Arab American Heritage Month, Ramadan feted by Journalists and elected officials

The Arab American Democratic Club hosted a forum of journalists and elected officials and community leaders on Thursday April 22, 2021 to discuss both Ramadan and Arab American Heritage Month (April).

The panel included a video message offering both Ramadan Kareem messages and a celebratory salute for Arab American Heritage Month from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

Also joining to discuss the recent elections and services that are available to all residents including Arab American was Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar, and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Tammy Wendt who easily won theDemocratic nomination nation for the office and unseated the incumbent Republican in the office.

rab American Democratic Club hosts a gathering of elected officials and journalists looking at the recent elections, celebrating Ramadan and Arab American Heritage month (April.)

Journalists who participated offering words of advice to Arab Americans included Jon DePaolis, the publisher of the Richards Free Press, Yasmeen Sheikah, reporter with the Patch.com online news site, and Steve Metsch, a veteran journalist who works for the Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News and the Naperville Sun.

Wesam Shahed working with Sonia Khalil also announced the founding of an Arab Youth Network to help young people int he Arab American community participate in local government, understand communications and even run for office.

And the AADC salted Hassan Nijem, the president of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce which as instrumental in saving the jobs of nearly 300 workers employed by 25 Hookah Lounges, most run by Arab American businessmen. The establishments would have been shut down under the terms of a new law introduced to the Chicago City Council last year that was to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco.

But after Nijem reached out to Chicago Alderwoman Silvana Tabares and explained how the law would inadvertently hurt Arab Americans an even hurt the city of Chicago by eliminating nearly 300 jobs, Tabares and the City Council rewrote the ordinance to exclude those businesses.

Click this link to watch the forum on Facebook or use the widget below:

AADC is a diverse coalition of Arab Americans dedicated to improving public relations with elected officials and government representatives. Our goal is to increase the number of registered voters statewide and to increase political involvement of our community.

AADC serves the political interests of the Arab American residents of Illinois and businesses and we are proud of our accomplishments. We regularly meet with elected officials, mayors, state senators, state representatives, U.S. Representatives, U.S. Senators, governors, and presidential candidates.

AADC is the only registered Arab American political organization doing this type of service in and for the community.

Our team is made of individuals who believe the best way to reach our community is by offering outreach functions and informative events. We believe that by working together and be connected we can have consistent outcomes.

For more information visit the AADC Facebook page by clicking here.

For more information on the Arab American Chamber of Commerce click here.

The program was brought to you buy support from Nemer Ziyad at Ziyad Brothers Importing and by Urban Strategies Group Media Consulting.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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