N.J. Muslim and Arab communities want new commission
The tragedy of 9/11 continues to generate repercussions in
New Jersey; according to a local American Arab leader, it’s
the direct cause of a push to establish a state Arab Muslim
Heritage Commission.
Add to that the war in
Iraq and five decades of struggle between Arabs and
Israelis, said Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab
Forum in Denville, and there becomes an "urgent need to
ensure our history and culture are properly portrayed" in
texts and the media. "We don’t want people to think Arabs
are anti-American."
Now, the Arab and
Muslim communities in New Jersey are pushing for the
establishment of a commission to broaden and improve
understanding of their communities within the public schools
and in society generally, he said. The current high school
curriculum especially is "inadequate," because it doesn’t
properly show the contribution of Arab civilization.
Assaf said that the
commission would cover both Arabs and Muslims because,
although most of New Jersey’s Arab community is Christian,
Islam is the dominant religion in the Arab world. Assaf, a
Muslim, said non-Arab Muslims in the state are helping
establish the commission.
The language in the
draft bylaws for such a commission is patterned closely on
the bylaws of the N.J. Italian American commission, said
Assaf. The state also has a Holocaust commission, Amistad
commission, and Asian commission.
Jay Doolan, an acting
assistant commissioner in the N.J. Department of Education,
said the influence of the various special commissions is
felt most directly in the social studies curriculum, which
includes world history and world religions. Teachers, who
use multiple teaching materials, including textbooks and the
Internet, are sensitive to "the need to ensure there’s much
more of a global perspective."
He noted that the
state’s English-as-a-second-language classes are offered in
approximately 160 languages.
Doolan said he’d heard
of the proposed Arab heritage commission only through his
department’s public information office, but would see the
draft legislation for it if and when that happens.
Assaf said that,
through the commission, his community wants to "humanize the
Palestinians and their plight" as people already "humanize"
the issue of Holocaust survivors. Also, Muslim holidays need
to be recognized in the public schools, albeit not in a
religious fashion, "so we’ll no longer be seen as
foreigners, not fully American."
Born in a refugee camp
near Jerusalem, Assaf said that, while raising his five
children to be very aware of their Palestinian heritage, it
would be unfair to have "my own fears and my own prejudices
to be shared by my son."
As for the
Arab-Israeli conflict, he said, "It’s not our intention to
engage in a debate over who was right and who was wrong,"
but people must see that "the struggle is between two
nationalities over land."
The purpose of the
commission is not specifically an anti-discrimination
curriculum, because that would only vent anger and would be
"short-sighted." Asking for such a commission altogether "is
a fair demand to ask the governor," said Assaf, noting that
the state’s Arab and Muslim community is "growing in numbers
and political clout."
He estimated that
community "conservatively" at over 500,000 people, larger
than the state’s Jewish community, "but much weaker."
Figures from the 2000 U.S. census, however, put the total
number of Americans with Arab ancestry at 850,027 and at
1,189,731 if combined with one or more other ancestries.
"It is good for the
U.S. to be engaged" in the Arab-Israeli situation, he said.
"It’s no longer a zero-sum game of America being on one side
of the game or pretending to be."
The proposal for the
commission fell through the cracks during the McGreevey
years, said Assaf, but he sent a letter to Gov. Jon
Corzine’s transition team and hopes it will be dealt with
soon.
Although he’s found
interfaith dialogue unproductive, Assaf said he "aches" for
political dialogue with Jewish leaders in New Jersey, but
the opportunities don’t exist. "I’m not willing to
compromise on many issues, like the right of return for
refugees, but hear me out."
Joy Kurland, director
of the Jewish Community Relations Council of UJA Federation
of Northern New Jersey, said her group has contacts in the
area’s non-Arab Muslim community, but has no ongoing
relationship with its Arab world, Muslim or Christian.
Etzion Neuer, N.J.
regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said it’s
too early to know what the proposed commission is all about,
but noted that one could envision a time when, faced by
demands for more heritage commissions, the government could
"throw up its hands and say ‘enough already.’" Still,
allowing the whole mix of cultures and ethnicities and even
religions "into our own sheltered world" would only benefit
students.
The proposed
commission, said Assaf, "is not our attempt to be singled
out, but to be melted into the pot."
The
tragedy of 9/11 continues to generate repercussions in New Jersey;
according to a local American Arab leader, it’s the direct cause of
a push to establish a state Arab Muslim Heritage Commission.