You all say that it’s ok if we are queer, as long as we keep it behind closed doors. In America the government does not tell anyone how to dress, who to love or how to worship.
You say that we are corrupting your children. No, your children will become Americanized just like the second generation of every immigrant group who chooses to move here. CHOOSES TO MOVE HERE.
Here, where women and people of color can vote and where EVERYONE is allowed to vote. If you didn’t want your children to become Americanized, then you shouldn’t have brought them here.
A big shift is coming. A power shift. But it is coming from the younger generations, including your kids, who soon will not tolerate your old country, old world ideas for much longer in this city.
(Catrina Stackpoole is a former Hamtramck City Councilmember.)
Posted July 28, 2023
2 Responses to Guest Editorial: Is it the mayor’s plan to drive out people?
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Mark M. Koroi
July 30, 2023 at 11:53 am
The political winds are shifting in Hamtramck and the religious views of most Islamic adherents do not celebrate the role of homosexuality in our society. Certainly, many Roman Catholics feel the same way – love the sinner, hate the sinful conduct. You will likely find the same attitude in America’s Bible Belt in the Deep South.
Karen Majewski was an unabashed advocate of the pride Flag and she lost in a landslide defeat to Amer Ghalib in the 2021 mayoral election.
Politically, the LGBT community has made great strides in recent years on the national level, however Hamtramck is not Ann Arbor or Ferndale.
Brian J. Melkus
August 11, 2023 at 11:20 am
I think what all of you are missing is this thing called”community standards.”
The religious community in Hamtramck has always been interactive with the city government. Until the influx of Islamic immigrants, the Catholic Church was that driving force. Now that there is a ‘different’ religion leading the fight to maintain our community standards, the rainbow people attack the religion rather than face the facts about queers in America.
Here’s a fact; The Boy Scouts of America were sued by gays for not allowing them in as Scoutmasters. The fear was they would prey on the young scouts. After assurances that it would never happen-it did-MANY MANY TIMES!
WE KNOW YOU’RE HERE-WE KNOW YOU’RE QUEER, MANY OF US DON’T CARE. WHAT WE DON’T CARE FOR ARE THE CONSTANT REMINDERS! You all need to GROW UP! Stop drawing chalk pictures on sidewalks! Stop trespassing to steel a rainbow flag! Acts of civil disobedience will NOT lower our community standards! Criminal acts will put you in jail!
I applaud the city’s leadership. The decision to raise ALL American flags on J.C. was brilliant! We are all American, no matter what our birth country or ancestry–or religion or sexual identity confusion.
Ann Arbor and Ferndale obviously have different community standards because of their majority influence. Hamtramck’s majority influence is religion-based.
You say there is a ‘big shift coming’?
It already came when a gay man won a seat on the city council decades ago! Younger people should do their homework before spouting off threats.
I am confident that the mayor and city council will continue to maintain Hamtramck’s community standards in the true spirit of “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”
(THNX Superman!)
PS. I am drafting my own guest editorial to factually address (with photographic evidence) the ineptitude of former council members Stackpoole and Kwik. Stay tuned…