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Homeland Beckons to Michigan Lebanese

Posted on Monday November 22, 2004

By Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press
November 22, 2004

Emotional, family and business links lead more to travel to a rebuilding land

The Akouris have become prominent members of their Michigan community, but have not forgotten their roots in Tripoli, Lebanon.

He was born and raised in America, speaks with a Midwestern accent and had never seen his ancestral village.

But late Saturday, Warren David boarded a Northwest flight for a trip to Lebanon that would take him to the home of his grandparents for the first time.

"This is my roots," said the 52-year-old Northville resident as he got on the plane at Detroit Metro Airport. "I’ve got to see it. It’s going to be an emotional experience."

From across metro Detroit, Americans like David are visiting the cities, towns and villages of Lebanon to reconnect with places they have often heard about growing up but never experienced first-hand. It’s one way that the Lebanese Americans of Michigan — the largest group among the region’s Arab-American communities — are forging bonds between the United States and Lebanon.

This week, several local events will celebrate Lebanon’s 61 years of independence from France, including a gathering in Dearborn tonight sponsored by the Lebanese American Heritage Club.

"There are more and more people going back every year," said David, who runs a telecommunications company.

After years of war, Lebanon is rebuilding its economy and infrastructure, which means local Lebanese are trickling back to vacation, do business and explore a country that helped forge their identity.

And they’re bringing other metro Detroiters with them. Last year, Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido went to Lebanon with business leaders. Two mayors from Troy have traveled there to establish closer ties with the Lebanese city of Aley.

And Troy’s Rotary Club has worked on about $500,000 in projects in Lebanon, said Kamal Shouhayib, a Troy resident who’s been key in developing relations between his adopted and native lands. Shouhayib, who runs a land development company, is leaving today for another trip to Lebanon, which he visits about three times a year.

In Michigan, Lebanese Americans are a microcosm of Lebanon’s diversity.

Most of the early Lebanese in Michigan were Maronite or Orthodox Christians who settled largely on Detroit’s east side. Today, the Grosse Pointes have some of the highest percentages of residents with Arab ancestry because of the Lebanese influx decades ago.

In recent years, however, Lebanese immigrants have been mostly Muslim. Many of them fled as war ravaged their country in the 1970s and 1980s. Another significant group of Lebanese in Michigan are Druze, a sect of Islam. Last month, the Druze opened up a new community center in Dearborn Heights, and this week will hold a youth convention in Dearborn.

In Michigan, people of Lebanese ancestry make up 36 percent of all Arab Americans and Chaldeans. Their influence can be seen in everything from the business district in east Dearborn to politics.

John Akouri, a city councilman from Farmington Hills, remembers being inspired for public service when he met the future president of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel, at a Lebanese independence day celebration in Detroit back in 1977.

"At the dinner table, politics was always talked about," said Akouri, whose grandparents hail from the Lebanese city of Tripoli. "International politics, local politics — I remember my parents and friends discussing it all."

The family is so proud of its heritage that, last year, Akouri’s brother, Jim, bought two Lebanese cedar trees – the country’s national symbol – and planted them outside his West Bloomfield home to help celebrate his father’s 50 years as an American.

Jim Akouri was born and raised in Michigan, but he went to Lebanon for the first time in 1996, and it changed his life.

"It was the best time of my life," said Akouri, 35, who runs Cellular City. "To see where I came from, it really opened up my life."

Rana Abbas, a Dearborn Heights resident, had a similar experience when she visited Lebanon for the first time the month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Before she went, she heard stories from friends and family about what an emotional experience it would be when she arrived.

She dismissed such talk, saying she was more of a realist than a bleeding heart.

But as soon as the plane touched down in Beirut, she sobbed.

"It was so strange," said Abbas, who today is deputy director of the Michigan chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "Even though you’ve never been there, it’s like you’re home."