Author Archives: Arab America

As the Arab world reimagines its boundaries, it seems a good moment to reflect on how the medium of cinema has been reshaped by a new generation of film-makers. The last few years have seen a new guard carve out a niche for themselves, breaking on to the international film festival circuit with their divergent … Continued

Every week, I read about yet another hate crime or act of discrimination against Arabs or Muslims in the United States. Over a single month earlier this summer, a mosque was burned down in Stockton, Calif.; a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf lost her job at Air France in North Carolina; and Newt Gingrich … Continued

The Dearborn-based nonprofit social services agency, ACCESS, is working with Wayne State University to study asthma in the Detroit’s suburb’s heavily industrial south end. The Detroit university and the Arab American Center for Community and Economic Social Services, known as ACCESS, will be recruiting participants starting this fall for the three-year study. Researchers will collect … Continued

In early 2009, a group of college students started a business of designing hip T-shirts for the younger generation and selling them on a roof of a building. Today, Nas Trends is a famous brand in Egypt and has expanded to Jeddah. “Nas” is Arabic for “people,” and is the inspiration behind the brand. “Young … Continued

Call it “Muslim Modern Family.” Cable channel TLC is hoping to do for Muslims what it did for polygamists and Sarah Palin -– put a new spin on controversial subjects that people often make judgments about without knowing the whole story. The reality show “All-American Muslim” will follow the lives of five Muslim American families, … Continued

The nonprofit Sunlight Foundation is out with some interesting new information about a relatively little-known but popular practice: big corporations and unions giving large sums of money to charitable activities favored by congressmembers, senators, and other high-ranking federal officials. One local example, according to Sunlight’s database: in April 2009, North County GOP congressman Darrell Issa … Continued

The community soul-searching continues and more details have emerged in the wake of the basketball court argument that ended with the fatal shooting last week of 23-year-old Hassan Zeidan. Fadi Faraj, 34, is in custody at Wayne County Jail as he awaits trial on first-degree murder and felony firearm charges. The incident happened Thursday on … Continued

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to perform at the annual convention of the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine in Washington, DC. I saw many old friends and met many new ones. I performed in three comedy shows, and I can tell you this: Palestinians know how to laugh, especially at themselves. But I also … Continued

It seemed a ridiculous and impossible idea: Bringing a US $7.1 million Picasso into occupied Palestine. But the two-year odyssey of Picasso’s “Buste de Femme”, from the prominent Dutch Van Abbemuseum to the tiny International Academy of Art-Palestine in Ramallah, marks the first time a European masterpiece has been seen publicly in the West Bank. … Continued

Few in Dearborn are unfamiliar with Arab stereotypes in the media–an entertainment industry affliction sometimes referred to as “the three B syndrome”: bombers, belly dancers and billionaires. But the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, the Arab American National Museum and Turner Classic Movies are partnering up to try to dispel Arab myths … Continued

The Dearborn shooting death of a 23-year-old man near a mosque and Arab center has unnerved many in the city’s Arab-American community, prompting calls Thursday for peace. Shots rang out near the Islamic Institute of Knowledge, a noted center for Muslims in east Dearborn, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. At the time, Imam Husham Al-Husainy, head … Continued

Elections for the 2012 NAAMA National Board of Directors and NAAMA Foundation Board of Trustees will take place soon after the September Annual Delegates Meeting in Las Vegas. Opportunities exist for NAAMA members in good standing to help forge the future of our great organization by taking leadership positions. Open 2012 director and trustees positions … Continued