Sometimes this trend sparks tension. But many suburbanites greet this growing diversity with open hearts. Today we profile three such people. Their backgrounds vary. But each strives to advance harmony and understanding among all people.
Some immigrants come to Detroit to strike it rich.
But Azar Alizadeh believes the American dream means more than just making money. The quiet native of Tehran, the capital of Iran, came to Detroit with her husband, Hormoz, in the early 1970s. They opened a rug importing business from their home in Ann Arbor and, around 1980, opened the first of three stores in downtown Birmingham. Today, Azar's, a large showroom with piles of colorful and intricately designed rugs crafted in Asia and the Middle East, is a fixture on Old Woodward in downtown Birmingham. But Alizadeh's entrepreneurial success has not blinded her to the racial divisions that bedevil her country.