Being Born As An Arab Minority

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.

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

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”.

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.

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

Growing up in Palestine, I had contradicting Feelings towards my identity as a Palestinian. I often felt the euphoria and nationalism hearing the word Palestine, revolution, Israel, Yasser Arafat, and resistance. The ecstatic feeling of belonging to a glorious nation and dedicated countrymen equipped me with sufficient mental and emotional dosage to enjoy living in a war zone and ultimately a honourable goal worth sacrificing my life for- freedom.

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

From my community, I have acquired the belief that minority issues are important and because of this in the future, I will continue to support individuals who are

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

Growing up I never had any contact with my Syrian heritage. I wasn’t made aware of my culture or even questioned it until others started to do so because of my distinct appearance. Simplistically, I saw myself as a Brazilian. As young as the age of fifteen, I began struggling to understand where I belonged. That day, as I saw my great-grandmother sing the lullabies of her childhood and speak a language I had never heard before, I knew the answers were there. She passed away a few days later. Just like the handmade

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,

This story begins when I was about 7 or 8 and I went on a trip to Disney World. On this trip there was a riot. During this riot people held up signs with profanities and strong language and they were almost all preaching about a word I had never heard. Gay. There were many people one one side of the street we were on in a rainbow of colors and some nearly nude however as a child I didn't know what was taboo and what wasn't and the such because of my pure innocence. On the other side of the street was a fair few amount of people fighting the others, using God as a reference but being overall very unruly and much louder than the people on the other side. My parents quickly rushed me out of the situation but while trying to move through the crowd a man from the not-so-friendly side of the road bent down to me and said “Never be a f*g”. I will never forget those words. I didn't know what was happening and my mother and father were still trying to escort me away. I cried. I didn't know why but it was just the way the man said it. Spiteful. Angry. He made me fear a word and I had never feared a word that much. We then left to go back to a hotel and

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.

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