The first story, by Martina Guzman, is about Detroit’s belly dancing scene.  Martina, a reporter for public radio station WDET, discovered that the Motor City is one of the few places in America where you can actually make a living as a belly dancer, thanks to the area’s large Middle Eastern population. Martina produced the story for our radio partner Studio 360.

In the second story, reporter Diego Graglia explores New York’s mysterious world of tango, a dance from his native Argentina.  Diego, who currently works for the Associated Press in Mexico City,  produced the story for WNYC, New York Public Radio.

Listen to the episode:

Subscribe to the Fi2W podcast on iTunes or Podbean ¦ Download this episode

Fi2W podcasts are supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundationwith additional support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Sirus Fund, and are produced in association with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and CUNY-TV.

Erick De Leon

Erick De Leon is an 18-year-old boxing star who grew up in Detroit’s Mexican community. He’s fighting to win matches–as well as his citizenship. Martina Guzman produced this radio story for Fi2W’s public radio partner WDET.

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Reporter’s Notebook

DETROIT–When Roberto Aguilar helped open the doors of a gym on the second floor of an old Veterans Hall in Southwest Detroit, he never expected to get a student who would make boxing history. His intent was simply to give Latino kids a safe haven in a neighborhood rampant with crime and a growing gang presence.

“Most importantly they’re not on the streets from four to seven, I know they’re up here and they’re safe,” Aguilar said.

A former boxer himself, Aguilar said he never intended to go into the boxing business, but he saw that Detroit’s Mexican community lacked sports outlets. Once he started looking, Aguilar found there were plenty of kids who wanted to box, so in 2001 he helped open the Southwest Boxing Gym in its present location.  Aguilar was committed to mentoring young Latinos and teaching them the discipline it takes to train. But not all of the kids that came to the gym would stay.  “Boxing is a revolving door, maybe 80 percent of the kids will go, they’ll be here for a couple of weeks,” Aguilar said.

That wasn’t the case with Erick De Leon.

Soon after Aguilar opened the gym, Erick showed up. He was a skinny eight-year-old who told Aguilar he wanted to box. Erick had started begging his father to let him box at the tender age of seven.  The senior De Leon, an immigrant from Mexico who brought Erick to the U.S. as a small child, felt he was too young and waited until his son was eight years old to indulge his whim.  Thinking he would grow out of it, the senior De Leon took him to Southwest Boxing, but once Erick began training the opposite happened–he fell in love with the sport, trained hard, and became a competitive fighter.

De Leon began competing in local tournaments almost immediately, and with the support of Aguilar he signed up for regional and national matches.  De Leon loved competing, but the costs of getting to tournaments became more and more expensive. Attending tournaments was not always easy for a day laborer with three children and a stay-at-home wife. The senior De Leon would have to take time off from his construction job and cover the cost of transportation, food and hotels.  But Aguilar was fond of Erick and began helping the senior De Leon and other boxing coaches take him to tournaments.

De Leon showed exceptional athletic ability and soon was ready for more professional training. In 2005, legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward watched De Leon knock out his opponent in the second round of a bout at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Impressed by the young Mexican immigrant’s skill, Steward went to meet him after the match.  The meeting led to Steward becoming De Leon’s trainer.  It also allowed the boy to fulfill one of his personal dreams–to meet his hero, boxing champion Oscar De la Hoya.

“I told him if he would win a national tournament that was coming up I would take him to meet Oscar in person while I was doing one of my HBO broadcasts,” Steward said.  Erick’s dedication to training paid off–while he was still in high school he won the 2008 Silver Gloves National Championship.

“And so I took him to Las Vegas, he had his suit and tie on and I had him meet with Oscar and he told Oscar, ‘You’re my hero but I’m going to be better than you,’ and Oscar liked him,” Steward said.

Back in Detroit, Aguilar is proud of the work he does and continues to train and mentor young Latinos from the city’s Mexican neighborhood, but he can’t help but light up when he talks about De Leon, his his prize pupil.

“I believe that Erick De Leon can do for Southwest Detroit what Oscar’s done for East LA. I do believe he’s that one, he’s that golden,” Aguilar said.

But Erick’s next high-stakes fight doesn’t involve gloves. He’d like to compete for the U.S. in the 2012 Olympics–but he’ll qualify only if he’s able to obtain a green card before the end of the year.  Even then, no matter how hard he punches, this talented immigrant cannot compete on a national level until he becomes a U.S. citizen.

Belly dancer. (Photo: tanakawho/flickrcc)

If you want to make a living as a belly dancer, Detroit is the place to be.  Martina Guzman,  a reporter with FI2W and WDET in Detroit,  explains why in a piece that airs this week on PRI’s Studio 360.

Listen here.

This week’s Latino USA from NPR features Kidnap Radio a documentary by Annie Correal, a reporter for FI2W and El Diario.  Click here to listen to this moving story about an episode from Annie’s childhood.

Mexican Restaurant in Detroit. (Photo: JS_Frank/Flickr)

In a metropolitan area with a staggering official unemployment rate of 15.5 percent, (though many believe it to be much higher), Detroit is not considered to be a growing commerce hub.

Yet the Latino community is booming there—and hundreds of these immigrants have opened their own food-related businesses. Demand for Mexican food has stimulated entrepreneurship and economic growth. While the city’s overall economy continues to shrink, the Mexican community is the exception, seeing a 34 percent increase in small business development in just three years.

FI2W’s Martina Guzman took a walk through Detroit’s “Mexican Town,” and produced this story for NPR’s All Things Considered.

Listen to the story.

More from Martina Guzman.

An American Crown. (Photo: Damselfly58/Flickr)

The face of the American girl is changing.

Last night, 24 year old Rima Fakih, an Arab American of Lebanese descent, beat 50 other women in the 2010 Miss USA competition. She’s believed to be the first Arab American and Muslim to win the contest.

Fakih was born in Lebanon and was brought to the United States by her parents as a small child. She grew up in New York City, and moved to Dearborn, Michigan in 2003, which has a large Arab American community.

Her new title immediately engendered a heated debate online, running the gamut from Michigan pride to furious tirades about immigrants — particularly Arabs — not being fit to represent the U.S. in this spotlight. One commenter, who’s handle is “Rooster,” wrote the following addendum to a Yahoo news article about Fakih:

“Just great, we get an immigrant for Miss USA?????? What Reall American women aren’t good enough anymore. What a Freakin’ joke.”

Fakih was interviewed two days before the contest by Ameera David, a journalist for Arab Detroit and the Global Arab Network about her identity.

AD: You are certainly navigating territory no Arab American has ever navigated before. Why do you think that is?

Rima: I think that’s most likely the case for a couple of reasons. I think many Arab Americans are skeptical considering things that happened in the country. They think that they don’t stand a chance of winning, and therefore it’s a waste of time to try. Another reason could be that they are embarrassed by what others will think about their daughter being in a beauty pageant. To me, people who think this way can’t be proud of who they are. And if you’re not proud of who you are, you won’t be able to achieve anything.

AD: How do you suppose your face being the face of Miss Michigan, and hopefully Miss USA, will affect the current image of Arab Americans?

Rima: Well, I think it would prove that Arabs don’t always try to separate themselves, but instead are integrated into American culture. It would show the world that yes, there are Arabs that are beautiful not only in looks, but also on the inside. There are Arabs that are caring, that are good people, and who love the country they live in. I think it would make the Arab image a more positive one.

Though Fakih’s Americanism was not questioned on stage, the national immigration debate did surface when runner-up Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard was asked her thoughts on Arizona’s controversial new law requiring police to verify a person’s immigration status if there’s “reasonable suspicion” they are in the country illegally. She did not shy away from the issue, clearly stating that she supports the law.

“I’m a huge believer in states’ rights. I think that’s what’s so wonderful about America. So I think it’s perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law.”

There was some speculation online afterward that Woolard’s answer didn’t jive with the political sensibility of the judges, who wanted to make a pro-immigrant rather than anti-immigrant statement, and that’s why she fell short of winning the crown.

At any rate, many in the audience were of the opinion that the beauty contest should be completely separate from politics—Judge Oscar Nunez was booed for posing the question.

If you want to make a living as a belly dancer, Detroit is the place to be.

This is according to the latest piece by Feet in 2 Worlds and WDET reporter Martina Guzmán, who explored how Arab Americans in the Motor City metropolitan area try to maintain this tradition from their home countries.

Belly dancers in Detroit are hired for weddings, christenings, nightclubs and sporting events. Martina looks at how this ancient and often misunderstood form of dance reflects cultural conflicts and cultural pride in the largest Middle Eastern community in the U.S.

The piece aired on February 22 on WDET’s The Craig Fahle Show, which you can visit here.

Press play below to listen:

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Iraqi refugees. (Photo: Chaldean Federation of America)

Prior to 2006, strict immigration policies didn’t allow refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq to enter the United States. In 2007, a more lenient “open door” policy was implemented, allowing thousands of Iraqis –15,000 in 2009 alone– to settle in the Detroit area. Now, local Arab community groups that stepped up to help the refugees say they are overwhelmed by the burden of taking care of the new arrivals.

In a recent interview on WDET’s Detroit Today, Joseph Kassab, executive director of the Chaldean Federation of America, and Abdallah Boumediene, from the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, acknowledged that the Arab community in Michigan can’t deal with the crisis by itself.

With little to no support from the local, state or federal governments, Detroit’s Middle Eastern community has to deal with providing thousands of displaced Iraqis with housing, health care, education, transportation and jobs.

Seven years after the United States declared war on Iraq, nearly two million Iraqis have claimed refugee status. Refugees have been evicted or forced to leave Iraq because of religious and ethnic persecution. As displaced Iraqis struggled to make their way into other Middle Eastern countries such as Syria and Jordan, a large influx –roughly 33,000– have recently arrived in the United States.

According to a report by Refugees International, the Iraqi refugee situation is “one of the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world.”

Because Michigan is home to the largest Middle Eastern community in the United States, various social service agencies, including the Chaldean Federation, campaigned to bring the refugees to Metro Detroit. Local Arab leaders used family unification as the main argument in their request to the State Department to bring them to Michigan. Arab leaders wanted the refugees to reconnect with family members, distant relatives, friends and other members of the community.

Kassab has been working directly with refugees and says there is also the matter of family separation.

“There are members of one family on four different continents,” he said.

Local non-profits are not only dealing with resettling the newly arrived, they’re also trying to cope with serious mental health issues suffered by many refugees. Iraqis often have had family members kidnapped, tortured or killed. Families experience depression, loneliness and the post-traumatic stress caused by living in a war-torn country.

“We deal with tragic situations and stories of people who have gone through horrendous experiences,” Boumediene said.

The agencies say they are committed to fully supporting the newly arrived, despite what they say is a lack of support from the government.

“We don’t want to re-victimize these people,” Kassab said. “These people are victims of torture, victims of persecution, victims of failed policies and therefore they should be helped.”

(Photo: Thomªs/Flickr - Click to visit photo page)

Feet in 2 Worlds reporter Martina Guzmán reported Thursday on WDET’s Detroit Today on, “techno artists who once spun records in Detroit basements, abandoned warehouses and after-hours clubs and are now considered royalty on the electronic dance club circuit in Japan and Europe.”

In her report, Martina narrates how the artists’ sound was, “influenced by automobile assembly lines and the city that now has a Spanish accent,” according to Detroit Today‘s webpage

You can listen to the piece here or visit WDET’s site for the whole show.

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The Detroit non-profit brings health care and medicines to Mirebalais, a town in Haiti. (Photo: Haiti Outreach)

Non-profit group Haiti Outreach, based out of St. Blase Church on Detroit’s east side, sends physicians and medical supplies to Mirebalais, a remote town in Haiti.

In a new piece for Detroit public radio’s Detroit Today show, Feet in 2 Worlds and WDET reporter Martina Guzmán reports on the group and its missions to Haiti, where people “will do anything to see a physician,” including standing in a mile-long line, say members Dominique Monde and Soledad Nelson.

“The relationship between both communities is mutually beneficial –reports Martina–. By helping a town in Haiti, Haitian-Americans help themselves maintain their identity.”

You can hear the piece below or visit Detroit Today’s webpage.

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Mexican Town, Detroit (Photo: Girl.in.the.D/flickr)

Nationally-syndicated radio show Latino USA featured one of FI2W reporter Martina Guzmán’s recent pieces this weekend.

You can listen to it here:
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From Latino USA‘s website:

“The numbers are bad, and they just keep coming. Home Depot reports 7,000 jobs lost, and as Circuit City closes its doors, 4,000 more disappear. Car sales haven’t been this low in 27 years, and everywhere we look there are more signs of the times. In south Boston, Esther’s Country Kitchen leaves a note on the door reading, ‘Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel is being turned off.’ Still, Americans continue to look for a bright spot. Some are finding a glimmer in what might seem to be a surprising place: immigrant neighborhoods.

“As part of Latino USA’s ongoing series focused on immigrants, New American Voices, we take a look at Detroit, and the dynamics of immigrant businesses inside their communities and beyond. Though Michigan’s unemployment rate is hovering at 10%, and people are leaving the state in droves, there is also an influx of immigrants. Martina Guzman reports on one community in Detroit that is holding the torch for Michigan with energy and undeniable growth.”

You can also listen to a conversation between Latino USA anchor María Hinojosa and John Austin of the New Economy Initiative For South East Michigan about how immigrant businesses help the city’s economy.

The interview is on this page, where you can also listen to the whole show.