BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
When Kazi Miah came to the United States 20 years ago from Bangladesh, he didn’t speak a word of English.
Now, he’s a successful politician who is to be one of three Bangladeshi-American Muslims on Hamtramck, Michigan’s six-member City Council, a percentage that Muslim advocates said they believe is the highest Muslim representation in a U.S. municipality.
Miah, 30, received the most votes in Tuesday’s council election. Mohammed Hassan also won a council seat. They join Councilman Shahab Ahmed, whose seat was not up for re-election.
“This is what the American dream is all about,” Miah said Wednesday. “I’m living it.”
His victory represents a shift in the ethnic and religious composition of Hamtramck, previously known as a Polish Catholic enclave. It’s now increasingly populated by Muslim residents with roots in Bosnia,Yemen and Bangladesh.
Another Muslim candidate, Abdul Algazali, who is of Yemeni descent, lost Tuesday by only 123 votes in Hamtramck’s mayoral election to incumbent Karen Majewski, who is Polish American.
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