ARAB AMERICANS

By: Kaylee EakerLinzi KelseyJulie Stewart Jordan Swindlehurst

ARAB AMERICANSOrigins

ARAB AMERICANS• Are among the more recent immigrants into the United States

• Did not reach America until the 1880’s

• Come from 22 countries in the middle east and northern Africa

Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, The United Arab Emirates, and Yemen

• Like other immigrants, Arabs migrated to America to have a better life for themselves and their families

• There are an estimated 4.2 million Arab Americans

ARAB AMERICANS*Interesting Fact

There were 154 Arabs on the Titanic, 29 survived

ARAB AMERICANS

Live in all 50 states, but up to 94% live in metropolitan areas. Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. are the top five metropolitan areas with Arab American populations, though there are also large numbers of Arab Americans in Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

ARAB AMERICANS

Arab Americans and Muslims have been "raced" as "terrorists": foreign, disloyal, and imminently threatening.

Although Arabs trace their roots to the Middle East and claim many different religious backgrounds, and Muslims come from all over the world and adhere to Islam,

these distinctions are blurred and negative images about either

Arabs or Muslims are often attributed to both. As Ibrahim

Hooper of the Council on American-

Islamic Relations notes,

"The common stereotypes are that we're all Arabs, we're all violent and we're all conducting a holy war."

Prejudice and Discrimination

Hollywood movies perpetuate these stereotypes.

• The Seige, which depicts the U.S. military declaring martial law and imprisoning American Muslims and Arab Americans en masse following a series of terrorist bombings, “graphically connects Islamic religious practices like prayer, ritual cleansing, ... Islamic dress and beards, and even the emblematic color green with terrorism.”

•  Rules of Engagement, in which a mob of Yemenis, including women and children, attack a U.S. embassy, has been described as uniformly negative in its depictions of Arabs in Yemen.

Germine Awad’s parents, Egyptian immigrants who owned a business in Cleveland, experienced discrimination with increased frequency in the months after 9/11. People of all ethnic backgrounds would come into their store and say things like “Your people bombed America!”

Assistant Professor Germine Awad is Egyptian American.Photo: Kae Wang

ARAB AMERICANS

ARAB AMERICANS

• Even our government has enacted official racial profiling programs, such as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, to target Arabs based on their ethnicity and national origin.

• Media pundits and conservative politicians have also made it more acceptable to make incredibly racist comments, and more often than not, get away with it.

Ann Coulter, celebrated right-wing pundit, has unabashedly supported that the government “spy on all Arabs, engage in torture as a televised spectator sport (and) drop daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East.”

• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights reports that in the years following 9/11, the number of hate crimes against Arabs increased seventeen-fold. This doesn’t include less prosecutable types of racism at schools, in the workplace and in the public sphere.

Newt Gingrich, along with a slew of other politicians and public figures, famously opposed the mosque in Manhattan by comparing those who supported freedom of religion to those who supported Nazis in World War II.

It seems like no Arab-American is safe from vicious racism and hurtful alienation.

WHAT AMERICANS THINK ABOUT

ARABS AND MUSLIMS

ARAB AMERICANS

You would think that in this day and age, this type of racism would begin to diminish as people learned to be tolerant of diversity and more sensitive of other people’s experiences. For Arabs, the trajectory has been the exact opposite. The only form of acceptable racism today is racism against Arabs, and this should not be the case. It is never acceptable to make stereotypical remarks, inappropriate jokes, or racist accusations passed as opinions

Prejudice against Arabs is not a sub-form of racism; it IS

racism.

ARAB AMERICANSTraditions

HennaHenna has been used for over thousands of years as a symbol of good luck, health, and sensuality.It’s often used to invite the good spirits (Baraka) and get rid of the bad spirits (Jnoun).Brides still decorate their hands and feet to bring good luck and fertility to the marriage.

RamadanRamadan is about purifying the body and soul. It is an entire month of fasting and spiritual reflection. If physically able, they fast from sunup to sundown for the month. Once the sun goes down they usually spend evening meals with family or the community where prayers and reflection also can be shared. It is also important to not speak ill of others, not listening to obscenities, or seeing the wrong things. Ramadan is also a great time to focus on doing charitable acts for others, especially the ones in need.

Eid al-Fitr (The Festival of Fast Breaking)This is celebrated after Ramadan on the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a three day celebration that starts on the first day of Shawwal. They get together in the morning (either in a nice outdoor location or at a mosque) for the Eid prayer. Then they end with friends and family get together for meals and giving gifts.

HajjThis is held on the twelfth month of the year and is one of the more famous traditions in the Arabic world. This is where millions of Muslims make their way to the Mecca to examine and review their spiritual lives. Every year they get the opportunity to be part of a tradition that is centuries and centuries old. The Mecca is very restricted to only Muslims.

Eid al-Adha (The festival of Sacrifice)This is a religious holiday that commemorates Abraham and Ishmael’s trial of obedience. It is held on the tenth day of the last month, just when Hajj ends. This is usually a three day celebration that starts with Eid prayer in the morning. People will visit friends and family, but it is mostly a time to show that you are willing to make sacrifices.

ARAB AMERICANS• It is important to first recognize that Arabic kids may feel very

uncomfortable in our culture. Our country is mainly driven by Christianity, which is not always their beliefs. They may not celebrate the same holidays as we do; Teachers need to be fully aware of this, especially because the other kids may bully them because of their differences.

• Help the other students understand the Arabic culture before the bullying begins. Let them know before hand that the Arabic student has different celebrations and holidays. Get with the student to set up a presentation for the class to help yourself as well as the students understand and respect the differences between Americans and Arabians.

Teacher Insights