Francis Wilkinson, Columnist

Michigan City Shows Vulnerability of Democrats’ Multiracial Coalition

Hamtramck was heralded when it became the first US city with a majority-Muslim city council. Last month it banned the flying of Pride flags on city property.

July 19, 2023 at 1:00 PM UTC

By Francis Wilkinson

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US politics and policy. Previously, he was executive editor for the Week and a writer for Rolling Stone.

Protesters opposing the City of Hamtramck, Michigan’s recent resolution banning the flying of LGBTQ+ flags on city property, demonstrate at City Hall on June 24, 2023. — Protesters opposing the City of Hamtramck, Michigan’s recent resolution banning the flying of LGBTQ+ flags on city property, demonstrate at City Hall on June 24, 2023.
Photographer: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images North America

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Hamtramck, Michigan, a city of 28,000 just north of Detroit, is a case study in the promise and perils of American pluralism, and a window on the political forces working to destroy it.

A working-class enclave that’s home to thousands of Muslim immigrants from Yemen and Bangladesh, Hamtramck made news in 2015 when it became the first US city with a majority-Muslim city council. At a time when Donald Trump was falsely claiming to have witnessed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center, Hamtramck’s political trajectory seemed a renunciation of the bigotry and lies engulfing the Republican presidential primary.