Suit alleges bigotry at Dearborn school

Says those of Yemeni, Iraqi descent face discrimination

At Henry Ford Early College, Mohsen Harhara was seen as a good student with no behavioral problems, his family said.

But Harhara said he and other students of Yemeni and Iraqi descent at the Dearborn high school were treated poorly and subjected to discrimination by school officials of Lebanese descent who called them monkeys and made other derogatory remarks.

While in the school cafeteria in February 2022, Harhara alleged school principal and director Majed Fadlallah put his hands on his head and said to him: “You Yemenis are always hungry because you don’t have any food in your country.”

The allegations against Fadlallah, assistant principal Marwan Salamey and Dearborn Public Schools were made in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Wayne County Circuit by the parents of Harhara, 16, and another student of Yemeni descent, Basheer Alzaba, 17. The case has been assigned to Wayne County Judge Edward

Joseph with a status conference set for May 2. Founded in 2017, Henry Ford Early College specializes in technology and health care with 237 students attending from across Wayne County.

The lawsuit is the latest example of ethnic tensions in Dearborn as Yemeni Americans try to gain acceptance and influence in a city where Lebanese Americans have more political power. At a testy Dearborn Schools board meeting in January, some accused the board of discriminating against the Yemeni community by not selecting board member Adel Mozip, who’s of Yemeni descent, to be the board’s new president.

“It is shameful and unacceptable that these students experienced these discriminatory insults and abuse during school by high-level administrators simply because they are Yemeni,” Hannah Fielstra, the attorney representing the students and their family, said in an email to the Free Press. “Children should be able to learn in a safe environment, free from bigoted language, discrimination, and certainly, assault. These students deserved better and those responsible need to be held accountable.”

The lawsuit accuses Fadlallah of making divisive remarks about Arab American groups

during the 2021-22 school year. He was dividing them by ethnicity, telling Lebanese students not to associate with Yemeni students and saying “there is no hope for Iraqi children,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint also accuses him of being physically abusive towards Yemeni American and Iraqi American students.

David Mustonen, spokesman for Dearborn Public Schools, told the Free Press in an email that “the District has no new information to share. As with any legal matter our attorneys will review and handle.”

Regarding the allegations made of bias in not selecting Mozip to be board president, Mustonen said a school board committee is reviewing its bylaws on how the board elects presidents and other officers. Some supporters argued that because Mozip was previously vice president of the board, he was next in line to be president, but others said that is not necessarily how board presidents are chosen.

Some of the allegations in the lawsuit came out last year during a board meeting where Harhara’s mother, Amal Harhara, and other parents spoke about what they said was a pattern of racism against Yemeni and Iraqi students. The lawsuit said that after Fadlallah allegedly made offensive remarks in February 2022 to Mohsen about Yemenis, he “grabbed both sides of Mohsen’s head with his hands, turned Mohsen’s head toward the cafeteria staff and ordered Mohsen to thank the staff, humiliating him in front of staff and peers.”

Fadlallah last year described some of his comments as jokes and dry humor.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 30, alleges officials and the district violated the state’s Elliot Larsen

Civil Rights Act and laws against assault and battery, gross negligence and inflicting emotional distress. It says the students suffered physical abuse and mental distress and asks for damages to compensate for their suffering.

The lawsuit also accuses Fadlallah of telling Yemeni American students he would send them back to Yemen if they didn’t perform well on SATs; criticizing the Arabic of Yemeni and Iraqi students, saying they weren’t valid dialects of Arabic; and separating students by ethnicity and national origin.

In Dearborn, Lebanese Americans are the largest group among Arab Americans, followed by Yemeni Americans and Iraqi Americans, according to census data.

Amal Harhara and others accused the district of being aware of Fadlallah’s comments, but failing to move to stop or punish him for his behavior.

“Physical abuse of a minor has no place in our district,” Amal Harhara said at the June board meeting. “Racism has no place in our district. He has no place in our district. And if you condone this, you have no place in our district. You have failed my son and any other student that has been subjected to this abuse.”

Fadlallah was placed on a leave of absence last year after the district investigated the allegations and found some of them to be true. The report cleared Salamey.

“Jokes and dry humor were always just that and were never meant to hurt anyone,” Fadlallah said in a letter dated June 6. “However, I know I should not have done that. I apologize.”

Fadlallah added: “My intent has always been and will continue to be the success and achievement of ALL of my students regardless of their backgrounds, ethnicity, race, or country of origin.”

Salamey told the Free Press last year in a statement: “After a thorough review and investigation, the claims that were made about me were found to be completely false and found to be unsubstantiated. I have proudly served the Dearborn community for over 15 years without a single complaint . ... My heart is the heart of an educator and always sees the very best in all students.”

In January 2022, Alzaba, one of the plaintiffs, admitted he cheated on a test at Henry Ford Early College because he was feeling pressure to succeed, the lawsuit said. He was caught and threatened with expulsion.

About a week later, the lawsuit alleges, “Fadlallah grabbed the then-sixteen-year-old by the collar with one hand and used his other hand to push him up against a wall. Defendant Fadlallah put Basheer’s shirt in a first and with force and pressure, pushed his fist against Basheer’s collar around his throat.”

During other times, Alzaba said he heard Fadlallah tell Lebanese students not to hang out with him and other Yemeni American students, according to the lawsuit, which also says Fadlallah talked about how if students were from Yemen or Bint Jbeil, a city in Lebanon, he would not help them.

Salamey would also make remarks about students’ ethnicities, calling Alzaba and other Yemeni American students “South End boys,” the lawsuit said. The South End is an area of Dearborn that has a high concentration of Yemeni Americans.

In a statement last year addressing the controversy, Dearborn Schools said it “is committed to creating a safe, inclusive, and culturally responsive school environment for all students and staff. Any claims of inappropriate behavior, intimidation, or actions taken against a staff or student based on race, religion, culture, sex, or other protected class are investigated as described in Board policy.”