aafusa
 Home
Jumping into the melting pot
New Jersey Jewish Standard - http://www.jstandard.com
 
N.J. Muslim and Arab communities want new commission

http://www.jstandard.com/articles/303/1/Jumping-into-the-melting-pot
By Elaine Kahn
Published on 01/6/2006

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."


 

Jumping into the melting pot

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."


To learn more......
Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum, says that a good place to start learning about American Arabs and Muslims is Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad’s "Not Quite American?: The Shaping of Arab and Muslim Identity in the United States" (Baylor University Press, 2004).

Assaf, who lives in Denville, suggested other resources and provided their descriptions:

Abinader, Elmaz. "Children of the Roojme: A Family’s Journey" (W.W. Norton, 1991). The story of three generations, based on diaries, letters, interviews.

Ashabranner, Brent, "An Ancient Heritage: The Arab American Minority" (HarperCollins, 1991). For teens. Based on personal interviews with Arab Americans, many of them members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Haddad, Yvonne and Smith, Jane. "Muslim Communities in North America" (State University of New York, 1994). 22 articles on religion, immigrant communities, and the sociology of Islam and Muslims.

Kadi, Joanna, ed. "Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists" (South End Press, 1994). Essays and poems by 40 women, exploring issues of family, ethnicity, culture, politics, and individuality.

Marston, Elsa. "The Lebanese in America" (Lerner Books, 1987). For young people.

Schefelman, Janice Jordan. "A Peddler’s Dream," illustrated by Tom Shefelman. (Houghton Mifflin, 1992). A young Lebanese-American man overcomes many hardships as he travels the countryside by foot to seek his fortune.

Shain, Yossi. "Arab Americans at a Crossroads," Journal of Palestine Studies XXV, no. 3 (University of California Press; Spring 1996). The various political strategies of Arab American organizations for influencing U.S. Middle East policy.

Shakir, Evelyn. "Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States" (Praeger, 1997). According to Assaf, this corrects stereotypes of Arab women as passive and downtrodden; it presents a diversity of articulate and spirited women in a complex cultural situation. Based on personal interviews, census records, and club minutes.

ADC Times (Washington) (202) 244-2990). American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s bimonthly newsletter, covering current ADC campaigns and Arab American issues.

Al-Hewar Magazine (Vienna, Va.) (703) 281-6277; alhewar@alhewar.com; http://www.alhewar.com. Bimonthly magazine covering Arab American issues and Arab culture, religion, politics, and civilization.

Al-Jadid: A Record of Arab Culture and Arts (Los Angeles) (213) 957-1291. Quarterly newspaper covering Arab and Arab American cultural issues.

Al-Nashra (Alexandria, Va.; Arab Media House; 703-551-2071). Monthly newspaper covering Arab American and Arab world issues.

The Arab American News (Dearborn, MI) (313) 582-4888. Weekly bilingual newspaper covering Arab American and Arab world news.

Beirut Times (Los Angeles) (213) 469-4354. Weekly bilingual newspaper covering Arab American and Arab world news.

"Palestinian Portraits." Video, 22 min. (Simone de Bagno, United Nations) Palestinian Americans discuss their identification with the culture, history, land, and future of Palestine. (Available from Arab World and Islamic Resources).

Tahrir Radio Show: WBAI 99.5FM in New York City; www.radiotahrir.com). Covers Arab American, Arab, Muslim and Middle East issues and culture. com).

"Tales from Arab Detroit." Video, 45 min. 1995. (ACCESS, 313-842-7010). (Joan Mandell, Olive Branch Publications). American-born children of Arab immigrants and their parents trying to pass on cherished traditions and language in a world of McDonalds and MTV.

Arabic Business Directory (Falls Church, Va.: Arabian Advertising Agency). National listings of businesses, organizations, etc. Published annually.

—Elaine Kahn
 


 

Email    with questions or comments about this web site. Fair Use Notice
Copyright © 2007-2011, American Arab Forum (AAF USA)