Is Hamtramck still a ‘welcoming’ community?

Way to go Hamtramck.
And by Hamtramck, we mean the city’s mayor and city council, and by “way to go,” we mean that sarcastically.
The mayor and council have managed to attract a load of negative attention to the city. By taking a stand to ban the display of a pride flag on city properties, Hamtramck has been thrust into an ongoing storm of controversy.
The mayor and council even managed to attract the wrath of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel– the state’s top law enforcer – who railed against the city, calling Hamtramck a “national embarrassment” at a rally in Zussman Park on Saturday for LGBTQ rights.
No matter where you stand on this issue, this is attention and criticism the city can ill afford.
We’ve heard from reliable sources that the mayor’s and council’s action may even cost the city to lose state grants.
The city council could have taken the path of least resistance – and that would have simply been to do nothing at all.
In other words, take no side on this issue, and let it instead play out in the public.
We also can’t help notice that the mayor’s and council’s action was motivated by religious beliefs.
Former city councilmember Amanda Jaczkowski warned her council colleagues, during another needless and embarrassing debate on whether to allow the home slaughtering of animals for religious reasons, that they were making decisions as if they were a theocracy.
Jaczkowski didn’t even last a year in her four-year term before resigning – citing health reasons.One has to wonder if there was much more than that in her reason for leaving.
Her warning has now played out: the mayor and council admitted that they were following the wishes of their community.
That begs the question: Whose community?
There is no room for religion in government, nor should there be when making laws and policy.
Mayor Amer Ghalib also further exacerbated the issue, by insisting that those behind the call for allowing pride flags to be flown are “strangers” who have descended on Hamtramck.
Mr. Mayor, it would be advisable for you to actually go out and get to know your entire community, and not just those in your insular world.
The mayor and council, by the way, didn’t even have the guts to attend Saturday’s rally in support of the pride flag.
Hamtramck, until recently, was always able to market itself as a diverse and welcoming community. That image has now been greatly – and needlessly — tarnished.
Posted June 30, 2023