The Assyrian Democratic Organization
By Niraj
Detroit – WarikooDetroit Free Press — Alarmed at the increasing persecution of religious minorities inside their native land, Iraqi-American Christians will rally Saturday in Southfield to call for peace and the protection of their brethren.
“We could be witnessing the extinction of this community in the next few years,” said Dave Nona of West Bloomfield, who chairs the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce. “I’m truly concerned about the plight of Christians and other minorities inside Iraq.” The rally is the first local Iraqi Christians have organized in several years.
It comes as their relatives inside Iraq are facing increased threats from Islamic extremists to leave their homes and convert to Islam or be killed. Some in metro Detroit have had relatives kidnapped. Other family members have been forced to wear Islamic head scarves and pay burdensome taxes to Muslims known as jizya.
A Catholic priest and his assistants were shot dead in Mosul, Iraq, after Sunday mass earlier this month. “If things keep going the way they are, there won’t be any Christians left,” said Eddie Bacall, 53, of West Bloomfield, who plans to attend the rally. Bacall and others say they have heard reports of increased abductions and daughters being forced to marry Muslim men.
“We want to make sure people are aware of what’s going on before it’s too late,” Bacall said. The rally will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. outside the Southfield Civic Center, off Evergreen Road. Iraqi-American Muslims have held numerous rallies in metro Detroit in recent years. But this is the first time that Iraqi Christians — known as Chaldeans, Assyrians and Syriacs — have rallied in Michigan since the start of the Iraq war in 2003.
Jacoub Mansour, a doctor from West Bloomfield, plans to attend. Three of his cousins were kidnapped over the past year, one of them badly beaten. “It’s getting really, really bad,” he said.
