Author Archives: Arab America

  THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release                                           February 18, 2015 CLOSING REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT SUMMIT ON COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM South Court Auditorium 4:20 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much. Everybody, please have a seat. Well, thank you, Lisa, for the introduction.  Lisa is … Continued

    Gov. Rick Snyder today signed two executive orders supporting Michigan’s minority communities. Executive order 2015-6, establishes the Middle-Eastern American Affairs Commission which will replace the Michigan Council on Arab and Chaldean American Affairs, created by executive order in 2013. The reorganization and name change reflects the growing diversity of new Americans who have … Continued

    “Tolerance like any aspect of peace, Is forever a work in progress, Never completed, And if we’re intelligent as we like to Think we are, Never abandoned.” Octivia Butler In the month of February, also known as Black History Month, it is a moment in time that goes beyond the recognition and acknowledge … Continued

Saudi Arabia has condemned the killing of three American Muslims in North Carolina as “heinous” and a “terrorist” act.

A statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency on Sunday also called for an end to incitement against Muslims, the Associated Press reports.

On Sunday, several thousand people took part in a march in neighboring Qatar to show solidarity with the families of the North Carolina victims.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is made up of 57 Muslim countries, also expressed concern, saying the murders reflected “rising anti-Muslim sentiments and Islamophobic acts” in the U.S.

Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Abu-Salha were killed last Tuesday by their neighbor Craig Hicks. The FBI is now investigating whether their deaths were the result of a hate crime.

Source: time.com

Mustafa Mattan was killed the day before the Chapel Hill executions. However, unlike Deah Barakat, Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha, few Muslims are familiar with the name Mustafa Mattan. 
Mustafa is black and Somali Canadian. The 28-year-old Ottawa native travelled to Fort McMurray, a far off but economically booming city in northeast Alberta, Canada. Like many upstart and ambitious Canadian men, Mattan travelled westward for opportunities unavailable at home. Several weeks later, he was found in his apartment dead. Alone and motionless on the floor, 3,700km away from his parents, family and friends.
While #MuslimLivesMatter trended for Deah, Yusor and Razan, there were sporadic tweets linked to Mattan’s story, and few questions as to why Mattan’s death received little attention. The Chapel Hill shootings have inspired a broad, diverse and lurid chorus of support and solidarity; Mattan’s name, however, has been met with relative silence.  
Muslim and black
What, if anything, colours the disparity in alarm and organising, amplification and action encircling the two tragedies? The curious case of Mustafa Mattan is as much a story of intra-racial division and anti-black racism within the Muslim population as it is a narrative about the neglected death of a young man seeking a better life far from home.     

Source: www.aljazeera.com

Chicago’s 67-year-old Palestinian community leader, Rasmea Odeh, is set to appear in a Detroit federal court for sentencing on March 12, following her conviction on a single charge of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization. Three days ago, Judge Gershwin Drain issued an order denying two motions by Odeh’s defense team. One motion called for a new trial because of a number of legal errors in the court’s rulings in her November trial; another called for the judge to set aside the jury’s decision altogether.

“Since both defense motions challenged how Drain conducted the trial, it came as no surprise when he ruled against Rasmea, and in support of his own decisions,” said Hatem Abudayyeh of the Rasmea Defense Committee. “We know that the conviction was a travesty of justice, and that Judge Drain’s rulings made it impossible for the jury to give Rasmea a fair shake. She survived brutal torture by the Israelis, but the jury never got to hear that.”

Odeh’s attorneys are asking Drain to take her age and poor health into consideration and be lenient in his sentencing, but also plan to appeal her conviction, so will request the granting of an appeal bond no matter the sentence, which could be up to 10 years in prison, heavy fines, and deportation.

Unfazed by this latest ruling, the defense committee is redoubling efforts to win justice. Communities across the country are organizing protests, fundraisers, and several events with Rasmea speaking via live stream. A national week of action mobilized hundreds of supporters, with further actions planned for the coming week in at least 7 more cities.

“We will not give up in our defense and support of Rasmea as she moves forward to challenge this unjust conviction. She was prosecuted by the U.S. government because she is Palestinian, and because for decades, she has organized for Palestinian liberation and self-determination,” said Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. “We are already making transportation and housing plans to ensure that we fill Judge Drain’s court room in Detroit on March 12, and hopefully an overflow room as well. Hundreds stood with Rasmea during her trial, and we’re prepared to stand with her again and again until justice is won.”

For more information and background on Rasmea Odeh’s case, go to http://justice4rasmea.org.

Source: uspcn.org

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Three Lebanese sisters will be the stars of a new Kardashian-inspired reality television show set to broadcast on LBC, which will chronicle their daily lives just like the American series, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

The program, which is expected to launch this month, will be called “The Sisters” and will follow the lives of Nadine, Alicia, and Farah Abdel Aziz.

The Abdel Aziz sisters are passionate Kardashian fans and fashion bloggers for a page called “Styleinbeirut,” which has become one of the most popular fashion pages in Lebanon with more than 100k Instagram followers.

“Our aim is to connect fashion around the world and to show the whole world how Lebanese women are smart, stylish and beautiful,” the sisters said in a statement.

They announced their new show on social media with the caption: “Soon on LBC Sat, watch these gorgeous ladies and their daily life.”

Just like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” television cameras will follow the Abdel Aziz sisters and document their every move for the reality show. The sisters say their show will shed a better light on Lebanon.

“We want to show (the world) that Lebanon is not just a country struggling with issues but Beirut is and will always be the Paris of the Middle East,” they added.

But some bloggers are wondering how Lebanese culture will respond to a reality-style program.

“I personally can’t watch the Kardashians for more than 2 minutes,” said Najib Mitri of Blog Baladi. “Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how Lebanese react to such reality shows.”

Source: www.lebaneseexaminer.com

My name is Krista Abboud, and I’m a 25 year old female Lebanese-American. Both of my parents were born and raised in Lebanon. Taking that a bit further, everyone in my family was also born and raised there. I was the first person born here, making me a first-generation American.
 
It’s definitely a different lifestyle growing up with foreign parents and family, and I wouldn’t have changed that experience for the world. I have always considered it a blessing to be able to know two worlds, speak two languages, and have such a morally strong culture embedded in me.
 
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since I was a little girl, my parents would always speak to me in Arabic. They never wanted me to lose the language. They knew once I started school I would be speaking English non-stop, and they wanted me to master the art of both languages.
 
My grandparents on my dads side spoke no English at all, which probed me to always speak Arabic with them. My grandparents on my moms side knew a good amount of English, but also always spoke to me in Arabic for similar reasons.
 
My most fond memories growing up are the times I visited Lebanon with my parents. I remember it being something I always looked forward to. The weather, the food, the beach, the people — all of it felt like home away from home to me. Lebanon is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
 
Lebanese people have such a distinct culture, it was hard at first to mesh with my American friends. I always had a lot of Lebanese friends growing up, because we just understood each other. We were used to the ‘no boys’, ‘no sleeping outside of the house except at grandmother’s house’, ‘no speaking English’ atmosphere. Whereas, with my American friends, this was all a new and strict world for them to see.
 
I remember being envious of girls at a young age in my class that were allowed to have boyfriends and sleepovers.  I always assumed they had much more freedom than me to go about things the way that they wanted to. I never understood why my parents were so strict, and why they disabled me from doing anything ‘fun’ at the time. It wasn’t until I grew up a little bit and started to understand the discipline, that I began to admire my parents and my culture in total.
 
My dads story is one I always tell to people, not only because he is extremely close to me, but also because it displays why he is such an amazing father, husband, and person in general.
 
My dad came to America in his late teen years with barely anything in his pocket. He worked at multiple jobs, he put himself through school, got himself an apartment, bought a car, and worked as hard as he could to build a better future. His story is the epitome of the ‘American Dream’ that people speak of. He came here with nothing, grew up with nothing, and somehow hard work allowed him to persevere in so many ways. That is one of the biggest reasons I admire him.  He is the most humble person I’ve met.  He is selfless and always seeking to do good and to help others.
 
My mom had quite a different story, but I think that is why her and my dad meshed so well. She grew up with a lot of money. Her dad flew her and my uncle here in their teen years and set them up at a nice apartment. She went to college at Duquesne University (where 20 some years later i ended up attending as well) and she met my dad through mutual Lebanese friends. Growing up with money never shaped my moms giving side. She had the money and she liked to spend it on others.  My mom always made sure to teach me the do’s and don’ts of being a Lebanese woman.  She is also the epitome of what a true Lebanese morally embedded woman is.  I am blessed to be like her in a lot of ways.
 
Every summer I was inclined to go to Lebanon for a month or so, attend a Lebanese youth retreat, or to attend the National Apostolate of Maronites Convention (known as NAM). Our people really like to stick together in more ways than one. I started attending youth retreats, which enabled me to meet Lebanese Americans all over America (as we would all meet in a different city every year). This was beyond a cool experience for me. I got to meet people my age who were going through the same things I was, and actually understood me. It wasn’t weird for me to express to fellow first generation Lebanese Americans that I wasn’t allowed to do sleep-overs or have a boyfriend. The response I received was always coming from an understanding similar stance.
 
The stereotypes of growing up in a Lebanese household are usually funny but very true. You were told to be a doctor or a lawyer. (This devastated my parents to know after one year of law school, it wasn’t for me). You were told to only date and marry Lebanese people. (The thought process was because no one else fully gets our culture and why we do the things we do. Also, children growing up and speaking arabic was a key factor in thinking about who to marry.) Hummus, grape leaves, kabobs, rice, and other Mediterranean style food were consistently a part of my weekly menu. Which wasn’t so bad, Lebanese food is amazing and extremely healthy!
 
I would say the peak of understanding everything started when I was about 18 years old. I went back to Lebanon after not going for a few years. This trip was different for me. Maybe it was because I was maturing in a different way, but the stars aligned with certain things and I began to fully understand both worlds. I spent 3 and 1/2 months in Lebanon to test out if I could ever live there full time. The answer is probably not. Spending that much time away showed me how much I appreciate America and where I was born and raised. Lebanon is a beautiful place, but there is a reason everyone from my family came to America.
 
This trip showed me different things about my culture and why we are the way we are, why a lot of us think the way we think. Lebanon can be a bubble at times (for people who never got the opportunity to leave) and I consider it a blessing that my family was able to migrate here.
 
Through time, a lot has been revealed through my family Americanizing a lot of their ways. Don’t get me wrong, we still have the important factors of our culture and roots embedded in us — that will never go away. We still speak, read, and write Arabic as much as possible, we listen to the music, and we eat the food. There is just a bigger understanding now (for example for my parents) after living here for over 30 years they understand why things work differently than they do overseas.
 
It is funny to see a lot of modern culture using things I grew up doing and knowing about: I.E. hummus, hookah, belly dancing, etc.
 
I truly hope all Americans realize what they have here. Because, outside of these walls things are extremely different.
 
All in all, as I stated in the beginning of my passage, I would never change the way I grew up or the things I was subjected to for the world. Every aspect was a learning curve and humbled me, and also shaped me to become the person I am today.

Source: ireport.cnn.com

The FBI has opened an inquiry into the shootings of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., a move that followed multiple calls this week for authorities to investigate the violence as a hate crime. And Palestinian officials are asking to join the investigation, saying that the victims were of Palestinian descent.

Police are investigating the shootings of three people — newlyweds Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19 — on Tuesday afternoon at a housing complex near the University of North Carolina.

On Friday, President Obama issued a statement on “the brutal and outrageous murders,” saying that the FBI would look to see if federal laws were broken during the shooting.

“No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like or how they worship,” Obama said.

Palestinian officials on Saturday branded Craig Hicks, the accused shooter, as “an American extremist and hateful racist,” according to Reuters.

“We consider it a serious indication of the growth of racism and religious extremism which is a direct threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens who follow the Islamic faith,” the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement, which also called for “a serious investigation” and the involvement of Palestinian investigators.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com