Elissa Mugianis

Michigan school closes its doors to Palestinian voices



In mid February of 2007 two Palestinian, nonviolent human-rights activists, Mohammad Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal, were in the Detroit area as part of a national tour. The Roeper School, located in the Detroit suburbs of Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, with a body of 630 gifted students from preschool to 12th grade, was contacted to host the speakers. The school seemed to be an ideal place for Khatib and Abu Haikal to give their presentations as its philosophy has an “optimistic and humanistic view of life,” with a commitment to justice, non-violence, and “accepting one’s obligation to make the world a better place for everyone.”