International community joins hands to celebrate diversity
By: Thomas Geyer
Source: Quad-City Times
Don’t tell John Dabeet the “American Dream” is dead.
The 52-year-old economics professor at Muscatine Community College says he is a proud Palestinian–American that through hard work and dedication has not only realized his dream, but continues to make his dreams of a better life for his family come true.
Dabeet, who has been in the United States for 23 years, was speaking to a crowd of about 30 at the Cultural Celebration Festival held Saturday at The Center in Davenport.
The event featured a wide array of foods and cultural events and music, as well as the fun things kids love, such as face painting and games. The event was sponsored by the Quad-City Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, or QCAIR.
Dabeet said that immigrants all want something better for their families and their children. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from; if you’re white or black; if you’re Palestinian, Israeli, Hispanic, African, it doesn’t matter. Each of you can be a role model, a citizen diplomat for all immigrants and represent our peoples.
“Immigrants are an important component in the makeup of today’s America,” he said.
Despite what people hear over the many media inundating society, Dabeet said, immigrants serve a valuable purpose in America. “Let’s not stop moving forward,” he told them.
Stacee Leatherman, one of the many QCAIR volunteers who helped create the event, said it was all about bringing the community together and celebrating the many cultures that make up the Quad-Cities, and the promise of a bright future immigrants bring.
“We want people to know they’re accepted here,” Leatherman said.
It is not an easy task, physically or psychologically, to pick up and move half-way across the globe in an effort to seek a better life for yourself or family, said Leatherman, who is studying immigrant psychology.
Amar Latoundji, 29, who moved to the area six months ago from Benin, said it has been hard adjusting.
Speaking through a French interpreter, Latoundji said he thought about returning home to his native country, but realized if he stayed he could help his family. Now a member of First Christian Church in Davenport, Latoundji said he will continue working and going to school so he and his family can have a better life.
Hadeel Janabi, 27, of Milan, who moved to the U.S. from Iraq, attended the event with her three children. Her husband works as a chef at Jumer’s Casino and Hotel, Rock Island.
“We’ve been here four years,” Janabi said. While it has not been an easy transition, and things are different, in some ways the different things are much for the better.
“We’re free here,” Janabi said. “We can walk outside and we can talk and we can work.”
Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch has grandchildren who came from Ethiopia, and, he said, it has been a wonderful, loving experience.
“Two of the most harmful words in the English language are, ‘those people,’” Klipsch said. “This is America. It’s not ‘those people,’ it’s ‘we people.’”