FLINT -- Racial tensions reached a new high in Flint this week with controversial comments from a long-time community activist and former elected official. It happened at a forum hosted by the NAACP’s Flint chapter Monday, where families of stabbing victims questioned police about what they knew and when they knew it.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, former State Representative Vera Rison said, “It’s not black and white anymore. There’s another race of people in this community.” To many Arab-Americans, it was a clear shot targeting them. Mona Sahouri was furious. She is the executive director of the Arab-American Heritage Council.
“He (Elias Abuelazam) does not represent the Arab-American community,” she said. “That’s like saying if someone from the African-American community robbed somebody, that’s classifying all of the African-Americans as a bunch of robbers and gang members. I wouldn’t stand for that,” she added.
Sahouri said a healing dialogue will begin in the coming days between her and Rison. This comes on top of community discussions hosted by the Council in the last few weeks, as news of the serial stabber developed.
Meanwhile Rison could not be reached for comment as of Wednesday. NBC25 also contacted the Flint chapter of the NAACP for comment, but officials refused to comment before their next meeting with organization members.
