Tag: Chicago

How anti-Arab haters undermined Chicago Arab Heritage

November 3, 2014September 24, 2018 rayhanania 1 Comment

Roxane Assaf of the former Chicago Arab Advisory Commission discusses campaign to undermine Arab heritage in Chicago and remembers how much culture the Arabesque Festival brought to Chicago’s ethnic diversity and cultural richness By Ray Hanania Roxane Assaf, the brilliant member of the now defunct Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs, discusses the campaign to undermine American…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Podcast, Ray Hanania

Loyola University discriminates against non-Jews who tried to sign up for Birthright Israel program

October 29, 2014August 20, 2019 rayhanania 3 Comments

Loyola University punishes non-Jews who tried to sign up for “Birthright Israel” program Loyola University Chicago students affiliated with the student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will attend an administrative hearing scheduled Thursday, October 30 to respond to allegations made against the group after Palestinian students lined up on September 9, 2014 to try to register…

American Arabs, Israel, News, Palestine & Jordan, Press Releases

American Arabs must fully engage in elections by voting

October 27, 2014September 24, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

American Arabs must fully engage in elections by voting Samir Khalil, the director of the Arab American Democratic Club of Illinois discusses the roll American Arabs play in local politics and in elections. Khalil discusses the recent luncheon which hosted dozens of elected officials including Gov. Pat Quinn, Samantha Haddad Webb the candidate for 10th…

American Arabs, US Arab Politics

Arabs of Chicagoland to celebrate Arab Heritage Month in November

October 23, 2014October 2, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

Arabs of Chicagoland to celebrate Arab Heritage Month in November By Ray Hanania Although Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gutted the involvement of American Arabs in Chicago government, the world is bigger than his pettiness and anti-Arab racism. Emanuel eliminated the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs after his election in 2011. He used the consolidation of…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Features, Ray Hanania

Ramallan Morning in Chicago

October 16, 2014October 16, 2014 rayhanania No Comments

Ramallan Morning in Chicago By Yousef Khatib Waking up at 4:00 pm (GMT+3) and 8:00 am (CDT) feels like waking up in two different multiverses. Reading the news, listening to Mashrou’ Leila, waiting for my morning coffee to attack my blood system, and smiling: Where am I? A prestigious bank is offering a lot of…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Yousef Khatib

Podcast: Mayoral candidate Fioretti vows to re-establish Chicago Arab Advisory Commission

October 3, 2014April 13, 2019 rayhanania No Comments

Podcast Mayoral candidate Fioretti vows to re-establish Chicago Arab Advisory Commission Fioretti promises to recognize and work with Chicago’s rich racial and ethnic diversity that Mayor Emanuel has abandoned By Ray Hanania Chicago Mayoral candidate Robert “Bob” Fioretti said that one of his first acts as mayor will be to re-establish the role of the city’s “vibrant and…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, News, Palestine & Jordan, Podcast, Ray Hanania, US Arab Politics

Podcast: Sir Rateb Rabie on Middle East Christians

September 22, 2014August 20, 2019 rayhanania 1 Comment

Podcast: Sir Rateb Rabie on Middle East Christians By Ray Hanania Holy Land Ecumenical Foundation President Sir Rateb Rabie discusses the challenges facing Christians in the Middle East. He talks about the anti-Christian views of Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz at a recent conference at the so-called “In Defense of Christians” conference held in Washington…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, Podcast, Ray Hanania, Spotlight

Podcast Interview: Naomi Shihab Nye on books, writing and journalism

September 8, 2014June 12, 2019 rayhanania No Comments

Podcast Interview: Naomi Shihab Nye on books, writing and journalism By Ray Hanania This week on Talk of the Town Radio (Sept. 5, 2014) I interview author and writer Naomi Shihab Nye. The show is broadcast every Friday at 4 pm CST on WCEV 1450 AM and on YahalaVoice.com radio. Naomi discusses her writing and…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Features, Podcast, Ray Hanania, Spotlight

Chicago Sister Cities International named Best Overall Program

August 19, 2014August 19, 2014 rayhanania No Comments

Chicago Sister Cities International Awarded Best Overall Sister City Program Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI) received Sister Cities International’s (SCI) 2014 Best Overall Program Award for a city with a population more than 500,001 at the SCI 58th Annual Conference in San Jose, California this month. The 2014 SCI Best Overall Program Award recognizes sister…

Activism, American Arabs, News, Press Releases

Lincolnwood Mayor defends display of Palestine Flag in Chicago suburb

August 15, 2014August 20, 2019 rayhanania No Comments

The Mayor of Lincolnwood Illinois, Gerald Turry, defended the decision of the Human Relations Commission to rebuff complaints from a handful of activists demanding that the Palestine Flag be removed from a display of ethnic national flags placed on Lincoln Avenue in the north suburban Chicago community. Lincolnwood has displayed ethnic flags representing the various…

American Arabs, News, Palestine & Jordan, Podcast, Ray Hanania, Spotlight

Palestine Flag will remain on display in Chicago suburb, village rules

August 13, 2014April 13, 2019 rayhanania No Comments

By Ray Hanania An effort to respect the ethnic diversity of residents who live in the tiny suburb of Lincolnwood, Illinois just north of Chicago exploded into hate rhetoric and name calling when protesters demanded that the suburb remove the Palestine Flag from its display of flags along Lincoln Avenue. The flag display was started…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, News, Palestine & Jordan, Ray Hanania

Why Smith defeated Tlaib in Michigan legislative Democratic primary

August 11, 2014September 24, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

By Ray Hanania Dennis Denno, the chief of staff to Michigan State Senator Virgil Smith said that Smith defeated fellow Democratic challenger State Rep. Rashida Tlaib because she lacked strong connections to the senate district in a radio interview Friday on Yahala Voice “Talk of the Town” Radio.. Tlaib represented a nearby State House seat…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Podcast, Ray Hanania, US Arab Politics

Obituary: Ayoub Yousef Talhami, 1928-2014

June 23, 2014September 24, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

Obituary: Ayoub Yousef Talhami, 1928-2014 Ayoub Talhami, former Assistant Chief Engineer at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and a prominent member of the American Palestinian community in Chicago, was born in Shefa ‘Amr, Palestine. He was a volunteer fighter with Palestinian militias during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. He graduated from the elite Arab College in…

American Arabs, News, Obits

Chicago’s Future News newspaper continues to set American Arab trends

June 18, 2014June 19, 2014 rayhanania 1 Comment

Chicago’s Future News newspaper continues to set American Arab trends By Ray Hanania Mansour Tadros left Naour, Jordan near Amman and followed his father to the United States hoping to build a new life of freedom and opportunity. But in the end, Tadros, 65, has spent most of his time defending the American Arab and…

Bloggers, Commentary, Features, News Media, Ray Hanania, Spotlight

Arab Americans left out of Chicago event, again

May 15, 2014October 30, 2024 rayhanania 1 Comment

Arab Americans left out of Chicago event, again By Ray Hanania When the United States government called on me during my sophomore year in college to fight in Vietnam, I didn’t wait until they drafted me. There was a chance they wouldn’t, but my Draft number was around 65. So I went and enlisted for…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Food, Ray Hanania, US Arab Politics

Travel: The obligatory visit to the Arabs of Dearborn

April 16, 2014June 12, 2019 rayhanania 2 Comments

Travel: The obligatory visit to the Arabs of Dearborn By Ray Hanania I have been traveling to Dearborn, Michigan since I was a young child back in the 1950s. Back then, it was about the only place where you could purchase original ingredients to make Middle Eastern food recipes. So we would often make the…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Ray Hanania, Travel

Olmos argues “race” is not a label for divisions at diversity conference

April 15, 2014September 24, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

Olmos argues “race” is not a label for divisions at diversity conference Hollywood movie star Edward James Olmos pushed an audience of more than 400 educators and diversity professionals to the edge arguing that it is wrong to look at human beings and believe that they are really divided into different races. The Mexican American…

American Arabs, Entertainment, News, religion

Columbia College reinstates Palestinian professor’s censored class

April 7, 2014April 13, 2019 rayhanania No Comments

Columbia College reinstates Palestinian professor’s censored class By Ray Hanania Columbia College reinstated a class that had been stripped from Palestinian American Professor Iymen Chehade following weeks of protests from education professionals and activists and within days of receiving a letter of protest from the Israeli director of the film which provoked an anonymous student…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, News, Ray Hanania, Spotlight