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Rashida Tlaib, the sharp-talking state representative from Southwest Detroit, doesn't care for pretense or euphemism -- particularly involving a man she says harassed her at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
In blunt social media posts, she tries to lift a cover story about Imad Hamad's departure from the group Friday -- cast as a retirement by national leaders and a Free Press article.
"Retired? I think he means fired," Tlaib says on Twitter and Facebook.
Last Sunday in Washington, D.C., the legislator and 2014 Michigan Senate hopeful was among protesters outside an annual ADC benefit concert at George Washington University titled "Turaath: Celebrating Arab Culture in America." She accuses national leaders of responding slowly and improperly to complaints against Hamad from female interns and staff members at the state chapter office in Dearborn.
ADC, founded in 1980, calls itself "the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the United States."
In her Facebook post late Friday, Tlaib elaborates on her reaction to Hamad's replacement by 32-year-old Dearborn attorney Fatina Abdrabboh:
It is unbelievable that he does not see how much harm he caused the victims, a 30-year-plus civil rights organization & our community. His actions, along with his ADC boys club (National Board's Executive Board), was terribly wrong. People lost their jobs, friends and some were attacked via social media.
I hope they did not pay him too much to go away because they will need all the resources possible to restore this much needed organization's reputation & to regain the trust of those that helped build it. I pray that Fatina has the strength to fight the poison of the good ole boys club in DC.
Friday night article:
Things are dramatically different at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's state branch, based in Dearborn.
The 52-year-old man who has led it since 1997 is out, replaced by a 32-year-old woman after interns and others accused him of sexual harassment.
Imad Hamad, saying he's "very determined to continue my role and service, vows to disclose "another avenue of serving our people . . . in the near future."
Niraj Warikoo of the Free Press follows up on a story she broke five months ago:
Imad Hamad, the longtime director of the Michigan office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), retired today [Friday]. After 17 years with the biggest Arab-American civil rights group, Hamad will no longer be with an organization that made him nationally known. . . .
Hamad will be replaced by Fatina Abdrabboh, 32, a Dearborn attorney. . . .
As first reported by the Detroit Free Press in June, several women came forward earlier this year to say that Hamad sexually harassed or assaulted them over the years he served as head of the Michigan office of the ADC. Hamad was accused of attacking both female employees and women who came to him seeking help from anti-Arab bias. . . . Hamad was accused of harassing or attacking at least 15 women. . . .
Hamad’s retirement comes after mounting pressure in recent weeks for him to leave.
Abdrabboh, a specialist in child custody cases, has degrees from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.
"I realize much has happened in the last year," she says in a statement on the committee's Facebook page, "and I hope to be a force for positive change and a recommitment to the principles upon which ADC was founded.”
On his Facebook post, the departee takes a not-done-yet stance. Here's part of what he posted Friday evening:
It is time for me to move on towards another avenue of serving our people. Plans will be revealed in the near future. Make no mistake that I take pride of my work and contributions. I am very determined to continue my role and service.
Earlier coverage:
