Source: Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/arab5_20030705.htm
On July 5, 2003 the Detroit Free Press reported that "for the hundreds of thousands of Muslims in metro Detroit, Independence Day is all the more symbolic this year. As Muslims gather in mosques near Warren Avenue or in family homes in West Bloomfield for the weekly Muslim holy day, they salute their two heritages -- one more than a millennium old, the other born in 1776... For recent college graduate, Nina Bazzy-Aliahmad, July 4 is as much a tradition as hajj. 'I've been celebrating the Fourth of July since I was in diapers. I never miss Fourth of July weekend. We look forward to it every year... I can't ever imagine not celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas. I know I'm not Christian, but I celebrate it. It's part of being an American...' The 22-year-old Lebanese-American had planned to attend an outing for more than two dozen relatives at a Grosse Pointe Shores park, but Mother Nature ignored the prayers of local meteorologists and stormed through metro Detroit. The barbecue was moved to her mother-in-law's house, but the food -- hummus, tabouli, shish kebab and kafta -- was still served on flag plates on matching tablecloths."