Teen Vogue goes to Hamtramck

Teen Vogue has a great little article about life in the first majority-Muslim city in the country, Hamtramk, MI. Contributor, Liana Aghajanian, paints a nice picture of life and diversity in Hamtramk.

Its demographic shifts have been cyclical, changing along with the world. While large numbers of Polish immigrants initially came over a century ago to work at the Dodge brothers’ automotive plant, Hamtramck also served as a transitional landing pad for Albanian, Bosnian, Ukrainian, Armenian, and Lebanese families escaping war, violence, and political persecution. As many found success and left Hamtramck for other parts of metro Detroit, Yemeni immigrants began arriving in the 1970s, while Bengali immigrants came in the '80s and ‘90s. Immigrants from both countries are still trickling into the city today. Thanks to economic conditions and ongoing conflict, their numbers, and the thriving businesses they’ve established, have continued to grow.

The article is definitely worth a read. I especially like how the article closes: "This isn’t necessarily America’s melting pot, this is America’s all-you-can-eat buffet. It’s a place offering the sort of variety that coexists in ways that need to be valued, instead of vilified, at a time when fear and hate aren’t contained in comment sections but are seeping into our lives as law."