Granite Falls, WA is a town of approximately 2,400 in northwest Washington state. According to the 2000 census, 90% of the population of the city is white. The town was incorporated in 1903 and for much of its history was a logging and mining center. You may think that this town is as redneck as it gets (especially if you've been there!). But the people of Granite Falls have done something I think is extraordinary and inspiring, and what's even better, Ronald Reagan helped make this happen:
Granite Falls residents are suspicious of any newcomers, let alone a Muslim native of Pakistan who moved to this rugged, blue-collar mining town to open his own bar.
But 54-year-old Haroon Saleem has thrived, winning over the town with hard work and an easy smile. He has become so popular that, on Nov. 3, he won the mayor's job in a landslide, getting 61 percent of the more than 800 votes cast - a result that residents say would have been inconceivable not long ago.
In the aftermath of the Ft. Hood shootings and the re-welling of the anti-Muslim rhetoric from the conservative reactionaries, this little redneck, mountain town looks past Haroon Saleem's ethnicity to see what kind of person he is, not the color of his skin or the way his family practices religion. If you read the linked story, one of its residents is quoted as saying that Granite Falls has a hard time accepting people from Everett, a large city just west of it, much less accepting someone from across the world.
Saleem's story is inspiring, and reflective of so many who immigrated to America:
He emigrated from Rawalpindi, a city next to Islamabad, Pakistan's capital - where his father's business tanked and family feuds were a constant worry - to work in Iran as a seaman and then to the U.S. in 1979 on a visitor visa. When the visa expired, he decided to risk staying in the country.
In Los Angeles, Saleem made a living driving cabs - a time, he says, in which he struggled with a gambling problem. While living in San Francisco, he married a girlfriend, then fled after immigration authorities moved to expel him. They divorced soon after.
Here's where Reagan comes in:
He candidly admits to overstaying his visitor's visa and at one point, moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles to stay ahead of immigration officials. In 1987, when then-President Reagan extended amnesty to undocumented immigrants, Haroon became a legal resident and won his citizenship in 1995.
Saleem ultimately ended up owning the Timberline Cafe, a bar in Granite Falls. This year, he survived a primary election to challenge the mayor of Granite Falls in the general election. Then incumbent mayor, Lyle Romack, was having an integrity problem:
A state audit earlier this year found that Mayor Romack had double-billed the city for almost $400 in mileage reimbursements and couldn't provide documentation to support more than $2,000 in travel expenses. The city also was faulted for missing records, failure to seek competitive bids for city equipment, and failure to record utility payments in a timely manner.
That certainly doesn't smell right, and it rubbed the voters of Granite Falls the wrong way.
In this time when so much hate is directed at the "other," its truly inspiring to me that a member of one of the most high profile ethnic groups in this country today could be accepted by his community in this way. The former "illegal alien" expresses something I love deeply about America:
"To minorities, America's a great place, you can achieve whatever you want to. That's the American dream. That's why millions of people have come here and want to come here," Saleem says.