Arab-America

by Peter Ryan

In a last desperate attempt to smear presidential candidate Barack Obama, the McCain campaign brought up Obama's "ties" to professor, author and historian Rashid Khalidi.

Liberal pundits have charged back that John McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute when it provided grants worth $500,000 to the Center for Palestine Research and Studies which Khalidi co-founded. It was apparently the only group conducting Palestinian polling at the time (apparently, even polling data, normally seen as fairly dry topic, becomes scandalous when you put the word "Palestinian" in front of it).

Both political camps in this fight are correct. McCain helped grant money to a Khalidi associated group to conduct polling and research and Obama participated in events and met with Khalidi.

Now the important question: So what?

Why do we care what connections the candidates have to Rashid Khalidi? Is he a terrorist? Is he anti semitic? Is he a radical? Well, actually, no. Far from it.

In a recent article in Harper's magazine, the New McCarthyism, Scott Horton offers this perspective on Khalidi, a public figure whose career he has followed attentively for a number of years:

Rashid Khalidi is an American academic of extraordinary ability and sharp insights. He is also deeply committed to stemming violence in the Middle East, promoting a culture that embraces human rights as a fundamental notion, and building democratic societies. In a sense, Khalidi’s formula for solving the Middle East crisis has not been radically different from George W. Bush’s: both believe in American values and approaches. However, whereas Bush believes these values can be introduced in the wake of bombs and at the barrel of a gun, Khalidi disagrees. He sees education and civic activism as the path to success, and he argues that pervasive military interventionism has historically undermined the Middle East and will continue to do so. Khalidi has also been one of the most articulate critics of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority—calling them repeatedly on their anti-democratic tendencies and their betrayals of their own principles.

Americans of Middle Eastern decent use humor to raise awareness about the harmful effects of prejudice. Watch:

by Peter Ryan

It would be racist not to vote for Obama simply because he is black. Wouldn't it be equally racist not to vote for Obama because he was "Arab"?

If we needed any further evidence that prejudice against those of Arab descent has become the last publicly acceptable form of racism in American society, we have only to turn our attention to developments in the Presidential campaign these past few weeks. The most hostile attacks lobbed against Senator Obama? He's a Muslim. He's an Arab. He has a foreign name.

Above: A collection of photoshopped images on the web trying to peg Obama as a Muslim or an Arab and a T-shirt emphasizing his full name.

Obama, in fact, is not an Arab. Nor is he a Muslim. He is a Christian with a deeply rooted faith in Jesus Christ which he speaks of openly, as he did at the Saddleback Forum. At the forum, Rick Warren, one of the most influential evangelicals of his day, expressed a deep admiration and personal affinity for both Senator Obama and Senator McCain.

But what worries me most is not that the presidential elections have gone negative. It's not that some candidates feel that they can get away with completely baseless accusations and inneundos. What really worries me is not the campaign itself but what the campaign has revealed: there is a big chunk of this country that still feels it's okay to be racist as long as their targets are Arab. And there is a even bigger chunk of this country that sees any Muslim, regardless of their world view or ideology, as "an enemy."

by James Zogby

Today my office issued the following statement, which includes my comments:

Dr. James Zogby says, "Enough is enough!"

Washington D.C. - October 11, 2008 -We are disturbed by the degree to which 'Arab' has become the metaphorical mud to sling against your opponent. This week, for example the Republican Jewish Coalition released a document in which they use the term Pro-Arab as a pejorative accusation. For his part, Rush Limbaugh has joined in by declaring that Obama is in fact an Arab American. Then, on Friday, after a supporter called Senator Barak Obama "an Arab", Senator John McCain came to the defense of of his political opponent by saying, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man and citizen..." From this we are left to infer that an Arab man is less then a "decent family man."

Dr. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, says, "Enough is enough! From the beginning of this campaign there have been those who have used Muslim and Arab in an effort to smear Barak Obama. This exploitation of bigotry and the stoking of racist fires to forward an agenda is reprehensible. This is not only offensive to the Arab Americans, but to all Americans. As any ethnic group who has ever been used to scare the electorate knows, this is a dangerous game that tragically can ends with innocent people being hurt.

And while We are pleased to see that the senator is trying to dispel rumors about Senator Obama, but we feel the need to point out that Arab Americans are also decent men and women with the full rights of citizenship as enumerated under the constitution. Arab Americans are part of the great melting pot that is this country's strength. We work towards peace in the Middle East along side our Jewish partners. We raise our sons and daughters to be model citizens of this nation. We serve this country with honor. The suggestion that any ethnic group is treacherous and Anti-American is unacceptable, dangerous, and unbecoming of such a great nation.

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Video of McCain responding to the "He's an Arab" comment:

America contributes to maintaining the global order and has created and sustained some of the most important institutions of the international system, such as the United Nations and the World Bank. In recent years, U.S. foreign policy has resulted in billions of dollars of tsunami relief in Southeast Asia, earthquake assistance in Pakistan and economic and development aid across Muslim lands. The United States is the biggest foreign aid donor to the Muslim World.

In the past, the United States has also intervened militarily on behalf of Muslims in Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo and Kuwait.

On the domestic front, the United States is one of the best places to live on the planet according to many. People from all over the Muslim world apply, in the millions, for visas to come to the US (even after 9/11) in search of a better future. Yet hardly any indigenous American Muslims are seeking to migrate to predominantly-Muslim countries to improve their lives. The United States, and not any one of the fifty five Muslims nations, is the number one choice of Muslims for permanent relocation.

by M. A. Muqtedar Khan

Sami Merhi was recently endorsed by the Democratic party for the candicy of Freeholder (a county supervisor position). The very next day, a state legislator, Gary Shaer, attacked the endorsement, pointing to a four-year-old New York Times story in which Merhi was quoted as saying that the Sept. 11 attacks on the US were different from terror attacks against Israel.

For four years now, Merhi has insisted that the Times quote was partial and inaccurate. He has made clear that he opposes all forms of terrorism, including attacks on Israeli civilians. But it has been for naught.

by James J. Zogby

by Matt Horton

ARAB and African hip-hop artists converged Dec. 16 at Washington, DC's local progressive hot spot, Bus Boys and Poets, to raise funds for the forthcoming film "Slingshot Hip Hop: The Palestinian Lyrical Front," expected to debut at film festivals this year. Over a hundred people packed the restaurant's small performance space, and hundreds more were turned away.

Emceed by Noura Erekat, the show began with rapper-activist Iron Sheik, who warmed up the crowd. After watching a superb clip from "Slingshot Hip Hop," members of the audience started writing checks in order to help filmmaker Jackie Salloum complete and market the film.

Special guest Noose, an Arab-American artist from New Jersey who recently opened for Hip-Hop super group Bone-Thugs-in-Harmony, continued the positive performances with a beautiful spoken word piece, and MC Narcissist, an Iraqi-Canadian artist who is part of the Montreal based group Euphrates, brought fire down on the grateful crowd.