20 August 1 • 2019
jn

M

ichigan Gov. Gretchen 
Whitmer, Wayne County 
CEO Warren Evans, Detroit 
Mayor Mike Duggan and publishers of 
the region’
s biggest ethnic newspapers 
gathered at Wayne State University for 
the 2019 Minority Media 
Summit July 24.
The event aimed to 
educate ethnic media 
representatives and pub-
lications on the upcom-
ing 2020 census, during 
which billions of dollars 
and congressional seats 
will be at stake.
“Everything from 
education to, yes — the 
roads — is impacted by 
the dollars we draw into 
the state of Michigan,” 
Whitmer said.
She referenced the census count, 
which will determine the federal funds 
Michigan receives in the coming years.
“What I learned from knocking 
on doors all those years ago was that 
people respond to who they trust,” 
Duggan said.
The Detroit mayor also emphasized 
the importance of ethnic media for 
building trust in the 2020 census to 
ensure as many Metro Detroit and 
Michigan residents are counted as 
possible.
The event was moderated by Dr. 
Hayg Oshagan, the executive director 
of New Michigan Media (NMM), a 
network of ethnic and minority media 
outlets within the state. Oshagan noted 
how important it was for minority 
media to work together to have a loud-
er voice. He thanked the Michigan 
Nonprofit Association for partnering 
with NMM to make this event possible.
Panelists included Osama Siblani, 
publisher of the Arab American 

News; Tack-Yong Kim, publisher 
of Michigan Korean Weekly; Donna 
Murray-Brown, President & CEO 
of Michigan Nonprofit Association; 
Arthur Horwitz, publisher of Detroit 
Jewish News; Elias Gutierrez, publisher 
of Latino Press, State Rep. Abdullah 
Hammoud (D-Dearborn); Detroit City 
Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-
Lopez and Detroit City Director of 
Immigrant Affairs Roberto Torres.
The publishers and other represen-
tatives from more than 40 ethnic and 
minority media outlets in southeast 
Michigan discussed how best to reach 
their individual communities and how 
to combat the growing fear of repercus-
sion felt in minority communities since 
the beginning of the Trump administra-
tion. The event included representation 
from the Yemeni, Filipino, African 
American, Latino, Arab American, 
Jewish, Native American, Chinese, 
Bangladeshi, Japanese, Polish, Korean, 
Indian, Armenian, Vietnamese and 
Albanian communities.
Gutierrez, Siblani and others said 
restoring trust is a major challenge.
 
“People in this country believe in 
their government, relatively speaking, 
compared to other countries. However, 
in recent years, this trust has been 
shaken, sometimes destroyed,” Siblani 
said about the Arab American com-
munity.
Michigan stands to lose another 
congressional seat and a reduction in 
the number of electoral college votes if 
its population is not properly counted 
in 2020. It could also lose $1,800 per 
person per year of federal funding to 
support programs that use census data.
Census data will be used by offi-
cials to distribute funds for Medicare, 
Medicaid, education, infrastructure, 
free school lunch programs, children, 
housing and more. ■

Michigan Korean Weekly Publisher Tack-Yong Kim (second from left) addresses ethnic/minority 

media representatives as (from left to right) Arthur Horwitz, Elias Gutierrez, Osama Siblani, Hayg 

Oshagan and former Michigan Chronicle senior editor Keith Owens look on.

jews d
in 
the

New Michigan Media to Aid 
in 2020 Census Awareness

Whitmer

Duggan

Immigration Installation Comes 
to the Birmingham Temple

A

s a statement of opposition 
to the stance of the current 
administration towards immi-
grants, the Birmingham Temple for 
Humanistic Judaism has placed an 
installation of political art on the hill 
before the Temple. 
The installation, appearing under a 
sign proclaiming it “for the thousands 
of separated immigrant children,
” dis-
plays hundreds of stuffed animals and 
other children’
s toys on a forest of bare 
vertical sticks. A sign before the display 
proclaims that the Birmingham Temple 
“declares solidarity with immigrants 
and refugees.
” 
When the artist Elaine Roseborough 
of Huntington Woods designed this 
installation, she found a venue for it at 
the First Methodist Church of Ferndale, 
then the First Unitarian Universalist 
Church of Detroit before it came to the 
Birmingham Temple. 
Rabbi Jeffrey Falick explains why 
the congregation chose to display the 
installation:
“We want to say to children — chil-
dren and others — who are fleeing for 

their lives from South Central America 
and elsewhere that they are welcome 
here. 
“This country was, until recently, a 
proponent of human rights across the 
world,” he continued. “Now America 
is perpetrating an enormous moral 
failure. Policies of xenophobia and 
racism proceed from Washington and 
meet with similar attitudes across the 
nation. 
“We, the Jewish community, have 
seen this before. We have experienced 
it; so we have an obligation to speak 
out, to go on record as opposed to 
what our government is doing. 
“We are answerable to our children 
and grandchildren for what we allow 
to happen. Woe to the Jewish com-
munity that stands on the sidelines or 
gets distracted by quibbles about word 
choice. If you do not like calling these 
facilities ‘
concentration camps,’
 find 
another word that you like. How about 
‘
brutal, inhumane, disgusting?’
 
“I don’
t understand the public 
silence,” he added. “But we will not be 
silent.” ■

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Patriotic Fun

Temple Emanu-El participated in Huntington Woods and Oak Park 4th of July parades. 

Pictured here are Harry Onickel, Ruthanne Oakun, Dan Medow, Rabbi Matt Zerwekh and 

family, Marty Leibowitz, Cantorial Soloist Kelly Onickel, Sue Stettner, Jackie Bean and 

Dennis Kayes. Many more temple members participated as well.

COURTESY OF TEMPLE EMANU-EL

RABBI JEFFREY FALICK