Transcript MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS: DIVERSE MINORITIES

MUSLIM AND ARAB
AMERICANS: DIVERSE
MINORITIES
CHAPTER 11
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Muslim and Arab People
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Muslim and Arab Americans are different groups in
America
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Though they overlap with some Muslim Americans of Arab
ancestry, they are distinct from each other
Two objectives for considering Arab and Muslim
Americans together
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1st - clarify the distinction between two groups incorrectly referred
as the same population
2nd - Overcome prism of Orientalism through which many
Americans view the Arab and Muslim world
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Simplistic view of people and history of the orient with not recognition of
change over time or the diversity in the many cultures
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Arabs are an ethnic group
Muslims are a religious group
Islam is the faith (like Christianity)
Muslim is a believer of that religion (like a
Christian)
One cannot accurately identify the Muslim
faithful by nationality alone
Clearly being Arab does not define one as being
a follower of Islam
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Arab Americans
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Arab Americans
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“Middle Eastern”
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Refers to immigrants and their descendants from the countries that
now comprise the Arab world
Middle East is an ambiguous geographic designation the includes
many that are neither Muslim nor Arab but is frequently used
The Arabic language is the most single unifying
force among Arabs
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There are up to 3 million people with Arab ancestry
in the U.S.
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Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine account fro 2/3rd
of Arab Americans in 2000
Diversity of Arabs
Variation in time of arrival
 Variation in the point of origin
 Variation of religious tradition
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Deficit Model of Ethnic Identity
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One’s ethnicity is viewed by others as a factor of subtracting away
the characteristics corresponding to some ideal ethnic type
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Muslim Americans
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1.3 billion followers worldwide and second to
Christianity
Islam is guided by the teaching of the Koran
(Qur’an)
Use religious rituals
Divided into a variety of faiths and sects
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Jihad
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A struggle against enemies of Allah, usually taken to mean one’s
own internal struggle but recently reinterpreted to mean political
enemies
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Number of Muslim Americans is difficult to
estimate
20-42 percent African American
 24-33 percent South Asian (Afghan, Bangladeshi, Indian
and Pakistani)
 12-32 percent Arab
 15-22 percent “other” (Bosnian, Iranian, Turk, and
White and Hispanic converts)
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Total agreement that the population is growing
rapidly
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Immigration and conversion
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Blended Identity
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Is the self-image and worldview that is a combination of religious
faith, cultural background based in nationality, and the status of
being a resident of the U.S.
Muslims often find their daily activities defined by
their faith, their nationality, and their status as
American, however defined in terms of citizenship
In the US, many Muslims experience both the
freedom to be Muslim and the pressure to be
Muslim
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Black Muslims
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Estimated to account for 90 percent of all converts
to Islam in the U.S.
Not tightly organized into a single religious
fellowship
Against adultery and drinking alcohol
The Nation of Islam became a well-known and
controversial
organization
Trace roots to W. Fard Muhammad in (1930)
 Became well-known and controversial under Elijah
Muhammad
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Malcolm X
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Originally a member of the Nation of Islam
Was the most powerful and brilliant voice of Black
self-determination in the 1960s
Was highly critical of the civil rights movement in
general and of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Remembered for:
His sharp attacks on Black leaders
 His break with the Nation of Islam
 His apparent shift to support the formation of
coalitions with progressive whites
 Teaching that Black must resist violence “by any means
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necessary.”
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Created the Organization of Afro-American Unity
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Meant to internationalize the Civil Rights Movement
Assassinated in 1964
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Louis Farrakhan
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Has been the most visible
spokesperson among various
Muslim groups in the African American
community
Anti-Israel foreign policy
Pro: Self-help, bootstrap capitalism, and strict
punishment
Against: Abortion, drugs and homosexuality
Leader of the 1995 Million Man March
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Immigration to the United States
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Some slaves were followers of Islam
The National Origins System slowed immigration to
the United States
In 1919, the first mosque was established and a
variety of service agencies to help the immigrant
community
Professional-Preference Clauses within 1965
Immigration and Naturalization Act
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Increased immigration among Muslims and Arabs
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Mosques
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The mosques in metropolitan Detroit serve an
estimated 200,000 Muslims
At least 40% of this area’s population has Arab
ancestry today
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Contemporary Life in the United
States
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Arab Americans tend to immigrate to urban areas
Fill skilled and professional roles in US and become
self-employed merchants or entrepreneurs
Operate stores in low-income areas of central cities
major retailers ignore
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Opportunities for success are great, but face challenges
of serving low-income population with few consumer
choices and history of being exploited by outsiders
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Family Life and Gender
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Traditionally, Islam has permitted men to have
multiple wives—a maximum of four.
Role of women receive much attention because
outer clothing is a conspicuous symbol that to some
seem to represent repression of women in society
Perception of gender practices in Muslim societies
receive special attention by Western media
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Particularly dress codes
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Hijab
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Refers to a variety of garments that allow women to follow the guidelines
of modest dress
Three perspectives among Muslim women in US and
settlements outside Islamic countries
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Younger, better educated, support hijab but draw upon Western ideas of
individual rights
Older, less-educated support hijab and make arguments without
reference to Western ideology
Third group of all ages and education, oppose the hijab
There are differences in the role of
women within the faith and the mosque
Segregations of the sexes in mosques
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Education
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Recognize the importance of education and value
formal instruction in their faith
Schools are specific to particular expressions of
Islam and specific nationalities
Children attending public schools encounter the
type of adjustment experienced by those of a
religious faith different from the dominant one of
society
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Politics
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Muslim and Arab Americans are politically aware
and often active
Most visible Arab American in politics
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Ralph Nader tried to open presidential politics to a true
alternative to the two-party system
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Muslims in the U.S. often express the view that their
faith encourages political participation
There is a clear distancing that one can observe
between the major parties and Muslims and Arab
Americans
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There is clear distancing between the major parties
and Muslim and Arab Americans
Contrast to the catering of African Americans and
Latinos for votes
In the last decade, escalation of charges that some
organizations and charities assist groups unfriendly
to Israel and support terrorism
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Some U.S. politicians have begun to take the safe
position of refusing campaign money from virtually any
group linked to the Muslim or Arab community
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By 2007, a national survey showed 63 percent of
Muslim leaders favored the Democrats compared to
only 11 percent toward the Republicans
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There is a clear distancing that one can observe
between the major parties and Muslim and Arab
Americans
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News events have fueled anti-Arab and anti-Muslim
feeling
 1972
terrorist raid at the Munich Olympics
 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies, Kenya and
Tanzania
 September 11, 2001 engineered by Arab Muslim
extremists
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The USA PATRIOT ACT, passed in October
2001, has specific provisions in it condemning
discrimination
against Arab and Muslim Americans
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Racial Profiling
Any arbitrary police-initiated action based on race, ethnicity,
or national origin rather than a person’s behavior
 Became intense after 9/11
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The U.S. Department of Justice required that all
foreign-born Muslim men be photographed,
fingerprinted, and interviewed
The registration process deepened fear and
disillusionment among the many law-abiding
Muslims in the U.S.
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Issues of Prejudice and
Discrimination
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Motion pictures uniformly show Arabs and
Muslims as savages, untrustworthy, and barbaric.
On television, there is an overemphasis on the
extreme representations
Surveys conducted after 9/11 found a growing
willingness to view Arabs and Muslims generally as
a dangerous
people and to require the carrying
of special identification cards
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Hate crimes and harassment rose sharply after 9/11
One in four people believe a number of anti-Muslim
stereotypes
Arab and Muslim Americans have not been passive to their
treatment
Organizations have been created:
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To counter negative stereotypes and to offer schools material
responding to the labeling that has occurred
To represent their interests and to promote understanding as well
as to bring attention to discrimination and expressions of
prejudice
in public life and the mass media
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Islamophobia
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A range of negative feelings toward Muslims
and their religion that ranges from generalized
intolerance to hatred
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QUESTIONS
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What are the dimensions of diversity among
Arab Americans and among Muslims?
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What distinguishes African American Muslims
from other practicing Muslims in the United
States?
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How has the immigration of Muslims and Arabs
been influenced by the governmental policies of
the United States?
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What would you identify as the four most
important differences between being a Christian
in the United States and being a Muslim in this
country?
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Besides Arab Americans and Muslim Americans,
what other groups can you identify that have
recently been subjected to prejudice and
discrimination in the United States?
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9/11 was a major tragedy even in recent U.S.
history. However, based on the functionalist
perspective, it led to interesting changes. Identify
three negative and three positive functions of
the events of 9/11.
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Identify the characteristics of the deficit model
of ethnic identity related to Arab Americans and
one other group in America.
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What are some of the characteristics associated
with Muslim and Arab Americans that come to
be viewed as negatives, but when practiced by
Christian Whites are seen as positive.
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How are the Arab and Muslim communities
composed of differences by language, social
class, citizenship, nationality, and religion?
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