The Arab Minority in America
Arab American is a long and proud history. Arab
Americans have made significant contributions to society. They are
doctors, lawyers, and educators to name just a few. What I’ll be
discussing will be not only their contributions to society, but their
stereotypes as well.
To start off, Arab Americans have been assimilated into
the American culture and society over the past hundred plus years.
During this time there has been general loss of their historical culture.
As generations continue to thrive, it was noticed that Arab Americans
was losing touch with their past. An idea was formed ten years ago to
create a cultural center where Arab Americans could go to study their
heritage. These studies would include language and many other
aspects of the Arab culture. The hardest part of this venture would be
funding.
Through years of fundraising, lobbying on capital hill and donations,
the Arab American cultural center will become a reality in Houston
Texas. When the cultural center opens in 2001, it will be the
culmination of many hard years of work and sacrifice to give Arab
Americans a way to reflect on their past, present and future.
Arab Americans have been stereotyped for
many, many years and are still undergoing the same treatment. In
movies they are depicted as terrorists. In society as a whole they are
seen as cab drivers and convenience store clerks (7-eleven). While
Arab Americans do occupy some of these positions, so do whites and
blacks. It is unfair to depict them in such an negative aspect because
their contributions are much greater to society as a whole. Another
stereotype is linking all Arab Americans to terrorist activities. Only
.1% of Arab Americans has been linked with their counterparts in
Southeast Asia. This is yet another typical yet unfair stereotype. Arab
Americans are also thought of as being a large population in the prison
system. This is the worst stereotype of them all. Arab Americans
make up only 2 percent of the overall prison population in the United
States. I think this could stem from the older generation of Arab
Americans pasting down their customs of what was done to thieves in
Has the New York Times negatively stereotyped Arab Muslims for the past forty years? The goal of this research project is to reveal the negative stereotypes directed towards Arab Muslims in the New York Times. The critical focus of the research is the consistency of the negative stereotypes. The underlying focus is what theoretical and historical effects result from the negative stereotypes.
Sabbagh, S. J., & American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, W. C. (1990). Sex, Lies, & Stereotypes: The Image of Arabs in American Popular Fiction. ADC Issue Paper No. 23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
... another post 9/11. Furthermore, through both Amaney Jamal excerpt Civil Liberties and the Otherization of Arab and Muslim Americans (chapter four), and Nadine Naber excerpt Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations (Introduction), we see just how this clash came about pre and post 9/11. That while the aftermath of 9/11 saw the rise in the racialization of Muslim and Arab Americans, we must not forget that these groups of people were not so much invisible due to the fact that America (i.e. “dominant mainstream” (Jamal 119)) has always viewed those they deem as “other” (i.e. minority) as inferior. Due to this framework, they have racialized any group of people that are not considered American as “other.” However (as stated) following an event like 9/11, the racialization of Muslims and Arabs Americans became perpetuated more so; and at an even more dangerous level.
For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about Islam. In this case, the imaginary cause against Muslims is terrorism. The wound has healed in the heart of the U.S. but the aching throb of terrorism continues to distress citizens every day.
The first type of stereotyping we’ll look at is racial stereotyping towards Middle Eastern people. First, Americans from Middle Eastern descent are often depicted as belly dancers and oil sheiks. For example Aladdin is shown in the movie with his belly button exposed. This is a false image of Middle Eastern people today and even in the past. Another stereotype is that Arabs all live and the desert and ride camels. This angers many Arabs because that is not the lifestyle they live at all. Lastly many Arabs in movies and shows are shown as villains and terrorists. Not every Arab person is bad so why show them as bad people. These stereotypes are unfair to the Arab culture.
The Arab American community The Arab American community has a population of about 1.8 million Arab descendants or immigrants that has been residing in the US since 1980, they are coming from different parts of the Middle east such as Sudan,Syria,Irak, Morocco, Jordania, Palestine, Somalia, Egypt and Lebano. They began to arrive in Michigan after Detroit in 1967, today is a huge the Arabic American is a huge community in that area of Michigan, They tend to maintain their culture and characterize as being a united community. They are financial support each other through community and religious organizations, they share their resources with other family or community members, here in the Middle East as well, helping their relatives that’s staying in their country to buy land and build houses and establish agricultural business. The Arabic community tends to naturalize as American Citizens, getting involved in the political activity that makes them one of the cultures that enhance in the assimilation process.
" Do any of us ever choose the life we live?" A question many people may spend hours answering. Truth be told, no we do not. When we all are born, we don't choose who our parents will be, where will we be born, in what class will we live in, how will we look like, and when in time will we be living. All these things are faith and destiny that God has picked for us. The only things that we have control over are choosing where we end up as individuals. Something that confuses me sometimes is even though we never picked the beginning of our lives, we still get discriminated or in other words ranked. One of the stories I recently read was about how a man was discriminated differently in his life as society was evolving around him. The story was called "Khlalah SEL," by an Emirati writer by the name of Abd Al-Hameed Ahmad. In this analytical essay, I will be explaining how this man by the name of "Khlalah" was discriminated and how he deals with it.
Jack Shaheen’s essay “The Media’s Image of Arabs” explains how the media has birthed false images of Arabs. The media continues to maintain stereotypes of Arabs. The majority of Arab characters shown on the television are rarely shown as victims or ordinary people (Shaheen 85). If America were a melting pot, it would show diversity in a positive way. There would be more acceptance of Middle Eastern immigrants and their descendants. Likewise, Americans would be more accepting of all cultures that inhabit America. As a melting pot, the numerous cultures, races and individuals of America should blend together as a whole (Merriam-Webster). Though, America today is not blended. Americans as a group are not a whole, but they are made up of different groups sectioned off by invisible boundaries. In order for America to be the “melting pot” it is claimed to be, Ameri...
“I’d love it if American kids were listening to Muslim music.” (Brian Eno). It is rare to hear Muslim music because it is not as famous as other ethnic music, this may be because of the lack of publicity that Muslim culture gets by society. The incidents of hate crimes towards Muslim-Americans after 2001 have increased tremendously according to the FBI statistics. Muslim-Americans and Sikh-Americans shared personal stories of being discriminated and feeling pariahs after the incident of 9/11. Muslims-Americans have become pariahs after 9/11 since there is an increase of incidents and discrimination towards them provoked by the morality in society.We should change this problem in today’s society towards Muslim-Americans by speaking up, exposing the problem, and encouraging a nation that embraces equality and justice for all.
The United States of America: once a small colony, now one of the world’s most powerful nations; a nation that has been fraught with wars, protests and continuous conflicts between religion and state. This essay will investigate the relationship between the religion and state, discuss the states declaration’s about this relationship and the practice of these declarations. Americans, after the September 11 attacks, have marginalised the Muslim community, which is largely due to their Christian origins and misinterpretations of Islam.
Through our readings of the Mexicans in the U.S. and the African-American experience modules, we begin to understand the formation of identity through the hardships minorities faced from discrimination. In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the ideas of identity shown through the readings. These two modules exemplify the theme of identity. We see how Blacks and Latinos tried to find their identity both personally and as a culture through the forced lifestyles they had to live.
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.
This paper focuses on hate crime and discrimination against Arab Americans and Muslim. After 9/11 incidents, “hate crime and discrimination against Arab American have decreased, but the number of violent crimes against Arab Americans remains higher than before 9/11.” These days we see discrimination against Arab and Muslims and all that comes with assault, murder, rape, harassment, or verbal abuse. What does a hate crime mean in all these different worlds? Hate crime is a criminal act against victims and it’s usually violent act, which depends on his or her prejudice membership in a social group.
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
Letter to Any Would-be Terrorists by Naomi Shihab Nye is protest literature, targeting possible would-be terrorists with the main goal of fighting the discriminatory injustice faced by Arab-Americans following the action of some individual Arabs after 9/11. In her letter Naomi Shihab Nye describes how proud she thinks Arabs should be about their origins and using that feeling and idea, exhibits as an example her own family’s living style to show to her audience the immensity and richness of the Arab community. She thinks Arab definitively should be proud of their heritage. She talks about her Palestinian father who has been defying the word terrorist from the Arabic community to her American mother, who as she stat...