Being Born As An Arab Minority

Looking for Palestine by Najla Said is a coming of age story with a twist. Set mainly in New York City, Said tells us about growing up Palestinian-Lebanese American in a time when difference was not necessarily celebrated, and dealing with the demons in her own mind so that she could fully accept herself. Born to the world renown Dr. Edward Said and his wife, Mariam, Said spends her summers traveling to her mother’s home in Lebanon to visit family, learning to value the culture she was born into. Unfortunately, this love of her culture begins to fade as Said enters a primarily Caucasian elementary school. There she is faced with the idea that her culture is different and that she

I grew up in Pakistan with a diverse culture around me. Before moving to the U.S., the city I grew up in was a blend of people who lived there because of their jobs, education and business purposes. I learned that poverty, marginalization and violence, neither had a religion nor selects people of a specific faith to attack them. This made me devote myself to the church and its programs to serve all children of God spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and fighting for social justice against the systemic evil in the world.

“I hate your Arabic!” I snarled in my broken English. My mother stared at me in confusion while I seethed about my heritage internally. For whatever reason, this toxic state of mind stuck with me through my elementary-school years. I promised myself that I would strive to become like everyone else and slowly began to erase my Lebanese culture from my mannerisms.

In my experience emerging in a country where most people look and act a certain way, while I am the outlier thanks to my different looks and traditions, has made me a minority. Being born in Mexico City from a Jewish family that immigrated from Poland two generations ago, and then going to college in Texas, has made me feel the differences of being lets say, “different”.

* Just because you are Arab does not define you as being a follower of Islam.

Coming from an Arab American household, there has always been an emphasis on higher education and higher socio economic status. I believe that it is something that can be found in various Arab American Communities in the United States and these standards set in the household show when you look at the statistics as to where Arab Americans stand on both educational and socio economical scales. This paper will look into the history of Arabs in the United States, as well as the demographics of the Arab community in the U.S, and cultural and physiological backings that may all have influence on education. My goal for this research paper is to find the reasons behind the Arab American strive for education and socioeconomic success and whether the Arab culture has a positive or negative influence on the success of Arab Americans.

Welcoming parties and communities let me feel connected to my new place and its people but the importance of local identity and building everything around that was a surprise. Many aspects of my identity were strange. The holistic view of Middle East regardless of where I am coming from connects me to a chaotic area. Sometimes when I meet new people, they mistake Iran for Iraq as it has been more on news. People have little information about there except those who have had an Iranian friend. The ancient civilization and Cyrus the Great who make Iranians proud within the country has no meaning in this part of the world. Each nation could enjoy their honors regarding herself the center of the world. Once a friend got a comment in a restaurant, “oh you are Iranian, you don’t look sad and miserable” and the other time I got a comment in the bus “A friend of mine showed me a video about Iran and I was surprised people have a normal life there.” Sometimes times even the compliments turn to a confirmation of

Coming from a family of 7 teachers, education was crucial to us growing up. Private schools were far more superior over the public schools especially in the languages and social studies fields. Attending such school, has educated me on the Arabic, French, and English languages and culture. Learning three different languages and cultures has educated me heavily on the importance of diversity, open mindedness and adjusting to new things. All of which became very important to me when I learned I’m moving to Canada at the age of nine. Knowing three languages helped me enormously while transitioning from Lebanon to Canada since I could communicate with my new classmates. Also knowing different languages and cultures makes it very hard to be closed minded. Knowing so much about many different societies at a young age develops a habit of accepting others. Also learning Arabic since preschool, French since kindergarten and English since grade four prepared me to quickly and constantly learn different things without much

Comparatively Lina's life in America was a big concern for her family because she was a young girl who struggled to acquire personal independence from her traditional Arab parents. Thus she became a typical American teenager, like many high school kids, she wanted to find her identity so she dressed and dated like them and her mom got furious about it. Lina was sent to Iraq to embrace the culture and her roots as an Arab women. Especially seeing how Iraq has no rights and values like America has all because of Saddam Hussein. Being young and Arab in America is not always about discrimination or being the target of a crime they did not commit, being a young Arab can also mean being a part of the teenage culture and its consequences. In Lina's

For many Arab American immigrants and their descendant’s it is often difficult to find a balance between adapting to a new culture while retaining their traditional culture. Most Arab

Sayed et al. (2003) research show the importance of Arab American unique characteristics affect the healing process for those individuals who are not custom to the American way of life. Arab American families is only looking for respect from other cultures that already prejudge them by only seeking their culture from an outside view. The common feeling of at Arab American is alienation from a American because of their culture beliefs, customs, and values. Prejudice and discrimination for Arab Americans may cause major psychological issues (i.e. depression, low self-esteem, and lack of

Coming from such a diverse background, I recall asking my mother about my ethnicity at a young age. My mother then shared the tale of my ancestry and while I was happy to know about my heritage, I was listless. “If I’m from so many places, where do I belong?” I asked. In Arabic,

In a summer camp, I educated ignorant racists about how to respect other people’s beliefs and to not generalize. I didn’t think that I would ever face a problem such as this. This was caused by an incident that happened in turkey and some of the Turkish students felt the need to be hateful. They stayed up all night talking to their families about it and making sure they’re safe back home. The other day on the bus to the CN tower the Turkish students wouldn’t stop talking about the incident. I remember sitting in the back with headphones on and still can’t listen to my music. One student kept on talking about how bad their president is and how dumb his followers are. I didn’t really care that much about him until he started saying hateful things

I have experienced it as the victim multiple time honestly, where it's always with my ethnicity. People tend to believe I am like a full on American like all I speak is English and eat American food like casserole or whatever American families eat for dinner. But I'm not, I'm more than what meets the eye. Take this for an example: it was after practice when all of a sudden we were divided into groups and I noticed I was with people who were American and when I say American I mean Caucasian; full on American blood. I was like "woah I'm in the wrong group." And they looked at me strangely and one of them asked me " you're not white?" And I said "no, I am Mexican" but of course when you're born in America you're classified as white and not a full

even though it didn't occur overnight, i came to the understanding that instituationalization and public-reinforcement of race is very real in the United States. and that I didn't have to conform to one race because that is what society expects of me.