COVER STORY CHALDEAN TOWN continued from page 21 the indoor odor was distinct, with the occasional exceptions upon opening the back kitchen door to allow for a short breeze. The Raid The Chai-khanas were a social magnet and the gambling mecca of their time, long before the arrival of MotorCity, MGM, and Greektown Casinos in Detroit, and were often a target for police from the second precinct across Woodward Avenue. On a cold December night in the late seventies, police officers raided one of the crowded coffee houses looking for local gamblers and bookies. They came in large groups, surrounding the building and placing police dogs by the front and back doors. Inside, the authorities set a table and one-by-one searched the crowd, collecting their cash and jewelry (including many gold crosses) and issuing receipts for the confiscated items. A few patrons attempted to escape through the back door, but the dogs were waiting for them, ready to attack. They quickly returned to join their friends that were stranded facing the wall. Chaldeans fear dogs more than police! As the squad was about to wrap up their job collecting the trophies, one of the men turned to his poker friend and said, “I have $600 hidden in my socks, I keep them safe and away from the inspections by my wife. What should I do?” The wise friend said, “Why did you not declare them? Call the police back and they will give you a receipt.” The honest man shouted to the police as they were leaving, “Sir, I have $600 in my socks, do you want them? The police officer, stunned by the unexpected declaration, reportedly said, “Give it to me, you MFer, and here is your receipt!” Saddam Hussein and Sacred Heart Strangely enough, one of Chaldean Town’s earliest and most notable boosters was Saddam Hussein, the infamous dictator of Iraq. Fr. Yasso, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, congratulated Hussein in 1979 on his new presidency and told him that he was going to name the church after him and place his initials on its Steve and Joseph Kada stand outside their store. It may not be open much longer. walls. The initials went up, but in reality, S.H. stood for “Sacred Heart.” That misleading flattery prompted the dictator to send the church a check for $250,000. Later, when the pastor went to Baghdad and told Hussein of his church’s debt, he got another $200,000, which helped pay off the bank loan and build the Chaldean Center of America next door to the church. And for that, Detroit Mayor Coleman Young awarded Saddam Hussein the key to the city of Detroit! In 1974, Fr. Yasso organized and held the only Palm Sunday parade on Charleston Road, like the one celebrated by the Christians in Iraq. It was a festive event on a rainy day that attracted people from around the area who walked together from their homes to Sacred Heart Church. Yasso also had a head for business and opened a language school with a local partner to teach English. Sacred Heart closed in 2015, as the local Chaldean population was very thinned out, and so it moved to a new facility in Warren, still named Sacred Heart. The Burning of Al-Hadaf Al-Hadaf (“The Objective” in Arabic) was a weekly newspaper first published in Detroit in September 1970. It was located on 7 Mile Road near Sacred Heart Church between John R. and Woodward Avenue. It was a neighborhood paper but concerned itself with a wide range of cultural, social, and political subjects that were relevant at the time. Al-Hadaf editor Fouad Manna (Abo Gibran) recalls an incident that occurred in the early seventies when members of the of the Ba’ath party in Detroit contacted him and offered a large amount of financial aid to support his magazine. Of course, this support was not without strings. They wanted his support for the policy of the Ba’ath in Iraq. They did not receive it. The paper was subjected to many intimidations by the regime’s agents deployed among the Arab expatriates. Manna remained steadfast and unaffected by the hostile foes and refused to bend his principles and bow his head to them, going on to expose their policies, agents, and the corruption dollars that they were distributing in Detroit. In this regard, Manna says, “Truthfully, had it not been for the existence of the Iraqi Democratic Union in Detroit, and its honorable stand in the early 1980s against the Ba’ath Party, and lessons it taught to its agents within our community, the Ba’athists would have been dominant to this day within the Iraqi community in Detroit.” There was a case of escalation and intimidation in 1971, when an FBI agent called the Al-Hadaf office and asked Fouad Manna, “Sir, do you know Dawood Khami? He has received a postcard from Moscow. Is he a spy? Come to a meet me at this address...” Manna called a Palestinian attorney who advised him not to go, it could be a trick. He did not go, and a half hour after the appointment time, the agent called again and asked, “Why did you not show up?” Manna’s answer was, “If you need anything, come to the print shop.” The agent showed up at the print shop and showed his badge. After a quick search of the place, he asked, “Do you know John (Hanna) Yatouma? Is he your friend? He publishes a newspaper; is he a local communist?” The next day, still intimidated by the FBI agent’s visit, Abo Gibran wrote a critical editorial. Within days, he received a threating call stating that the print shop would be shut down. Two weeks later, the print shop was burned to the ground. There were three suspects, including a man called “Johnny Mafia.” It was determined that Mafia was the mastermind; he was sentenced to 7 years in jail but fled to Iraq after posting bail. It came out that the group had contracted an African American to do the job for $100. Johnson, who was caught burning the store of Naiem Yatouma, confessed to the arson and other crimes as well. Manna did not have insurance at the time, and this was a huge loss and financial setback. To add insult to injury, the FBI agent investigating the case disclosed that the 7 Mile priest was behind the arson. Journalist Yousif Nadhir authored a blazing article about this arson titled, “The Coward Burns Al-Hadaf Print Shop.” The article added even more flame to the fire and caused a major stir. The Riots The 1967 riots and downfall of the automobile industry created new conditions in the city of Detroit and Chaldean Town. Worsening Black-white relations boiled over into violence, proving to be another turning point for the growing community; Chaldeans assumed the operations of grocery stores abandoned by white business owners during the city’s infamous “White Flight.” As many of the area’s wealthy CHALDEAN TOWN continued on page 24 22 CHALDEAN NEWS <strong>JUNE</strong> <strong>2023</strong>
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