NOT ARAB, NOT MUSLIM:
Iraq’s indigenous people in the US
By Diana McClure



It’s time for Americans to get up on the cultural nuances of the Middle East/Arab World. We can start with Detroit, Michigan, home of the largest population of Chaldeans in the US at 150,000. By definition Chaldeans are Iraqi Christians, more specifically Catholic, with a history that dates back 5,000 years to Mesopotamia and the Babylonians. Recognized by Rome, their Patriarch resides in Baghdad. Who knew? Chaldean’s are not Persian, Arab or Kurd. According to Martin Manna of the Chaldean News they are in fact "Iraq’s indigenous people." They could also become extinct much like the Native American population of the United States. Approximately 1 million total reside in the world.

So, next time you walk down the street, or flip through a magazine and see a "Muslim," like in GQ’s spread of Bin Laden’s niece Wafa, it should make you go hmmmm? A Chaldean exodus to participate in the car market of Detroit circa 1910, followed by a wave of immigrants in the 1960’s-1970’s, has resulted in a US Chaldean population of 1/4 million and growing.

Fast Forward to 2006, walk into any Detroit Metro area "Party Store," the equivalent of a New York City Bodega, (i.e. your local corner store) and you’re likely to find a Chaldean behind the counter or the bank account. They have a long history of cornering the "Party Store" market that goes back to the streets of Baghdad. Christian merchants were the only ones able to sell liquor due to strict Muslim laws regarding alcohol. After the Detroit Riots in the late 1960’s, many Chaldean families cashed in on the opportunity to re-build the city by purchasing grocery stores, corner stores and liquor stores.

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