Aladdin Elaasar's publications
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Silent Victims : The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America
Aladdin Elaasar
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
About the Book
" Whenever people face sadness and tragedy then complimenting something that comes out of it becomes harder. This book provides the nation with a rich detailed lived history, which did not begin with September 11, 2001. It is an excellent compilation of events, reports and lived experiences. This documented collection of story will give readers a new chance to fill in the gaps within a historical context that Arabs and Muslims Americans have lived in. In the wake of the events of 9/11, since the tears flooded our faces, we have been forced to recount the events that created the bias and hostility toward Muslims, Arabs, and Islam. This book is a must read for those who are willing to consider the possibility that Arab and Muslim Americans should not become the scapegoats for the world''s disharmony."
Dr. Sima Imam, Professor of Education at National Louis University, Illinois, and President of American Muslim Civil Rights.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
The increasing public’s curiosity about the Arabs, Muslims and the Arab and Muslim Americans in the United States has been unprecedented. This book explains the phenomenon of stereotypes stigmatizing Arabs and Muslims, and how it has affected their lives, a phenomenon that demonized and dehumanized almost two billion people in this world."
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
About the Author
Aladdin Elaasar is a journalist, educator, poet, short-story writer, public speaker, cross-cultural and media consultant whose writings have been published in several newspapers in the USA and overseas, in both English and Arabic. He has contributed articles for on-line portals on the Middle East like; Estart.com,Planetarabia.com (CA, USA). He had produced several programs and documentaries and taught media studies, translation and creative writing.He has also been a frequent guest as a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs on several local American TV and Radio networks.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Free Preview
"More than two years have passed marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation, yet we are still recuperating from the shock that this sad and tragic event has caused us, as a society. The American people are still trying to make sense out of what happened. Meanwhile, the public’s interest to learn about Arabs and Muslims, in general, and Arab and Muslim Americans, in particular, has been unprecedented. The nation has been looking for means of self-healing and reconciliation.
Historically, violence against minorities in America is not a new trend. Arabs, Muslims or people of Mid Eastern ancestry were not the only ethnic groups that have received their share of home grown violence, or scapegoating. The pattern has emerged during similar crises, when the nation’s security becomes threatened, and in times of economic recession, that some sociologists describe as a recurrent tide of Jingoistic racism.
According to Juan Perea, professor of Law at the University of Florida, “Nativism is the, intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of its foreign (i.e.“un-American”) connections“. During Nativist times in the United States, democratic processes are turned against internal minorities deemed foreign or “un-American“, resulting in discriminatory legislation they spawn. Nativist movements and the legislation they spawn, seek to rid the nation of perceived enemies of the “American way“.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
“ We have been through all of this before. During the controversy of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, the enemy took the form of the French ethnicity and ideology, and Americans associated with that ideology. The 1850s saw the vilification of the Irish “savages” who, for the first time had migrated in substantial numbers to the USA. In the years during and after the World War I yielded intense hatred of the Germans and German Americans among us. During World War II, the hatred of the Japanese enemy and of loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry, who looked like the enemy, resulted in the forced incarceration of seventy thousand Japanese American citizens, and between thirty and forty thousand Japanese aliens in domestic internment camps. During the 1950s, fear of the communist enemy was played out in the frequent interrogations of immigrants from Southern eastern European Countries, in suspicions regarding their ethnicity, and in the blacklisting of the Jews.”
Very few books have tried to answer the questions of: Who are the Arabs? Who are the Muslims? Who are the Arab Americans? The Stereotypes around Arabs, and how did they evolve? Arab and Muslims in the United States, where do they live and how many are them? Do Arabs have a shared religion? When did Arab people come to the United States? Are Arabs a minority group? Are Arab Americans more closely tied to their country of origin, or to America? Arab Contributions to Civilization, if there is any? Are Arab Americans active in U.S. politics? Have Arab Americans won major political offices? Who are some prominent Arab-American politicians? Nevertheless, no books that deal with the plight of Arab and Muslim Americans after9/11 have been published yet.
“Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in post 9/11 America “, answers the many questions that a great number of people are trying to find answers for. The increasing public’s curiosity about the Arabs, Muslims and the Arab and Muslim Americans in the United States has been unprecedented. The book also explains the phenomenon of stereotypes stigmatizing Arabs and Muslims, and how it has affected their lives, a phenomenon that demonized and dehumanized almost two billion people in this world.
Part one starts with an introduction that describes the climate of fear in which Arab and Muslim Americans have been living in since 9/11. It documents the author’s personal encounter with biases against Arab and Muslim Americans, and ignorance of the basic facts about Arabs and Muslims by the general public.
Chapter I, “Arabs..go back home: Or, where does hatred come from? “ Explains the historical background that led to Arab and Muslim bashing and the wave of hate crimes against them in the United States after 9/11. It describes the role of Nativist politicians, the mainstream media, and other institutions in enflaming the public’s outrage against a certain segment of society. It also explains the process of scapegoating other minority groups throughout the US history; the Irish, the French, the Germans, the Japanese, the Jews, Central and Latin Americans, and Asians.
Chapter II, “100 Years of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotyping” explains how media stereotypes can lead to biases and the violation of one’s civil rights. “Jack Shaheen & the anatomy of Anti-Arab stereotypes: TV & Reel Bad Arabs” provides insights on the phenomenon of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotyping through the author’s interview with Professor Jack Shaheen, the world’s foremost expert on the media’s stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims.
Part Two includes Profiles of Distinguished Arab-Americans, many of whom the author had met and interviewed, like Poet Ahlam Shalhout, president of Arab American Institute Dr. James Zoghby, Prominent Arab American Poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, Arab American Heart surgeon pioneer, Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. Farouk El-Baz: The Man Behind Apollo, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, syndicated columnist and stand-up comic, Ray Hanania, Congresswoman Pat Danner, former secretary of health and human services, Donna Shalala, and others.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Part two includes Appendices I & II & III. Appendix I is “A WHITE PAPER: PRELIMINARY REPORT ON HATE CRIMES AGAINST ARABS AND MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES“.
Appendix II, is the latest report about the “ IMPACT OF THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS ON THE FREEDOMS OF ARABS AND MUSLIMS
Appendix III, is a detailed report about “American Muslims: ONE YEAR AFTER 9-11”, Appendix IV, is a detailed report about “Latest Statistics and trends on Hate crimes, using the latest figures in the FBI’s annual report on hate crimes.
Appendix IV, is titled “WE ARE NOT THE ENEMY”: Hate Crimes Against Arabs, Muslims, and Those Perceived to be Arab or Muslim after September 11th, 2001.
In addition to the three million Arab Americans and seven million Muslim Americans, and many other communities in the United States that have been negatively affected by the backlash of 9/11, the tragic events have created an unprecedented curiosity to learn about Arabs and Muslims in general. Arab and Muslim American, and people of Middle Eastern ancestry will relate to the stories told in the book. The general American public will find it worth reading to learn for the first time that many of their favorite stars, like Paula Abdul, Selma Hayek, and Casey Casem, and, are Arabs and Americans, as well.
The book is also a detailed guide of Who’s Who in the Arab and the Muslim communities in politics, medicine, entertainment industry, space discovery, and almost every endeavor of American live. The book is a useful tool for students in schools and colleges around the United States who would like to get a first hand account of who are the Arabs and Muslims.
The book is a very useful tool for cross-cultural presentations in corporate environments and to government officials involved in the debate over minority issues and legislations related to 9/11 and the Middle East.
Members of other ethnic communities in America, and immigrant communities around the world, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe will find the Arab and Muslim experience in the United States, somehow similar to theirs.
Readers in the Arab and Muslims worlds, as they have felt the heat reflected on them in terms of US foreign policies, general populations in these countries will find the book interesting to learn about the experience of people with common roots from that area, and their plight after 9/11 in their endeavor to achieve the American dream.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Read Aladdin's Columns
"Poetry Review of Ahlam Shalhout's Anthology"
"Ahlam Shalhout: Recovering Stolen Dreams An anthology for the rest of us With those lines, Ahlam touches a familiar cord inside everybody, days of childhood, the warmth of the womb and the process of molding those inner feelings into a common language. As a poet, Ahlam went through that process of virtual pregnancy and delivery that is similar to a good earth that needs to be tilled and watered to bring out the most desired fruit. Ahlam Shalhout is one of those rare personalities that you do not meet everyday. A mathematician by trade, a passionate cook and dancer, and a poet by hobby. Talk about versatility and being prolific! Ahlam goes beyond those boundaries and walls that people draw around themselves. In Recovering Stolen Dreams, Ahlam dives deep down in a journey into the human psyche and hers especially, in a unique autobiographical style. She dives deep into the oceans of hidden memories, and suppressed dreams. Ahlam is a unique personality. Her background is so colorful. She was born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands which gave her that Caribbean flare and passion for life. On the other side, her parents came to the US as immigrants from Palestine with a rich heritage from the Biblical land of Milk and Honey and strict rules of upbringing. The family moved to Connecticut, a move that galvanized Ahlam in her early days with the East Coast way of living and cultural traditions. As if this cultural exposure was not enough, Ahlam made another move in her life, that left some imprint on her. She relocated to the West Coast, crossing different time zones, to make California, and San Diego in particular, her home. In her poetry, Ahlam successfully attempts to bring into harmony, memories of the past, dreams for the future, individual and collective dreams, the scientific and the literary, all married in the most perfect marriage. In her poetic tradition, life style, and life endeavors, Ahlam is a truly renaissance woman with a clear vision for her life and she is socially conscious, gasping for a poet’s dream of a Utopian paradise that hardly exists on earth, but good to dream of. “Her poetry weaves a tapestry of emotion set in the past, present and future time. Her gift is the expression that gives birth to a touch of healing. She lures us to touch the pain that propels us into motion. This motion that generates energy for action sets us apart from our self- importance long enough to disentangle the ego from the true self”. My favorite part of Ahlam’s poetry is: Open Gaze Emerging from the state of the womb I enter into the state of vulnerability And fear I slip into a trough And emerge into a Healing.. Understanding.. Knowing .. The jagged edges of the shell Are memories of the past? The struggle is all too familiar. With those lines, Ahlam touches a familiar cord inside everybody, days of childhood, the warmth of the womb and the process of molding those inner feelings into a common language. As a poet, Ahlam went through that process of virtual pregnancy and delivery that is similar to a good earth that needs to be tilled and watered to bring out the most desired fruit. "
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking-news-story.asp?submitdate=200499162230
9/11: Let’s not let fear cripple us
Aladdin Elaasar
The anniversary of Sept. 11 will be painful for Arab and Muslim-Americans — as it will be for all Americans.
After the terrorist strikes, Arab and Muslim-Americans became targets for random hate and violence. They became the latest ethnic group to be singled out in an American time of crisis.
In the 1850s, Irish immigrants were persecuted.
During World War I, German immigrants were suspect.
During World War II, Americans of Japanese backgrounds bore the brunt of t
hat conflict.
America’s legacy of nativism — the intense opposition to an internal minority because of its supposed foreign connections — reared its head again.
About 3 million Arab-Americans and 7 million Muslim-Americans live in the United States. Sept. 11 has had a negative effect on many of their lives. Some have paid a hefty price, dealing with discrimination at schools and at the workplace, and even facing senseless and brutal hate crimes that have led to injury and death.
According to government statistics, hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans or those perceived to be of Middle Eastern origins in the United States rose dramatically after Sept. 11.
Some in position of influence in the media or in the religious sector fanned these acts of hatred. On Sept. 13, 2001, columnist Ann Coulter, on National Review Online, said: “We should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Televangelist Pat Robertson called Muslims “worse than Nazis.” The Rev. Jerry Falwell labeled the Prophet Muhammad a “terrorist.” The Rev. Franklin Graham called Islam “a very evil and wicked religion.”
Fear spread through the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities.
The USA Patriot Act diminished the rights of immigrants and allowed the government to round up people by the hundreds and keep them, in secret, from their families.
The special registration of Arab and Muslim males in America terrified communities and broke up families, as some fathers were deported on the most minor technicalities.
Fear still pervades the Muslim-American and Arab-American communities. The horrific acts of terrorism by the Sept. 11 fanatics should not impugn the patriotism of these communities.
In the wake of Sept. 11, thousands of Arab and Muslim-Americans volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed services or in law-enforcement. They are protecting us. And they should be thanked, not feared or scapegoated.
Instead, some see swift militaristic action against those who may resemble our enemies as being the best solution. But attacking innocent civilians around the globe will only inflame Arabs and Muslims and create more enemies.
Three years later, we must not let fear cripple us.
(Aladdin Elaasar is author of “Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America.”)
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/printDS/38380.php
Published: 09.11.2004
Aladdin Elaasar: We must not let fear cripple us as a people nor as individuals
Aladdin Elaasar
The anniversary of Sept. 11 will be painful for Arab and Muslim-Americans - as it will be for all Americans.
After the terrorist strikes, Arab and Muslim-Americans became targets for random hatred and violence. They became the latest ethnic group to be singled out in an American time of crisis.
In the 1850s, Irish immigrants were persecuted.
During World War I, German immigrants were suspect.
During World War II, Americans of Japanese backgrounds bore the brunt of that conflict.
America's legacy of nativism - the intense opposition to an internal minority because of its supposed foreign connections - reared its head again.
About 3 million Arab-Americans and 7 million Muslim-Americans live in the United States.
Sept. 11 has had a negative effect on many of their lives. Some have paid a hefty price, dealing with discrimination at schools and at the workplace, and even facing senseless and brutal hate crimes that have led to injury and death.
According to government statistics, hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans or those perceived to be of Middle Eastern origins in the United States rose dramatically after Sept. 11.
Some in positions of influence in the media or in the religious sector fanned these acts of hatred.
On Sept. 13, 2001, columnist Ann Coulter, on National Review Online, said: "We should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
Televangelist Pat Robertson called Muslims "worse than Nazis." The Rev. Jerry Falwell labeled the Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist." The Rev. Franklin Graham called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion."
Fear spread through the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities.
The USA Patriot Act diminished the rights of immigrants and allowed the government to round up people by the hundreds and keep them, in secret, from their families.
The special registration of Arab and Muslim males in America terrified communities and broke up families, as some fathers were deported on the most minor technicalities.
Fear still pervades the Muslim-American and Arab-American communities. The horrific acts of terrorism by the Sept. 11 fanatics should not impugn the patriotism of these communities.
In the wake of Sept. 11, thousands of Arab and Muslim-Americans volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed services or in law-enforcement. They are protecting us. And they should be thanked, not feared or scapegoated.
Instead some see swift militaristic action against those who may resemble our enemies as being the best solution.
But attacking innocent civilians around the globe will only inflame Arabs and Muslims and create more enemies.
Three years later, we must not let fear cripple us.
● Aladdin Elaasar is the author of "Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America." This article was prepared for The Progressive Media Project, 409 E. Main St., Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org; and was distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
http://members.aol.com/__121b_Kq3zVIRnW+jVfWJj0vyP73s6NeHKm79VcoMK0D7iy+xP4WLwEPQU7Q==
Silent Victims : The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America
Aladdin Elaasar
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
About the Book
" Whenever people face sadness and tragedy then complimenting something that comes out of it becomes harder. This book provides the nation with a rich detailed lived history, which did not begin with September 11, 2001. It is an excellent compilation of events, reports and lived experiences. This documented collection of story will give readers a new chance to fill in the gaps within a historical context that Arabs and Muslims Americans have lived in. In the wake of the events of 9/11, since the tears flooded our faces, we have been forced to recount the events that created the bias and hostility toward Muslims, Arabs, and Islam. This book is a must read for those who are willing to consider the possibility that Arab and Muslim Americans should not become the scapegoats for the world''s disharmony."
Dr. Sima Imam, Professor of Education at National Louis University, Illinois, and President of American Muslim Civil Rights.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
The increasing public’s curiosity about the Arabs, Muslims and the Arab and Muslim Americans in the United States has been unprecedented. This book explains the phenomenon of stereotypes stigmatizing Arabs and Muslims, and how it has affected their lives, a phenomenon that demonized and dehumanized almost two billion people in this world."
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
About the Author
Aladdin Elaasar is a journalist, educator, poet, short-story writer, public speaker, cross-cultural and media consultant whose writings have been published in several newspapers in the USA and overseas, in both English and Arabic. He has contributed articles for on-line portals on the Middle East like; Estart.com,Planetarabia.com (CA, USA). He had produced several programs and documentaries and taught media studies, translation and creative writing.He has also been a frequent guest as a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs on several local American TV and Radio networks.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Free Preview
"More than two years have passed marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation, yet we are still recuperating from the shock that this sad and tragic event has caused us, as a society. The American people are still trying to make sense out of what happened. Meanwhile, the public’s interest to learn about Arabs and Muslims, in general, and Arab and Muslim Americans, in particular, has been unprecedented. The nation has been looking for means of self-healing and reconciliation.
Historically, violence against minorities in America is not a new trend. Arabs, Muslims or people of Mid Eastern ancestry were not the only ethnic groups that have received their share of home grown violence, or scapegoating. The pattern has emerged during similar crises, when the nation’s security becomes threatened, and in times of economic recession, that some sociologists describe as a recurrent tide of Jingoistic racism.
According to Juan Perea, professor of Law at the University of Florida, “Nativism is the, intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of its foreign (i.e.“un-American”) connections“. During Nativist times in the United States, democratic processes are turned against internal minorities deemed foreign or “un-American“, resulting in discriminatory legislation they spawn. Nativist movements and the legislation they spawn, seek to rid the nation of perceived enemies of the “American way“.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
“ We have been through all of this before. During the controversy of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, the enemy took the form of the French ethnicity and ideology, and Americans associated with that ideology. The 1850s saw the vilification of the Irish “savages” who, for the first time had migrated in substantial numbers to the USA. In the years during and after the World War I yielded intense hatred of the Germans and German Americans among us. During World War II, the hatred of the Japanese enemy and of loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry, who looked like the enemy, resulted in the forced incarceration of seventy thousand Japanese American citizens, and between thirty and forty thousand Japanese aliens in domestic internment camps. During the 1950s, fear of the communist enemy was played out in the frequent interrogations of immigrants from Southern eastern European Countries, in suspicions regarding their ethnicity, and in the blacklisting of the Jews.”
Very few books have tried to answer the questions of: Who are the Arabs? Who are the Muslims? Who are the Arab Americans? The Stereotypes around Arabs, and how did they evolve? Arab and Muslims in the United States, where do they live and how many are them? Do Arabs have a shared religion? When did Arab people come to the United States? Are Arabs a minority group? Are Arab Americans more closely tied to their country of origin, or to America? Arab Contributions to Civilization, if there is any? Are Arab Americans active in U.S. politics? Have Arab Americans won major political offices? Who are some prominent Arab-American politicians? Nevertheless, no books that deal with the plight of Arab and Muslim Americans after9/11 have been published yet.
“Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in post 9/11 America “, answers the many questions that a great number of people are trying to find answers for. The increasing public’s curiosity about the Arabs, Muslims and the Arab and Muslim Americans in the United States has been unprecedented. The book also explains the phenomenon of stereotypes stigmatizing Arabs and Muslims, and how it has affected their lives, a phenomenon that demonized and dehumanized almost two billion people in this world.
Part one starts with an introduction that describes the climate of fear in which Arab and Muslim Americans have been living in since 9/11. It documents the author’s personal encounter with biases against Arab and Muslim Americans, and ignorance of the basic facts about Arabs and Muslims by the general public.
Chapter I, “Arabs..go back home: Or, where does hatred come from? “ Explains the historical background that led to Arab and Muslim bashing and the wave of hate crimes against them in the United States after 9/11. It describes the role of Nativist politicians, the mainstream media, and other institutions in enflaming the public’s outrage against a certain segment of society. It also explains the process of scapegoating other minority groups throughout the US history; the Irish, the French, the Germans, the Japanese, the Jews, Central and Latin Americans, and Asians.
Chapter II, “100 Years of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotyping” explains how media stereotypes can lead to biases and the violation of one’s civil rights. “Jack Shaheen & the anatomy of Anti-Arab stereotypes: TV & Reel Bad Arabs” provides insights on the phenomenon of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotyping through the author’s interview with Professor Jack Shaheen, the world’s foremost expert on the media’s stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims.
Part Two includes Profiles of Distinguished Arab-Americans, many of whom the author had met and interviewed, like Poet Ahlam Shalhout, president of Arab American Institute Dr. James Zoghby, Prominent Arab American Poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, Arab American Heart surgeon pioneer, Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. Farouk El-Baz: The Man Behind Apollo, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, syndicated columnist and stand-up comic, Ray Hanania, Congresswoman Pat Danner, former secretary of health and human services, Donna Shalala, and others.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Part two includes Appendices I & II & III. Appendix I is “A WHITE PAPER: PRELIMINARY REPORT ON HATE CRIMES AGAINST ARABS AND MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES“.
Appendix II, is the latest report about the “ IMPACT OF THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS ON THE FREEDOMS OF ARABS AND MUSLIMS
Appendix III, is a detailed report about “American Muslims: ONE YEAR AFTER 9-11”, Appendix IV, is a detailed report about “Latest Statistics and trends on Hate crimes, using the latest figures in the FBI’s annual report on hate crimes.
Appendix IV, is titled “WE ARE NOT THE ENEMY”: Hate Crimes Against Arabs, Muslims, and Those Perceived to be Arab or Muslim after September 11th, 2001.
In addition to the three million Arab Americans and seven million Muslim Americans, and many other communities in the United States that have been negatively affected by the backlash of 9/11, the tragic events have created an unprecedented curiosity to learn about Arabs and Muslims in general. Arab and Muslim American, and people of Middle Eastern ancestry will relate to the stories told in the book. The general American public will find it worth reading to learn for the first time that many of their favorite stars, like Paula Abdul, Selma Hayek, and Casey Casem, and, are Arabs and Americans, as well.
The book is also a detailed guide of Who’s Who in the Arab and the Muslim communities in politics, medicine, entertainment industry, space discovery, and almost every endeavor of American live. The book is a useful tool for students in schools and colleges around the United States who would like to get a first hand account of who are the Arabs and Muslims.
The book is a very useful tool for cross-cultural presentations in corporate environments and to government officials involved in the debate over minority issues and legislations related to 9/11 and the Middle East.
Members of other ethnic communities in America, and immigrant communities around the world, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe will find the Arab and Muslim experience in the United States, somehow similar to theirs.
Readers in the Arab and Muslims worlds, as they have felt the heat reflected on them in terms of US foreign policies, general populations in these countries will find the book interesting to learn about the experience of people with common roots from that area, and their plight after 9/11 in their endeavor to achieve the American dream.
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=24704
Read Aladdin's Columns
"Poetry Review of Ahlam Shalhout's Anthology"
"Ahlam Shalhout: Recovering Stolen Dreams An anthology for the rest of us With those lines, Ahlam touches a familiar cord inside everybody, days of childhood, the warmth of the womb and the process of molding those inner feelings into a common language. As a poet, Ahlam went through that process of virtual pregnancy and delivery that is similar to a good earth that needs to be tilled and watered to bring out the most desired fruit. Ahlam Shalhout is one of those rare personalities that you do not meet everyday. A mathematician by trade, a passionate cook and dancer, and a poet by hobby. Talk about versatility and being prolific! Ahlam goes beyond those boundaries and walls that people draw around themselves. In Recovering Stolen Dreams, Ahlam dives deep down in a journey into the human psyche and hers especially, in a unique autobiographical style. She dives deep into the oceans of hidden memories, and suppressed dreams. Ahlam is a unique personality. Her background is so colorful. She was born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands which gave her that Caribbean flare and passion for life. On the other side, her parents came to the US as immigrants from Palestine with a rich heritage from the Biblical land of Milk and Honey and strict rules of upbringing. The family moved to Connecticut, a move that galvanized Ahlam in her early days with the East Coast way of living and cultural traditions. As if this cultural exposure was not enough, Ahlam made another move in her life, that left some imprint on her. She relocated to the West Coast, crossing different time zones, to make California, and San Diego in particular, her home. In her poetry, Ahlam successfully attempts to bring into harmony, memories of the past, dreams for the future, individual and collective dreams, the scientific and the literary, all married in the most perfect marriage. In her poetic tradition, life style, and life endeavors, Ahlam is a truly renaissance woman with a clear vision for her life and she is socially conscious, gasping for a poet’s dream of a Utopian paradise that hardly exists on earth, but good to dream of. “Her poetry weaves a tapestry of emotion set in the past, present and future time. Her gift is the expression that gives birth to a touch of healing. She lures us to touch the pain that propels us into motion. This motion that generates energy for action sets us apart from our self- importance long enough to disentangle the ego from the true self”. My favorite part of Ahlam’s poetry is: Open Gaze Emerging from the state of the womb I enter into the state of vulnerability And fear I slip into a trough And emerge into a Healing.. Understanding.. Knowing .. The jagged edges of the shell Are memories of the past? The struggle is all too familiar. With those lines, Ahlam touches a familiar cord inside everybody, days of childhood, the warmth of the womb and the process of molding those inner feelings into a common language. As a poet, Ahlam went through that process of virtual pregnancy and delivery that is similar to a good earth that needs to be tilled and watered to bring out the most desired fruit. "
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking-news-story.asp?submitdate=200499162230
9/11: Let’s not let fear cripple us
Aladdin Elaasar
The anniversary of Sept. 11 will be painful for Arab and Muslim-Americans — as it will be for all Americans.
After the terrorist strikes, Arab and Muslim-Americans became targets for random hate and violence. They became the latest ethnic group to be singled out in an American time of crisis.
In the 1850s, Irish immigrants were persecuted.
During World War I, German immigrants were suspect.
During World War II, Americans of Japanese backgrounds bore the brunt of t
hat conflict.
America’s legacy of nativism — the intense opposition to an internal minority because of its supposed foreign connections — reared its head again.
About 3 million Arab-Americans and 7 million Muslim-Americans live in the United States. Sept. 11 has had a negative effect on many of their lives. Some have paid a hefty price, dealing with discrimination at schools and at the workplace, and even facing senseless and brutal hate crimes that have led to injury and death.
According to government statistics, hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans or those perceived to be of Middle Eastern origins in the United States rose dramatically after Sept. 11.
Some in position of influence in the media or in the religious sector fanned these acts of hatred. On Sept. 13, 2001, columnist Ann Coulter, on National Review Online, said: “We should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Televangelist Pat Robertson called Muslims “worse than Nazis.” The Rev. Jerry Falwell labeled the Prophet Muhammad a “terrorist.” The Rev. Franklin Graham called Islam “a very evil and wicked religion.”
Fear spread through the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities.
The USA Patriot Act diminished the rights of immigrants and allowed the government to round up people by the hundreds and keep them, in secret, from their families.
The special registration of Arab and Muslim males in America terrified communities and broke up families, as some fathers were deported on the most minor technicalities.
Fear still pervades the Muslim-American and Arab-American communities. The horrific acts of terrorism by the Sept. 11 fanatics should not impugn the patriotism of these communities.
In the wake of Sept. 11, thousands of Arab and Muslim-Americans volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed services or in law-enforcement. They are protecting us. And they should be thanked, not feared or scapegoated.
Instead, some see swift militaristic action against those who may resemble our enemies as being the best solution. But attacking innocent civilians around the globe will only inflame Arabs and Muslims and create more enemies.
Three years later, we must not let fear cripple us.
(Aladdin Elaasar is author of “Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America.”)
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/printDS/38380.php
Published: 09.11.2004
Aladdin Elaasar: We must not let fear cripple us as a people nor as individuals
Aladdin Elaasar
The anniversary of Sept. 11 will be painful for Arab and Muslim-Americans - as it will be for all Americans.
After the terrorist strikes, Arab and Muslim-Americans became targets for random hatred and violence. They became the latest ethnic group to be singled out in an American time of crisis.
In the 1850s, Irish immigrants were persecuted.
During World War I, German immigrants were suspect.
During World War II, Americans of Japanese backgrounds bore the brunt of that conflict.
America's legacy of nativism - the intense opposition to an internal minority because of its supposed foreign connections - reared its head again.
About 3 million Arab-Americans and 7 million Muslim-Americans live in the United States.
Sept. 11 has had a negative effect on many of their lives. Some have paid a hefty price, dealing with discrimination at schools and at the workplace, and even facing senseless and brutal hate crimes that have led to injury and death.
According to government statistics, hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans or those perceived to be of Middle Eastern origins in the United States rose dramatically after Sept. 11.
Some in positions of influence in the media or in the religious sector fanned these acts of hatred.
On Sept. 13, 2001, columnist Ann Coulter, on National Review Online, said: "We should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
Televangelist Pat Robertson called Muslims "worse than Nazis." The Rev. Jerry Falwell labeled the Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist." The Rev. Franklin Graham called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion."
Fear spread through the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities.
The USA Patriot Act diminished the rights of immigrants and allowed the government to round up people by the hundreds and keep them, in secret, from their families.
The special registration of Arab and Muslim males in America terrified communities and broke up families, as some fathers were deported on the most minor technicalities.
Fear still pervades the Muslim-American and Arab-American communities. The horrific acts of terrorism by the Sept. 11 fanatics should not impugn the patriotism of these communities.
In the wake of Sept. 11, thousands of Arab and Muslim-Americans volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed services or in law-enforcement. They are protecting us. And they should be thanked, not feared or scapegoated.
Instead some see swift militaristic action against those who may resemble our enemies as being the best solution.
But attacking innocent civilians around the globe will only inflame Arabs and Muslims and create more enemies.
Three years later, we must not let fear cripple us.
● Aladdin Elaasar is the author of "Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America." This article was prepared for The Progressive Media Project, 409 E. Main St., Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org; and was distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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posted by Aladdin Elaasar at 11:12 AM
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