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Unity in diversity, prosperity in peace For more than three million Arab-Americans – 80 percent of them born and raised in the United States – the events of 9/11 had a particularly painful resonance. There was, and no doubt continues to be, frustration regarding the prevailing lack of understanding of their cultural heritage. The marginalization that many Arab-Americans have sadly experienced in greater or lesser degrees because of “guilt by association” with the perpetrators of the 9/11 crime must be doubly hard to endure, since it issues from their own country, the place where they feel they belong. I doubt there’s a single immigrant group in America – whether Italian, Polish, Irish, German, Salvadorian, Cuban, Chinese, Vietnamese or any other – that has not felt the barbs of discrimination, or been made to feel it had to fight for its place and identity in American society, which is in fact a mosaic of nations. The trick has always been to “fit in” while maintaining one’s dignity and identity. This has never been an easy compromise, as the children of immigrant families almost always recall. Few, however, have faced a task so littered with obstacles as groups perceived to be America’s enemies, by virtue of birth rather than actions. The treatment of Japanese-American citizens during and following World War II stands as a regrettable example of a democratic nation’s failure to honor its own values. Now, in the “war against terror,” Arab-Americans are in the difficult position of having not only to defend their innocence but to meanwhile serve as cultural ambassadors, to “humanize” the image of Arabs and replace stereotypes with real people, real colleagues, neighbors and friends – in short, to continue being who they are and always have been against a background of misunderstanding and, at times, hostility. It’s a source of consolation that Arab-Americans have recourse to the assistance of well-established groups like the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), founded in 1980 by US Senator James Aburezk. This prominent civil-rights organization is deeply involved in legal issues affecting the community, and thanks to ADC efforts, the list of Arab-origin detainees was released amid widespread public outcry against infringements of quintessential human rights. The organization has also filed suits against airlines for racial profiling. AmCham Egypt delegates met with ADC president Dr.
Ziad Asali in Washington last May to talk about possible avenues
of cooperation. Recently, we were honored to welcome him, along
with Ahmed Chabbani, chairman of the Americas Arab Chamber of Commerce,
and other Arab-American community leaders, in Cairo, for a breakfast
before their September 4 meeting with the Arab League. While Arab-American organizations have miles to go before they approach the clout of America’s Jewish community, they should be encouraged and supported. Groups like the ADC and the AAI are actively conveying a legitimate, moderate Arab point of view at a time when the leaders of Arab nations themselves seem unable to join forces to confront the region’s difficulties. Last month, as America remembered 9/11, an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, called “A Community of Many Worlds, Arab-Americans in New York City,” illustrated the many participatory threads of Arab-origin citizens in the life of the city. It was a timely event, one that hopefully reminded some people that America’s strength has always been its diversity. Indeed, the motto e pluribus unum (“out of many, one”) that appears on dollar bills is deeply meaningful, not only for America’s prosperity but for our own as well. Mohamed Mansour |
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