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The
non-melting US pot
By Elias Abou Samra---
The September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States of
America have been dominating international news media for the
past three weeks. Critical decisions are awaiting the American
government who has declared war against terror, an enemy that
no one is able to identify clearly. "The enemy of America is
not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends.
Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government
that supports them," explained US President George W. Bush in
an address to congress and the nation on September 20th, 2001.
The friendly words of the president of the world's superpower
do not reflect the attitude in the American streets, however.
Despite their government's attempts to deflate the mounting
pressure over US citizens of Arab origin, Americans are still
humiliating Arab and Muslim civilians. This is the time to evaluate
the unity of a nation! While President Bush is praising the
strong union in his nation, Arab students are locking themselves
in their apartments, fearing the insults thrown at them whenever
they try to integrate into angry American society. Some sources
say the FBI is investigating more than forty reports of "hate
crimes" in different parts of the country. The American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee has collected more than 300 discrimination
reports, including three murders that are being investigated
as hate crimes. I wonder why murdering an Arab in the United
States is referred to as a hate crime while murdering an Israeli
in the Middle East is considered a terrorist Barbarian act.
Unfortunately, Americans have forgotten that victims of the
September 11th attacks include members of the Arab and South
Asian communities as well. In an article published in The Washington
Post, Shankar Vedantam describes the Arab, Middle Eastern, and
South Asian communities in the United States as: "victimized
twice". They were victimized first, by the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and second, they
were victimized by the acts of racism exercised on them by their
fellow Americans. Actually, many were victimized a third time,
when police officers did not protect them from the insults and
attacks that are forbidden by the American law. In his war declaration
on terrorism and on countries that harbor terrorists, President
Bush dedicated the fight to all those who believe in progress
and pluralism, tolerance and freedom. Conversely, many Americans
are proving themselves intolerant when facing racial and religious
diversification on their motherland. Veiled Muslim women are
being advised by local police to stay at home. Moreover, two
Arabs were asked to leave an airplane after all passengers refused
to fly on the same flight with them. It is most probable that
these acts of humiliation and harassment directed at Arab-Americans
are not the result of the attack on the WTC exclusively. The
intensity of the Middle Eastern-South Asian-Arab-Muslim discrimination
is not the outcome of an incident that happened in less than
1 hour. Think about Israel's Anti-Arab propaganda that dates
-at least- back to the year 1948. Compare the budgets allocated
for financing news media in Israel to those in the Arab World.
The yearly amount of money spent by the Israeli Government on
mass media reaches US$100 million, whereas the budget of the
Arab League for similar purposes is only 1% of that amount.
Until we gain enough ability to promote ourselves properly in
the West, we Arabs should only blame ourselves when subjected
to discrimination and hate. |
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