(Detroit Free Press) The protest began with a prayer.
On a Sunday afternoon last month in Dearborn, Nagi Almudhegi took the stage to address the crowd gathered outside Henry Ford Centennial Library to demonstrate against some LGBTQ books in Dearborn Public Schools’ libraries.
“I’d like to start off first of all with a prayer,” Almudhegi said. “And I’m going to read, recite the chapter on Fatiha (opening of Quran) in Arabic and then I will read the English translation.”
As he spoke, some in the crowd held up signs denouncing books and educational materials in the public schools that they believe are too explicit for children. “Stop brainwash our children,” read the sign of a woman cloaked in a robe. “Quit grooming students, you sexually perverted animals,” read another placard held up by Wadeea Yassir, a Dearborn resident who was one of hundreds at the Sept. 25 rally, mostly Muslim.
