Two Metro Detroit Activists to be Awarded for Peace Efforts

posted on: Apr 14, 2009

Two activists in the Arab-American community are receiving awards for their efforts to spread peace.

The Wayne State University Center for Peace and Conflict studies is honoring Ron Amen of the Arab American National Museum, the Palestine Office-Michigan and the Office of Interfaith Outreach at the Islamic Center of America, as a Community Peacemaker.

The presentation will be made during a reception May 14 at the Next Energy building in Detroit.

“No one gets into this line of activity thinking about some kind of plaque or medal or something like that” said Amen, who provided community outreach before his retirement from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and as a community liaison for Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. “A course I took at the Wayne State center 10 years ago sort of put me on the path of taking a more aggressive stance toward the idea that there are other ways to solve problems rather than some of the trouble we see going on.”

The Center for Peace and Conflict Studies is for the first time uniting with the Cranbrook Peace Foundation to present its annual peace lecture at the reception. This year, international development economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University will deliver the foundation’s annual peace lecture at the event. Sachs is a native of Detroit.

Also, the Pathways to Peace Foundation is presenting Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, with its Reuniting the Children of Abraham Peacemaker award. The award is to be announced Tuesday during a news conference at the ADC offices on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn.

“Imad has done what others say is impossible,” said Brenda Naomi Rosenberg, president of the foundation and the founder of Reuniting Children of Abraham. “He has worked to create understanding and bridge divides during even the more volatile times of conflict between the Jewish and Arab communities.”

Hamad said the award is especially important because of Rosenberg and her organization.

“She is a very passionate ambassador of peace and one of the people who will accept another opinion and continue to move forward with you,” Hamad said. “Regardless of the depth of anger and resentment, we can still talk to each other as humans and friends,” he said. “It is all about understanding.”

Gregg Krupa
The Detroit News