Upon visiting the Dearborn community, a well-known and highly regarded public speaker once called this small city in southeast Michigan a “sleeping giant”. He would go on to repeat this phrase time and again throughout his lectures, and would eventually leave his hometown for Dearborn in a sincere attempt to awaken this “sleeping giant”.

I wonder how he’s doing.

Well, giant or no giant, Dearborn is definitely growing into a giant. In recent years, it has attracted national and international attention. Such events as the annual Arab-American Festival and TLC’s controversial reality show All-American Muslim sparked discussion in both local and national circles. In the shadow of the tragedy of 9/11, the Dearborn community inspired such labels as “Hezbollah High”, “Dearbornistan”, and “Sharia Law” from outsiders. The nation continues to shed its spotlight on Dearborn, for reasons at times not all too flattering, other times remarkably inaccurate, and others yet, though not entirely true,