Detroit thread. Post Kwame, Monica, and $1 houses here.

[KRonn]

I was back at Detroit's Eastern Market last week.  As always there were empty liquor bottles strewn along the sidewalks; only this time they were Patron.  Gentrification has really gotten out of hand.

Hehe. 

[Savonarola]

The Jew may steal our land; he may take our goats; he may murder our children; but he shall never serve us hamburgers!

From the FREEP:

Dearborn burger franchise founded in Israel delays opening after backlash, threats

A franchisee has delayed the scheduled opening of his Burgerim restaurant in Dearborn amid backlash from the Arab-American community over the popular burger company's Israeli roots.

Sam Zahr, a Lebanese-American who lives in Dearborn, said he was too worried to open the restaurant on Greenfield Road after his kids were bullied and he received threatening messages from those opposed to the burger chain founded in Israel.

The Dearborn Burgerim location has stirred controversy for months, striking at the heart of the charged debate over Israeli-Palestinian relations. The announced restaurant opening has elicited back-and-forth comments on Facebook posts from those spreading the message to boycott and others just hoping for a good burger.


An image spreading the message to boycott Burgerim, an Israeli burger chain. (Photo: Amer Zahr)

Burgerim, which means "many burgers" in Hebrew, specializes in mini burgers of different types of meat. It's headquartered in Encino, California, but was founded in Israel with its first location in Tel Aviv. The growing company has franchise locations across the U.S., Israel, and Europe, and has been publicized by media outlets in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Antonio.

A Burgerim location in Royal Oak also owned by Zahr has not experienced as much opposition, he said. He decided to step away from the Dearborn location since he has two others — one in Oak Park and another in Redford Township — scheduled to open this month.

"I think it's only within this area," Zahr said about the push back. "That's why I figured, let me walk away from the problem."

Zahr described several events that led to the decision not to open. In one instance, someone messaged him on Facebook with threatening comments, confirmed by screenshots of the messages.

"I told you, you are not like us," someone wrote in a Facebook message to Zahr. "You have Palestinian and Lebanese blood on your hand if you open up that joint."

In another incident, he set up a tent with free burgers outside the soon-to-open Royal Oak store for Ramadan, a Muslim holiday in April, but he said the tent was destroyed the next morning.

Zahr said he has lost everything after pouring money into the Dearborn location by signing a five-year lease, having the electricity and plumbing installed, purchasing permits and licenses and paying the franchise fee.

"It's just for no reason. Why?" Zahr said. "We're in America. You don't own Dearborn."

Amer Zahr, a University of Detroit law professor, activist and comedian who lives in Dearborn, has been a leading voice urging his community to boycott the business when it opens because it was founded in Israel on land he says was stolen from Palestinians.

"It was offensive to many members of the community," Zahr said.

Attorneys for Sam Zahr filed a cease-and-desist order against Amer Zahr for "defamatory statements" about Burgerim, which Amer Zahr said was "ridiculous."

"Anyone has a first amendment right to boycott whatever they wish to boycott and to call for boycotts," Amer Zahr said. "A boycott, of course, comes with the potential of economic damage."

Zahr is a supporter of the Palestinian-led movement called BDS, or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, that puts pressure on Israel to change its policies and grant Palestinians human rights, according to the movement's website. It was inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

When Burgerim first began to set up shop in the neighborhood, Amer Zahr said many people did not know much about it. He felt it was his job to educate people on the history of its founding. Burgerim locations are built on land stolen from Palestinians by Israel, Zahr writes in a blog post that details each piece of land.

"Building their company on stolen Palestinian land is how they established themselves," Zahr said. "Whether they ended up moving (headquarters) ... it doesn't really matter. The genesis of the company was in Israel."

Amer Zahr said it was very clear from the beginning that the community was not going to support Burgerim in its backyard.

"The Dearborn community overall is very supportive of Palestinian rights in general," he said. "Not everybody is an activist obviously, but everyone for the most part in Dearborn is very supportive of Palestinian rights and our struggle."

Amer Zahr added that his vocal opposition to Burgerim had nothing to do with Sam Zahr. He would have supported the business owner had he opened a burger restaurant "not connected to Palestinian suffering," Amer Zahr said.

"It's not personal against him," Amer Zahr said.

Sam Zahr still has the sign he removed from the storefront on Sunday with the hopes that it will one day be put back up.

"God bless this beautiful country that we all came to to make something out of," Sam Zahr said. "Not to have this kind of hate and this kind of unprofessionalism and just nonsense."

When I was last in Toronto I was marveling at how people from all over the world could come together and at least tolerate each other.  Then I saw one taxi driver cut off another, then second driver deliberately rammed the guy who cut him off, and then they both got out of their cabs and started screaming at each other in Arabic.  I thought of that when I saw that the owner and the comedian/activist quoted in the article were both named "Zahr."

[Eddie Teach]

What do Jewish hamburgers taste like?

[Valmy]

Well I am sure that will help endear Arab immigrants to the rest of the United States.

[Savonarola]

What do Jewish hamburgers taste like?

Delicious, they're made from stolen Palestinian goats and roasted over the bodies of Palestinian children; and that's where the flavor comes from.



The chain makes a variety of burgers including lamb burgers and falafel burgers.  That's probably why Sam Zahr thought he'd have a hit in the largely Arab and Muslim suburb of Dearborn.  One of his locations is located in the largely Chaldean (Christians from Iraq) neighborhood of Oak Park.  More telling is that none of is locations are located in predominantly Jewish suburbs.

[Savonarola]

I have a cousin, originally from northern Michigan, who wants to take part in the Detroit Renaissance (Huzzah!)  He attended law school at Wayne State University, lives in mid-town Detroit and works for Legal Aid in the city.  His girlfriend works for a conglomeration of Detroit based charities called Focus Hope.  As he and his girlfriend were driving home from his (and my) grandfather's home (in Dearborn, Michigan) he got his window shot out.  He pulled over to the shoulder, and the car with the shooter pulled over in front of them and started backing up.  My cousin pulled back out on the highway, hit it, and made it back home safely.  He and his girlfriend are reconsidering some life decisions right now.

This happened in the early evening, and right on one of the interstates; so I may have been a little over-optimistic in trumpeting Detroit's comeback.

He proposed to his girlfriend just before Christmas.  He had a ring made with a piece of the shot out glass as the "Stone."  I thought that was great. 

(Even since last year Downtown and Midtown have revitalized in a big way.  Not everyone is happy with this change; my cousin and his fiancee thought Midtown had become to gentrified.  So they moved to Highland Park, (one of the suburbs completely surrounded by the city of Detroit) to a house on an otherwise entirely abandoned block. 

They also have a dog named Leon Trotsky; so far he's avoided any ice pick damage.)

[Savonarola]

I was back in the 313 this past week.  At most supermarkets in the United States we have "Cart corrals" in the parking lot where you put your shopping carts once you've finished shopping to avoid damaging cars in the parking lot and to aid the store staff in restoring carts.  Not everyone does this, of course, and often people who park far away from a corral will just leave the cart in a parking space.  At the supermarket CB and I went to there were shopping carts left in the parking spot right next to a corral.  So I took one cart for us and put the rest in the corral.

Savonarola:  I can't believe anyone would be so lazy that they couldn't move a shopping cart five feet to the corral.
CB:  You've been away from Detroit for a long time.
Savonarola:   

You can't go back home.

[Josquius]

Whether someone returns their trolley or not is a standard test of whether someone is a good person .

[Eddie Teach]

Bad people still might do things society expects of them.

[grumbler]

Bad people still might do things society expects of them.

Returning carts is necessary but not sufficient to being a good person.

[garbon]

I think there is a caveat. If the store does nothing to take carts out of the holding pen (i.e. all full and spilling out), I don't think it is incumbent on someone to walk the parking lot in search of another spot. Failure on the part of the store.

[Savonarola]

My university keeps it way realer than your university:

Wayne State University suspends professor over social media post allegedly advocating violence
Detroit Free Press

Wayne State University has suspended a professor who allegedly posted on social media that people would be justified in killing those with whom they have disagreements, according to a note to the university from President Roy Wilson.

The university became aware of the post Monday morning, Wilson said in his email. The professor, whose identity was not revealed, works in the university's English department. A university spokeswoman declined further comment.

"The post stated that rather than 'shouting down' those with whom we disagree, one would be justified to commit murder to silence them," Wilson wrote. "We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel this post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech. It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal.

"We have referred this to law enforcement agencies for further review and investigation. Pending their review, we have suspended the professor with pay, effective immediately."

The Free Press was unable to reach the professor for comment.

In the post attributed to him, the professor writes about "free speech on campus." The Free Press confirmed with two sources that the post was the one being scrutinized. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they had not been cleared to talk to the media about the matter.

"Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down," the post says.

It goes on to say that "right-wing" groups invite speakers to campuses to provoke a reaction from left-wing groups.

"The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes; the national and international press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression."

The post then cites Sholem Schwarzbad, a Jewish, Russian-born French poet, who in 1926 assassinated Symon Petliura, the former head of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Schwarzbard, who had lost his family in the 1919 pogroms, held Petliura responsible for the deaths and killed Petliura on a Paris street.

"Remember that Schwarzbad was acquitted by a jury, which found his actions justified," the post concludes.

Oh, Detroit, you can't solve all your problems by killing people.  You've already tried that.

[Valmy]

I can only imagine the place really had to go downhill for you to think moving to Florida was an improvement 

[Savonarola]

I can only imagine the place really had to go downhill for you to think moving to Florida was an improvement 

Especially that first place I was living.  I've been to some rough neighborhoods in the D, but I had never had a deputy sheriff armed with a rifle in my back yard; a guy living on the up the block chop his mother up with an axe, put her into a hefty bag, and leave her on the side of the road; a repo man question me about my neighbors; a guy living a block over have a naked man jump though his plate glass window, slap the neighbor and tell the neighbor that he was Jesus Christ; or live across the street from a drug house before I moved to Florida.

I never would have left Detroit if I could have found work there; but now it's changed so much that I don't think I would ever go back.

[Duque de Bragança]

Gentrification must be really bad in Detroit for Savonarola I guess.