DEARBORN, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After a large crowd of protesters spent Tuesday outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library Dearborn arguing over Islam, Christianity and the city’s changing identity, much of the same debate followed them indoors. That’s where residents and visitors were given three minutes apiece to explain what they believe Dearborn has become – and whether that transformation is something to celebrate or fear.

A City Council meeting followed Jake Lang’s planned “Christian Crusader March” to the library and a protest outside, where Lang and his supporters rallied against what organizers described as the “Islamification” of Dearborn.

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Lang and his supporters were met by counterprotesters who defended the city and its large Muslim community, turning the evening into a clash over competing visions of Dearborn – what the city represents, who belongs there and what role religious and cultural identity should play in an American community.

Inside, council rules allowed only 30 minutes of public comment before city business (the rest were allowed to comment at the end of the meeting), with speakers limited to three minutes. The first nine got their say before everyone else had to wait until the end of the meeting. What emerged were descriptions of two cities that apparently occupy the same ZIP code.

Two Dearborns walk into council meeting

First up was Dearborn resident and retired city employee Paula Hamilton Stokes who called Dearborn her “beloved hometown” and said outsiders were attempting to “sow division,” arguing claims that the city is “under siege” could not be further from the truth.

Detroit Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who is Black and has often appeared alongside Lang, offered nearly the photographic negative of that picture, declaring that “the spirit of racism” lives in Dearborn and alleging the city operates under Sharia law.

Wayne County Commissioner Sam Baydoun pushed back directly, saying “Dearborn is America,” declaring that the U.S. Constitution – not religious law – is supreme and that Muslims honor Jesus Christ. He also cited a popular Democratic talking point, saying, “Our diversity is our strength.”

Lang gets his three minutes

Lang, the organizer whose earlier Dearborn appearance ended with him being attacked, was the sixth listed speaker. Before he started, officials warned him to put down his books and “props” or be removed. It’s been reported that he tried to bring a Quran to the podium.

Wearing a bulletproof vest, he then delivered exactly the sort of speech everyone expected, describing Muslim immigration as an “invasion” and eventually telling Muslims to “go home before we send you home.” He then began tearing the Quran and was escorted out of the meeting by police.

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Others essentially told Lang and his supporters the same thing in reverse: stay out of Dearborn. One speaker said those coming to “preach hate and division” should not come to Dearborn, while insisting the city represents coexistence and American values.

Hammoud has his say

After the public’s tightly regulated turns to speak before the city’s business started, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud delivered his own extended remarks without a three-minute buzzer.

The mayor said families had altered plans, businesses stayed closed and some parents kept children home because of the demonstration. He also spoke about a young boy he met that morning, telling him to “go be a kid,” play with friends and not allow fear to shrink his life.

Hammoud’s message was that outsiders have been sold a caricature of Dearborn and should visit, meet residents and “break bread” with them. “Dearborn welcomes everybody,” he said.

That was perhaps the night’s great irony. For hours, opposing camps claimed Dearborn as their America while suggesting the other side didn’t belong in it.

El-Sayed weighs in after protest

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed also weighed in later in the evening on Fox 2 Detroit, calling Lang and his supporters “out-of-state agitators” who came to Dearborn “to try and make news” and promote a narrower view of who belongs in America. “People aren’t as interested in how you pray,” El-Sayed said. “They’re interested in what you pray for.”

In addition, El-Sayed offered a message to Dearborn residents who felt targeted by the demonstration: “You do belong here. This is your America too.” The network said that they had also invited GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers to be on the show but he did not respond.

Plenty of theatre

Outside, the divisions played out before and after the meeting. Steve Gruber, host of The Steve Gruber Show, interviewed an Iraqi immigrant named Bassem, who went by “Bob,” who said bluntly that he opposed Islam and told Gruber, “I don’t like their religion. I don’t like what they’re about.”

On his radio show Wednesday, Gruber, who was on-scene at the event in Dearborn, called the whole thing a “clown show” and said that the police did a good job controlling the crowd during the event.

Gruber came away unimpressed with much of what he saw. He said the crowd was larger than he expected, but described the event as largely “performative,” with people on all sides chasing attention and social-media clicks – and that everyone had their cell phones out. He credited Dearborn police and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department with preventing major trouble and said he eventually left early because, in his words, “we were bored with it.”

No fan of Lang

Gruber also made clear that attending the event should not be mistaken for an endorsement of organizer Jake Lang, whom he said has been “permanently” banned from his show for comments Lang previously made to and about people Gruber knows. “He’s not somebody I’m going to promote,” Gruber said, adding that he attended simply because he wanted to see the demonstration for himself. He ultimately called the event “fairly counterproductive,” questioning whether it accomplished much beyond generating social-media clicks and followers.

Mostly peaceful

Despite the competing narratives about Dearborn and what it has become, Fox 2 Detroit and other media outlets in attendance described the event as mostly “peaceful,” crediting the heavy police presence with keeping tensions from boiling over. That included several arrests, including an incident in which a counterprotester, described by some at the scene as affiliated with Antifa, allegedly pointed a rifle at an anti-Islam protester, prompting police intervention.

In the end, Dearborn survived the night without the major confrontation many had feared. But “peaceful” did not mean united. Protesters, counterprotesters, politicians and residents spent hours insisting they represented the real America – while often questioning whether the people across the barricades belonged in it. The police kept the two sides from coming to blows. Bridging the distance between them, however, may be all but impossible.