Fear and Anxiety Permeate Arab Enclave Near Detroit

DEARBORN, Mich.-To the outside world, the Arab Americans in this community are adjusting well to the heightened scrutiny they receive from law enforcement, cooperating with interviews and proudly displaying their American flags.

But inside, said Don Unis, a U.S. citizen of Lebanese descent, people are upset, anxious and increasingly angry at what they perceive as a war -- domestically and abroad -- on Arabs and Muslims.

Their relatives have been called in for random interviews. Their brethren are being held in U.S. jails on suspicion of terrorism, some without a hint from the government about their alleged crimes. And there is a widespread perception that few Americans understand -- or care -- what they're going through.

Particularly chilling for them were the comments July 19 from a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights -- since rejected by the full panel -- that raised the specter of internment camps for Arab Americans if there is another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"They're scared to death," said Unis, 63, who was born in the United States and whose father fought for this country in World War I after emigrating from Lebanon in 1917. "They're singing the song that authorities want to hear, but they're eating their guts out. . . . We still don't have very much of a voice in America."

The Detroit region is home to the largest concentration of people of Arab descent in the United States, with Dearborn the center of that community. Restaurants, schools and mosques cater to families such as the Unises, who have four generations of roots in this country.

But since last September, this place has felt less like a haven for Arab Americans. There has been periodic harassment, the constant fear of bodily harm and the frightening possibility of being incarcerated in connection with the war on terror -- fears that Arabs and Muslims around the country have echoed.