tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/arab-americans-28648/articlesArab Americans – The Conversation2024-02-28T14:12:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245992024-02-28T14:12:22Z2024-02-28T14:12:22ZMore than 100K Michigan voters pick ‘uncommitted’ over Biden − does that matter for November?<p>Joe Biden won the 2024 Michigan Democratic primary, but <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-election-michigan-2024-6e0b9fc18773e975fdfd23f7287ed615">“uncommitted” ran a spirited campaign</a>. </p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/27/us/elections/results-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary.html">100,000 Michiganders voted “uncommitted”</a> in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, 13% of the Democratic electorate. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.listentomichigan.com/">Listen to Michigan</a> organized the uncommitted campaign in Michigan, promoting it as a way to express dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s public stance in support of <a href="https://theconversation.com/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-222657">Israel’s actions in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza</a>.</p>
<p>The group also set a goal of securing more uncommitted votes than the 11,000-vote margin by which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/president">Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016</a>. The total was nearly 10 times that number.</p>
<p>Biden won Michigan in 2020 by 154,181 votes.</p>
<p>While there were no exit polls conducted with Michigan primary voters, preelection polling just before the primary showed Biden’s weakness among potential <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1234106750/uncommitted-voters-michigan-primary-arab-muslim-dearborn-hamtramck-detroit">young voters as well as Arab Americans</a>.</p>
<p>Michigan has the largest Arab, Muslim and Palestinian population in the United States, currently numbering <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/arab-population-by-state">more than 200,000</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-dearborn-michigan-the-first-arab-american-majority-city-in-the-us-216700">A brief history of Dearborn, Michigan – the first Arab-American majority city in the US</a>
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<p>More than half of the population of Dearborn, Michigan, is Arab, as is its mayor; it is home to <a href="https://theconversation.com/islams-call-to-prayer-is-ringing-out-in-more-us-cities-affirming-a-long-and-growing-presence-of-muslims-in-america-205555">the largest mosque in the United States</a>. One of the leaders of the uncommitted movement is U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib from the 12th District, the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress.</p>
<p>At time of publication, with 98% of precincts reporting a day after the election, <a href="https://cityofdearborn.org/documents/city-departments/city-clerk/elections/election-results/2024-election-results/8310-february-27-2024-primary-election-unofficial-results-as-of-11-30-p-m/file">vote tallies from Dearborn</a>, the city with the highest percentage of Arab American voters in the state, show “uncommitted” leading there – 6,290 votes to President Biden’s 4,517. </p>
<p>It’s not clear that all of the uncommitted voters were part of the protest. In primaries, some voters will vote uncommitted if they have not yet made their choice or don’t want to disclose that choice for any number of reasons. In 2020, 19,106 Democratic voters in Michigan <a href="https://www.wxyz.com/news/national-politics/america-votes/heres-how-many-people-voted-uncommitted-in-past-michigan-presidential-primaries">selected uncommitted, while 21,601 did so in 2016</a> – even though no protest was attached to those decisions.</p>
<p>What makes the 2024 primaries different from previous contests is that uncommitted voters are being reported in exit polls and by election officials because that designation actually appears on the ballot in some states. </p>
<p>Besides Michigan, which added uncommitted to its primary ballots in 2012, there are uncommitted lines on the ballots in New Hampshire, North Carolina and South Carolina; Florida has a “no preference” line. In Oregon and <a href="https://crosscut.com/politics/2024/02/faq-washingtons-march-12-presidential-primary">Washington</a>, citizens will be able to vote for an uncommitted delegate to the convention. </p>
<p>Selecting uncommitted is a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/michigan-democrats-organizers-urge-uncommitted-vote-feb-27-primary-2024-02-06/">way for voters to express dissatisfaction</a> with the candidates whose names appear on the ballot while still participating in the democratic act of voting. </p>
<p>In my view, this form of peaceful protest is an essential element of American democracy and more demonstrative than staying home from the polls. </p>
<p>It is not an option for the fall general election, where the only alternative to a Biden vote for Democrats will be to stay home or vote for Donald Trump. </p>
<p>Given his past <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/text-of-trump-executive-order-nation-ban-refugees/index.html">record</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/17/trump-muslim-ban-gaza-refugees">proposals</a> to exclude Arabs from immigration to the United States, I don’t believe that will be a realistic alternative for many of Michigan’s uncommitted voters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Traugott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Organizers of the protest had set a goal of 11,000 uncommitted votes to show dissatisfaction with Biden’s support of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war.Michael Traugott, Research Professor at the Center for Political Studies, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195482024-01-08T13:35:53Z2024-01-08T13:35:53ZAn overlooked and undercounted group of Arab American and Muslim voters may have outsized impact on 2024 presidential election<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567954/original/file-20240104-15-bqu0rz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=766%2C125%2C3227%2C2532&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People demonstrate in support of Palestinians on Oct. 14, 2023, in Dearborn, Mich.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-demonstrate-in-support-of-palestinians-in-dearborn-news-photo/1724359826?adppopup=true">Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Though domestic issues tend to motivate most U.S. voters, the war in the Middle East may be the dominant issue in mind for an increasingly important voting block: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/arab-and-muslim-americans-on-how-u-s-support-for-israel-could-affect-their-votes-in-2024">Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans</a>. </p>
<p>Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, members of these communities have watched the rising death toll and heard vivid accounts of the horrors befalling Palestinians in Gaza as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to bombard the enclave with the support of the Biden administration.</p>
<p>For some Arab Americans, a community that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213668804/arab-americans-michigan-voters-biden-israel-hamas-palestinians">overwhelmingly voted Democratic</a> in the 2020 presidential election, that support may have negative consequences on Biden’s attempt to regain the White House in 2024. In fact, numerous Middle Eastern and Muslim American leaders have called for their communities to “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/muslim-americans-face-abandon-biden-dilemma-then-who-2023-12-02/">abandon Biden</a>” in the upcoming presidential election.</p>
<p>The question, then, is what effect such defections could have on Biden’s chances of winning reelection. </p>
<p>As a whole, the number of Middle Eastern or Muslim Americans is quite small. According to the 2020 census – the first year such data was recorded – <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html#:%7E:text=Who%20Identified%20as%20a%20Detailed%20MENA%20Group%3F,population">3.5 million</a> Americans reported being of Middle Eastern and North African descent, about 1% of the total U.S. population of nearly <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/">335 million citizens</a>.</p>
<p>But the outcome of the 2024 presidential election may come down to results in a few swing states where Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans are concentrated, such as Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona. </p>
<p>In the 2020 presidential election, for instance, Biden won the state of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/03/928191195/michigan-live-election-results-2020">Michigan</a> by a total of 154,000 votes. The state is home to overlapping groups of more than <a href="https://emgageusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Emgage-ImpactReport-2020-v2.4-lr-1.pdf">200,000 registered voters</a> who are Muslim and <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html#:%7E:text=Who%20Identified%20as%20a%20Detailed%20MENA%20Group%3F,population">300,000</a> who claim ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa.</p>
<h2>Working around statistical erasure</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J4rDIpUAAAAJ&hl=en">social scientist</a>, I specialize in statistical analysis and research on how race, ethnicity and religion affect political outcomes in the U.S. I know from firsthand experience that any effort to gauge the attitudes and behaviors of Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans requires a bit of analytic gymnastics. </p>
<p>For starters, since 1977, the U.S. government <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/populations/bridged-race/directive15.html">has categorized</a> those with ancestral ties to the “original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East” as “white,” according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.</p>
<p>That stipulation is found in that agency’s Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting and is used in <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/note/US/RHI625222#:%7E:text=A%20person%20having%20origins%20in,Italian%2C%20Lebanese%2C%20and%20Egyptian.">U.S. census reports</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, members of this community are subsumed within an expansive grouping of “whites” that effectively renders them invisible in nearly all administrative data and public opinion polls. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a religious cloth over her head stands in the middle of a crowd of people holding a sign that reads Gaza." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567956/original/file-20240104-19-khocln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Muslim American supporters of Palestine hold a rally on Oct. 21, 2023, in Brooklyn, N.Y.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nysupporters-of-palestine-hold-a-rally-in-the-bay-ridge-news-photo/1749087314?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Similarly, Muslims are not captured in official data, as the U.S. <a href="https://ask.census.gov/prweb/PRServletCustom/app/ECORRAsk2/YACFBFye-rFIz_FoGtyvDRUGg1Uzu5Mn*/!STANDARD?pzuiactionzzz=CXtpbn0rTEpMcGRYOG1vS0tqTFAwaENUZWpvM1NNWEMzZ3p5aFpnWUxzVmw0TjJndno5ZkJPc24xNWYvcCtNbVVjWk5Z*#:%7E:text=Public%20Law%2094%2D521%20prohibits,practices%2C%20on%20a%20voluntary%20basis.">does not record</a> its citizens’ religious affiliations. </p>
<p>Even public opinion surveys that record religious denomination typically offer little to no insight into this community. When it comes to more prevalent religious groups – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/catholic/party-affiliation/">Catholics</a>, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/324410/religious-group-voting-2020-election.aspx">Protestants</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/white-evangelicals-likely-side-gop-donald-trump-rcna47593">white evangelicals </a> – their opinions are frequently reported and the subject of many polls. </p>
<p>But Muslims are nearly always relegated to the “other non-Christian” religious category, along with similarly small faith communities.</p>
<p>This is not to say that relevant data on Muslims and Middle Easterners in the U.S. is unavailable. For example, <a href="https://emgageusa.org/">Emgage</a>, a nonprofit Muslim advocacy group, collected such data on eligible voters and turnout in a dozen states during the 2020 presidential election. </p>
<p>By combining the <a href="https://emgageusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Emgage-ImpactReport-2020-v2.4-lr-1.pdf">data from Emgage</a> with data collected by AP VoteCast, the Cooperative Election Survey and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one can reach a few general conclusions about these communities.</p>
<h2>Impact of defections on 2024 presidential campaign</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aaiusa.org/library/arab-americans-special-poll-domestic-implications-of-the-most-recent-outbreak-of-violence-in-palestineisrael">Arab American Institute</a>, an advocacy group, says that since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Arab American support for the Democratic Party has plummeted from 59% in 2020 to just 17%. </p>
<p>Among <a href="https://emgageusa.org/press-release/emgage-releases-survey-findings-about-muslim-americans-current-2024-election-predictions/">Muslim Americans</a> the drop is worse, from 70% in 2020 to about 10% at the end of 2023. </p>
<p>If these poll numbers hold true until Nov. 7, the 2024 presidential election would be the first time in nearly 30 years that the Democrats were not the party of choice for Arab American voters.</p>
<p>That doesn’t necessarily mean that these voters would go to the GOP. In 2020, then-President <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-travel-ban-is-just-one-of-many-us-policies-that-legalize-discrimination-against-muslims-89334">Donald Trump</a> proved to be an unpopular choice among Arab and Muslim American voters, in large part due to his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/17/trump-muslim-ban-gaza-refugees">executive order 13769</a>. </p>
<p>Signed on Jan. 27, 2017, the order immediately prohibited the entry of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and came to be known by critics as the Muslim ban. Though the order survived numerous legal challenges, it <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/06/974339586/biden-has-overturned-trumps-muslim-travel-ban-activists-say-thats-not-enough">was eventually overturned</a> by Biden shortly after he took office in January 2021.</p>
<p>Trump has already promised during campaign stops to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-pledges-expel-immigrants-who-support-hamas-ban-muslims-us-2023-10-16/">reinstate his policy</a>.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, Biden won overwhelming majorities in these communities in 2020.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A middle aged white man wearing a business suit is taking a picture of people celebrating a holiday." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567773/original/file-20240103-23-6aehex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">U.S. President Joe Biden, left, takes selfies on May 1, 2023, at the White House during a reception celebrating the end of Ramadan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-takes-selfies-with-guests-during-a-news-photo/1486918953?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But it is not out of the realm of possibility that the votes cast by Middle Easterners and Muslims for the Republican and Democratic candidates for president in 2024 drop by 50% from 2020, as those voters decide to stay home or vote for a third-party candidate. </p>
<p>In Michigan, for example, that could mean <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Eky2iFW98vrdC4Oe53ssjEesvkNZh-oYDbE02NJmN-c/edit?usp=sharing">Biden would lose about 55,000 votes</a>, or about a third of the 154,000-vote margin of victory he earned over Trump in 2020.</p>
<p>Michigan is not the only state where no-shows in these communities could jeopardize Biden’s prospects for victory. </p>
<p>Decreased turnout among Middle Eastern, North African and Muslim Americans alone would be enough to erase <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/940689086/narrow-wins-in-these-key-states-powered-biden-to-the-presidency">Biden’s 2020 margins of victory</a> in Arizona – 10,457 votes – and nearly do the same in Georgia, where Biden won by 12,670 votes.</p>
<p>Of course, Arab Americans are not the only ones likely to penalize Biden at the ballot box next November over his <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/joe-biden-united-states-foreign-policy-ukraine-israel-hamas-war-taiwan/">foreign policy</a>. But even if they were, the numbers show that a presidential election may swing on a lesser-known but potentially crucial voting bloc.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Youssef Chouhoud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Though Arab Americans voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, polling suggests that support has eroded since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel.Youssef Chouhoud, Assistant Professor, Christopher Newport UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019302023-04-12T12:10:01Z2023-04-12T12:10:01ZArab Americans are a much more diverse group than many of their neighbors mistakenly assume<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520141/original/file-20230411-18-zzulkj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C9%2C1005%2C691&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zoe Sahloul, executive director of the New England Arab American Organization, center, celebrates Eid-al-Fitr in Maine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/zoe-sahloul-executive-director-of-the-new-england-arab-news-photo/546505856?adppopup=true">Joel Page/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Marking April as Arab American Heritage Month – a time to learn about the history, culture and contributions of <a href="https://www.aaiusa.org/demographics">our nearly 4 million strong</a> community – is <a href="https://arabamericafoundation.org/national-arab-american-heritage-month/">gaining traction</a> across the country.</p>
<p>In 2022, Joe Biden made history as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/01/us/arab-american-heritage-month/index.html">the first U.S. president to recognize the month</a>, which he did <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/31/a-proclamation-on-arab-american-heritage-month-2023/">again in 2023</a>. States such as <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=100&DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=5971&GAID=14&SessionID=91&LegID=113390">Illinois</a> and <a href="https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/proclamations/proclamation-list/arab-american-heritage-month.html">Virginia</a> have passed legislation to make the celebration an annual event, and dozens more <a href="https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/social-studies/arab-american-heritage-month">have commemorated it</a>.</p>
<p>This recognition is important, given the simplistic ways Arabs are often portrayed in American culture. From TV stations to <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814707326/arabs-and-muslims-in-the-media/">entertainment media</a>, people of Arab descent are often stereotyped as violent, oppressed or exotic. Nevertheless, as <a href="https://prod.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/people/faculty/socio-cultural-faculty/ymoll.html">an anthropologist</a> who studies religious and racial dynamics in Arab societies, I am concerned that as the celebration of “Arab American heritage” becomes more mainstream, the diversity and complex stories of Arab Americans’ many different communities may be papered over. In short, Arab Americans are not a monolithic group.</p>
<h2>Arab Christians</h2>
<p>In 2023, Arab American Heritage Month overlaps with the second half of Ramadan, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ramadan-is-called-ramadan-6-questions-answered-77291">the Muslim month of fasting</a>. For many in the United States, this overlap seems natural, given how often Islam is conflated with Arab identity. But just as most Muslims around the world <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2011/01/FutureGlobalMuslimPopulation-WebPDF-Feb10.pdf">are not Arab</a>, not all Arabs are Muslim.</p>
<p>While the 22 countries that make up <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/arab-league">the Arab League</a> all have Muslim majorities, Christian communities predate Muslim ones in the region. Indeed, Christianity began in the Middle East, with the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1433">Palestinian city of Bethlehem</a>, which is revered as Jesus’ birthplace, an important pilgrimage stop for Christians from all over the world. During the first significant wave of Arab immigration to the U.S. in the <a href="https://merip.org/1986/03/naff-becoming-american/">late 19th century and early 20th century</a>, families more often than not were Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian Christians.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a group of men in suits at cafe tables, looking at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520135/original/file-20230411-24-cp2zm8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many Arab immigrants to the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century were Syrian.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ggbain/item/2014698960/">Bain News Service/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, most <a href="http://www.americabythenumbers.org/episode/tnd-arab-americans/">Americans of Arab descent</a> identify as Christian. While the Arab community in the greater Detroit area, a short drive from where I live and work, <a href="https://amaney-jamal.scholar.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf2816/files/amaney-jamal/files/BB.pdf">is majority Muslim</a>, that sets it apart from many other Arab communities in the U.S.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2017.1402797">Arab American Christians</a> are themselves diverse, identifying as Protestants and Catholics, and with a variety of Eastern Christian traditions, such as Antiochian and Coptic Orthodoxy. </p>
<p>Furthermore, some sects of Christianity have become intertwined with specific ethnic identities. For example, some Coptic Christian Egyptian Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2021.1883277">refuse the label</a> “Arab,” even if they grew up speaking Arabic at home or learn the language to connect with their family roots. This refusal is often rooted in Copts’ collective experiences of marginalization in Egypt, where they face <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26146">many restrictions</a>, including on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/world/middleeast/coptic-church-fire-egypt.html">repairing and building churches</a>.</p>
<h2>From Mizrahi Jews to Shiite Muslims</h2>
<p>Just as Christianity is an integral yet complex part of Arab heritage, so is Judaism. Arab Jews, often called <a href="https://www.academia.edu/11961837/_Dislocated_Identities_Reflections_of_an_Arab_Jew_Published_simultaneously_in_Emergences_Movement_Research_5_Fall_1991_Winter_1992_p_8">Mizrahi Jews</a>, have existed since ancient times and helped shape Arab heritage through their <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Reuven-Snir/publication/305335498_'We_Are_Arabs_Before_We_Are_Jews'_The_Emergence_and_Demise_of_Arab-Jewish_Culture_in_Modern_Times_EJOS_-_Electronic_Journal_of_Oriental_Studies_VIII9_2005_pp_1-47/links/57890df408ae7a588ee8599e/We-Are-Arabs-Before-We-Are-Jews-The-Emergence-and-Demise-of-Arab-Jewish-Culture-in-Modern-Times-EJOS-Electronic-Journal-of-Oriental-Studies-VIII9-2005-pp-1-47.pdf">philosophical, poetic and political contributions</a> across centuries.</p>
<p>To be sure, Israel’s establishment and its occupation of Palestinian territories has complicated Arab Jewish identities, with <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400849130-045/html?lang=en">new forms of antisemitism</a> becoming more common within many Arab communities. Still, there is <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/when-we-were-arabs#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CWhen%20We%20Were%20Arabs%3A%20A,a%20place%20to%20call%20home.%E2%80%9D">growing interest</a> among scholars and Arab American Jews themselves in learning more about <a href="https://levecenter.ucla.edu/moroccan-jewish-studies/#:%7E:text=Leve%20Center%20for%20Jewish%20Studies%20hosts%20a%20wide%2Drange%20of,and%20literatures%20of%20Maghribi%20Jewries.">this history</a>, as well as the Jewish background of beloved pan-Arab celebrities such as <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28033#:%7E:text=Murad%20was%20a%20Jew%20who,Officers%20and%20the%201952%20Revolution.">Layla Murad</a>, an iconic midcentury Egyptian actress.</p>
<p>The San Francisco Bay area for generations has been home to the Egyptian <a href="https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/stains-culture">Jewish Karaite</a> community. Karaites reject the authority of the rabbinic oral tradition used by more mainstream branches of Judaism such as Reform, Conservative and Orthodox groups in the U.S. Here in the U.S., as in Egypt, members struggle for recognition as a religious minority within a religion that is itself a minority, Judaism. </p>
<p>Arab American Muslims are not a monolithic group, either. Over half identify as Sunni, 16% as Shiite and the rest with neither group, according to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/09/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/">2017 Pew poll</a>. Of course, the diversity of beliefs and practices within Sunnism and Shiism, the largest two branches of Islam, are themselves present within <a href="https://practiceofislaminamerica.wordpress.com/">Arab American Muslim communities</a> as well.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three boys embrace, smiling, in basketball uniforms, while another laughs in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520136/original/file-20230411-22-zfr949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Fordson High School boy’s basketball team in Dearborn, Mich., home to a large Arab American community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fordson-high-school-boys-basketball-players-from-left-news-photo/632884560?adppopup=true">Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, many Arab Americans identify with no religion at all, or with other faiths beyond the Abrahamic traditions.</p>
<h2>Many nations, one box</h2>
<p>Arab heritage not only includes a variety of religious traditions, but encompasses a wide range of ethnic and racial identities. It is difficult to make generalizations about Arabs, whose skin tone, facial features, eye colors and hair textures embody the rich histories of human migrations and settlements that characterize western Asia and northern Africa.</p>
<p>The U.S. census erases this internal diversity, however, by categorizing Arabs and other Middle Easterners as “white.” Arab American advocacy groups have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085355634/arab-americans-say-the-census-and-other-forms-dont-consider-their-roots">long argued </a> that the form’s categories do not reflect the actual experiences of the vast majority of Arab Americans, who are not treated as white in their everyday lives. And Arab identities in the U.S. are becoming only more complex, given the diversity of national backgrounds reflected in the <a href="https://arabamericanmuseum.org/coming-to-america/">more recent waves of Arab immigration</a> from the 1960s to today.</p>
<h2>Complicated identities</h2>
<p>Asking that Arabs check the box as “white” also marginalizes Black Arabs. The term <a href="https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/06/10/5-afro-arab-female-voices-to-center-and-amplify-in-the-fight-against-anti-black-racism/">Afro Arab</a> is growing as a term of self-description for Black Arab Americans seeking to make space for their multifaceted identities and heritage. Black communities are a part of every Arab country, from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/world/middleeast/iraq-tv-black-news-anchor.html">Iraq</a> to <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/blackness-in-morocco">Morocco</a>.</p>
<p>These dual identities are still fraught, given the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism within some Arab communities, which often stems from the legacies of <a href="https://aucpress.com/product/race-and-slavery-in-the-middle-east/">the trans-Saharan and Ottoman slave trades</a>. An estimated 15% of Tunisians, for example, are descendants of <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/slaveries.3989">enslaved Black people</a> from sub-Saharan Africa. Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846, two decades before the U.S., yet it passed a <a href="https://merip.org/2021/08/the-limits-of-confronting-racial-discrimination-in-tunisia-with-law-50/">law prohibiting racial discrimination</a> only in 2018, making it the first Arab country to do so. Still, Tunisia’s president recently provoked outrage after he gave a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/23/tunisia-kais-saied-racism-migrants-black-tunisians/">racist speech</a> targeting African migrants and Black Tunisians.</p>
<p>Around the world, Black Arabs have consistently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-race-women/feature-black-arab-women-tackle-racist-beauty-ideals-and-stereotypes-idUKL8N2DY0B6">criticized</a> such racism, especially after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S., which sparked a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-53184402">regional reckoning</a> with anti-Blackness.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holds a sign reading 'Black Lives Matter,' with another sign in Arabic nearby, during a march." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520138/original/file-20230411-24-51ywwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tunisians demonstrate against racism during a protest in Tunis on Feb. 25, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tunis-tunisia-25-february-2023-a-man-holding-a-sign-that-news-photo/1470231559?adppopup=true">Hasan Mrad/DeFodi Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the Sudanese-American museum curator Isra el-Beshir <a href="https://infinitemiledetroit.com/A_wanasa_with_Safia_Elhillo_on_Art,_Identity_and_Belonging.html">put it</a>, “I am an African person, who speaks Arabic and who as a result of speaking Arabic has Arab cultural tendencies. But I do not racially identify as an Arab. It’s still murky territory for me that I am trying to navigate.”</p>
<h2>500-year journey</h2>
<p>In her historical novel “<a href="https://lailalalami.com/the-moors-account/about/">The Moor’s Account</a>,” which won the Arab American Book Award in 2015 and was <a href="https://lailalalami.com/the-moors-account/about/">a Pulitzer Prize finalist</a>, Laila Lalami recounts the experiences of Al-Zammouri, more commonly known as Estebanico. Based on true accounts, Lalami narrates how he was enslaved and brought to current-day Florida by 16th-century Spanish colonizers. Al-Zammouri’s name reflects his Moroccan hometown: Azemmour, a city famed for its ocean breeze. His identity – Black and Arab; Muslim, then Catholic – reflects the complexity of the Arab world while bringing to light the complex origin stories of America itself. </p>
<p>Ideally, heritage month celebrations will create more opportunities to reflect on stories like Al-Zammouri’s, which portray how rich and diverse Arab American identity is – really, many different identities rolled into just two words. If heritage months are an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of America, the diversity of the Arab community itself should not be overlooked.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yasmin Moll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Arab American Heritage Month is becoming more well-known, but the simple words ‘Arab American’ encompass a wide array of religious and ethnic groups.Yasmin Moll, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021462018-11-15T11:45:06Z2018-11-15T11:45:06ZWhy are some Americans changing their names?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245384/original/file-20181113-194516-ugciht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For decades, native-born American Jews changed their names to improve their job prospects.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blue-hello-my-name-tag-1192768264?src=Cf8G7gyS1DirSsR7ws36FQ-1-37">Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2008, Newsweek published an article on then-presidential candidate Barack Obama titled “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/when-barry-became-barack-84255">From Barry to Barack</a>.”</p>
<p>The story explained how Obama’s Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr., chose Barry as a nickname for himself in 1959 in order “to fit in.” But the younger Barack – who had been called Barry since he was a child – chose to revert to his given name, Barack, in 1980 as a college student coming to terms with his identity. </p>
<p>Newsweek’s story reflects a typical view of name changing: Immigrants in an earlier era changed their names to assimilate, while in our contemporary era of ethnic pride, immigrants and their children are more likely to retain or reclaim ethnic names. </p>
<p>However, my research on name changing suggests a more complicated narrative. For the past 10 years, I’ve studied thousands of name-changing petitions deposited at the New York City Civil Court from 1887 through today. </p>
<p>Those petitions suggest that name changing has changed significantly over time: While it was primarily Jews in the early to mid-20th century who altered their names to avoid discrimination, today it’s a more diverse group of people changing their names for a range of reasons, from qualifying for government benefits to keeping their families unified.</p>
<h2>Jews hope to improve their job prospects</h2>
<p>From the 1910s through the 1960s, the overwhelming majority of people petitioning to change their names weren’t immigrants seeking to have their names Americanized. </p>
<p>Instead, they were native-born American Jews who faced significant institutional discrimination. </p>
<p>In the 1910s and 1920s, many employers wouldn’t hire Jews, and universities began establishing quotas on Jewish applicants. One way to tell if someone was Jewish was his or her name, so it made sense that Jews would want to get rid of names that “sounded” Jewish. </p>
<p>As Dora Sarietzky, a stenographer and typist, <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479867202/">explained in her 1937 petition</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My name proved to be a great handicap in securing a position. … In order to facilitate securing work, I assumed the name Doris Watson.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since most petitioners were native-born Americans, this wasn’t about fitting in. It was a direct response to racism. </p>
<h2>The changing face of name changing</h2>
<p>While 80 percent of petitioners in 1946 sought to erase their ethnic names and replace them with more generic “American-sounding” ones, <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479867202/">only 25 percent of petitioners in 2002 did the same</a>. Meanwhile, few name changers in the past 50 years have actually made a decision like Barack Obama’s: Only about 5 percent of all name change petitions in 2002 sought a name more ethnically identifiable.</p>
<p>So why, in the 21st century, are people feeling compelled to change their names?</p>
<p>The demographics of name change petitioners today – and the reasons that they give – suggest a complicated story of race, class and culture. </p>
<p>Jewish names disappeared in the petitions over the last two decades of the 20th century. At the same time, the numbers of African-American, Asian and Latino petitioners rose dramatically after 2001. </p>
<p>On the one hand, this reflected the changing demographics of the city. But there was also a marked shift in the class of petitioners. While only 1 percent of petitioners in 1946 lived in a neighborhood with a median income below the poverty line, by 2012, 52 percent of petitioners lived in such a neighborhood. </p>
<h2>Navigating the bureaucracy</h2>
<p>These new petitioners aren’t seeking to improve their educational and job prospects in large numbers, like the Jews of the 1930s and 1940s.</p>
<p>Instead, today’s petitioners seem to be trying to match their names with those of other family members after a divorce, adoption or abandonment. Or they’re looking to fix bureaucratic errors in their records – the misspelled or mistaken names that were long ignored, but have increasingly become major problems in the 21st century.</p>
<p>In the wake of Sept. 11, the nation’s obsession with security translated to <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/etc/fake.html">an increased anxiety surrounding identity documents</a>. This anxiety seems to have particularly burdened the poor, who now need the names on their birth certificates to match drivers’ licenses and other documents in order to get jobs or government benefits.</p>
<p>Roughly 21 percent of petitioners in 2002 sought to correct errors on their vital documents, while in 1942, only about 4 percent of petitions had been submitted to change a mistake on an identification document. </p>
<p>“When I apply for Medicare premium payment program,” <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479867202/">one petitioner explained in 2007</a>, “they denied it because my name doesn’t match my social security card.” </p>
<h2>Why change your name if it won’t help?</h2>
<p>There’s also another key difference between today and the early 20th century: limited upward mobility. </p>
<p>Even though <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873">multiple studies have shown</a> that people with African-American-sounding names are more likely to face job discrimination, poor African Americans in Brooklyn and the Bronx aren’t getting rid of their African-American-sounding names.</p>
<p>Perhaps this is because poor or working class people in 21st-century America <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/04/21/science.aan3264.full">have fewer possibilities for upward mobility</a> than there were for Jews in the 1940s working as clerks, salesmen and secretaries. </p>
<p>So even if having an ethnic-sounding name might hinder middle-class African Americans’ ability to find a better job, there’s less of an incentive for poor people of color to change their names.</p>
<h2>Racism against Arab-Americans</h2>
<p>There is one striking exception, and it demonstrates the powerful role discrimination continues to play in American society.</p>
<p>After Sept. 11, there was a surge of petitions from people with Arabic-sounding names. </p>
<p>Their petitions were achingly similar to those of Jews in the 1940s, though many of these newer petitioners were more open about the hatred they faced:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Prevailing attitudes and prejudices against persons of Arabic descendancy have been adversely affected as a direct result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” one petitioner wrote. “Petitioner wishes to change his name to a less demonstratively Muslim/Arabic first name.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By 2012, however, petitioners with Muslim or Arabic names had stopped changing their names in large numbers. That probably doesn’t have anything to do with a more tolerant society. Instead, in 2009, the New York City Police Department <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-secret-files-muslims-change-names-sound-american-report-article-1.968327">began conducting surveillance</a> into New York’s Muslim and Arab communities using Civil Court name change petitions, sending the message that the act of changing your name might make you as much of a suspect as keeping it. </p>
<p>Although there has been substantial change in the name change petitions over the past 125 years, there’s one lasting lesson: Name changing is not a simple story. It hasn’t moved smoothly from an era in which immigrants simply wanted to fit in, to an era in which diversity is welcome.</p>
<p>Instead, name changing illustrates that racial hatred and suspicion have been a lasting presence in American history, and that intertwined definitions of race and class are hardening – and limiting – the opportunities of people of color.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirsten Fermaglich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The demographics of name change petitioners today – and the reasons that they give – tell a complicated story of race, class and culture.Kirsten Fermaglich, Associate Professor, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/723292017-02-03T09:50:20Z2017-02-03T09:50:20ZLife in an Arab-American community under Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155329/original/image-20170202-28018-1tqeiro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Jersey is home to one of the US's largest Muslim populations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ackniculous/17361920851/in/photolist-ssdobX-saMP9r-avoto1-c8jMwo-q4XHnJ-nTWkNP-GqP1nb-jhRxw-oECECf/">B.C. Lorio via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Life goes on for the parents who drop off their children at homework club, or those rushing in late for embroidery class. As usual, the community centre where I’m doing my fieldwork in northern New Jersey is filled with the piercing screams of toddlers trying to keep up with the older kids. But something in the atmosphere is different.</p>
<p>At the front desk, a pile of letters from an immigrant rights group explain the terms of the executive order in English and Arabic, brutally stating in capital letters that those affected “SHOULD NOT TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES for any reason”.</p>
<p>Standing by the community centre’s front desk is Zainab, a Syrian refugee. Her husband’s aunt, a green card-holder born in Iraq, is currently flying from Dubai to Newark Airport; her fate is unknown. The air of uncertainty and confusion surrounding the executive order and its practical implementation by federal agencies obscures any clear prediction of what will happen to her. Will she meet the same fate as two Yemenis who arrived in the US on January 28, who were reportedly talked into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/30/trump-travel-ban-yemenis-coerced-relinquish-green-card">signing away their green cards</a> and put on the next flight back? </p>
<p>Yet, Zainab exudes an air of resigned optimism. As her relative hurtles towards the US, she says there is little to do other than wait and hope.</p>
<p>Unlike Zainab and her aunt, the majority of the community centre’s patrons are Muslim Palestinian-Americans. As most are American citizens, and have ties to Palestine and Jordan – not included in the ban – the executive order doesn’t directly affect them. But for those I speak to, this is the most shocking and scary moment since Trump entered the presidential race, perhaps aside from his election victory. The letters piled at the entrance remind those who enter that this is no longer a time of primaries and debates, of rhetoric and promises.</p>
<p>Just by signing the order, Abdullah tells me incredulously, Trump immediately turned more than 100 airplane passengers from valid visa and green card holders into illegal travellers, welcomed not by friends and family but by detention and coercion. “Have you ever seen political bureaucracy work so fast?”, he asks me. In the <a href="https://twitter.com/Remroum/status/825212566750244864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">words</a> of Palestinian-American poet and activist Remi Kanazi, “with a pen stroke, a wedding is missed, a eulogy isn’t spoken, a job is not taken, a family is left broken, safety isn’t found”.</p>
<p>For members of the community, the ban is unprecedented – not because it targets Muslims and Arabs, and (green card-holding) Muslim- and Arab-Americans, but because of its open and unabashed intention to do so.</p>
<h2>Flying while Muslim</h2>
<p>The Arab-American community has endured decades of government infringements on their civil liberties: as far back as 1972, President Nixon launched <a href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/15474">Operation Boulder</a>, a clandestine FBI operation that spied on thousands of Arab-Americans. But the sharpest uptick, of course, came in the aftermath of 9/11. </p>
<p>Almost immediately after the events of that day, Arab-Americans quickly found themselves collectively punished with detention, deportation and surveillance – in spite of the fact that none of their number were involved in the attacks. (One Palestinian-American tells me, half-joking, that in the months after 9/11, there were more FBI agents than real customers in the Arab restaurants in this New Jersey town.) </p>
<p>In terms of international travel, many have experienced first hand the humiliating difficulties of what they call “flying while Arab” and “flying while Muslim”, and the enhanced security attention this entails. In past years, several airplane passengers simply speaking, reading or writing in Arabic have been <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/22/prankster-kicked-flight-speaking-arabic-delta-airlines-defends/">pulled off flights</a> in the US and Europe.</p>
<p>Yet this order is not secret or unofficial: it is meant to be seen. Photos and videos of Trump sternly signing the necessary papers in the Oval Office, then holding them up for cameras, have been endlessly circulated (and <a href="https://twitter.com/trumpdraws">mocked</a>) over the past week. The spectacle of Trump’s executive orders is part and parcel of his <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-travel-ban-is-nothing-to-do-with-national-security-72170">performative politics</a>.</p>
<p>It’s not lost on the young children who come to homework club. As their attention span expires, they rush to the lectern standing empty at the front of the room and begin to imitate their president. “I am Donald Trump, and I hate Muslim people,” says one child in Arabic. Between fits of self-conscious giggles, another declares: “I will not let Muslim people into this country.” A final Trump impressionist takes his homework up to the podium and signs it with great concentration – and then holds his giant signature up for the audience: “Here is my signature for not letting people in!”</p>
<p>Older members of the centre find comfort in sharing stories of small acts of kindness from other Americans. A fellow tutor relates an encounter over the weekend: walking alone in the street wearing a hijab, a large man approached her. She expected the worst – but instead, he offered words of support and protection.</p>
<p>During a meeting that evening, several participants discussed how a neighbour, a colleague or a boss had knocked on their door, phoned them, or sent them an email of support and friendship. One tells me that they are fortunate to live in northern New Jersey, a diverse urban area with few Trump supporters and in a state with one of the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/06/a-new-estimate-of-the-u-s-muslim-population/">largest Muslim populations</a> in the US. Muslim- and Arab-Americans elsewhere in the country might not be so fortunate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Brocket does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A New Jersey neighbourhood is coming to terms with a shocking new imposition from the government.Tom Brocket, PhD Candidate in Geography, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/612422016-06-22T10:01:21Z2016-06-22T10:01:21ZWill Donald Trump’s call to profile Muslims offend voters?<p>After the horrific mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump reiterated his concern that Muslim immigrants in the U.S. could be a security risk. </p>
<p>The shooter, Omar Mateen, a U.S.-born citizen whose parents came to the United States from Afghanistan, pledged his support for the Islamic State, or ISIS, during the attack. Not only did Trump promise to suspend immigration from parts of the world tied to terrorism against the United States, he also charged that Muslim Americans were complicit in the shooting, <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/6/13/11925122/trump-orlando-foreign-policy-transcript">stating</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They know what is going on. They know that he was bad. They knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what, they didn’t turn them in and we had death and destruction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A few days later, he called for increased surveillance of American mosques, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKCN0Z12AS">saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have to maybe check, respectfully, the mosques and we have to check other places because this is a problem that, if we don’t solve it, it’s going to eat our country alive. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He later added that profiling of Muslims in the U.S. is “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/19/donald-trump-calls-profiling-muslims-common-sense/">common sense</a>.” </p>
<p>In its coverage of his reaction, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html">The New York Times wrote</a>, “he was wagering that voters are stirred more by their fears of Islamic terrorism than any concerns they may have about his flouting traditions of tolerance and respect for religious diversity.” </p>
<p>Many elected Republicans have distanced themselves from Trump’s remarks, but what about the American public? </p>
<p>I’m a political scientist who studies public opinion about policies related to America’s changing ethnic composition, and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764209338786">research I conducted a few years</a> after the 9/11 terrorist attacks may shed some light on how Trump’s reaction to the mass shooting are resonating with the electorate.</p>
<h2>Views on detention, internment</h2>
<p>In a nationally representative survey conducted in 2004, I asked respondents:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Since Sept. 11, some law enforcement agencies have stopped and searched people who are Arab or of Middle Eastern descent to see if they may be involved in potential terrorist activities. Do you approve or disapprove of this kind of profiling? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I also asked half of the respondents:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If there were another terrorist attack in the U.S. with Arab or Middle-Eastern suspects, would you support or oppose allowing the government to hold Arabs who are U.S. citizens in camps until it can be determined whether they have links to terrorist organizations?“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The other half was asked the same question but with "Arab immigrants” replacing “Arabs who are U.S. citizens.”</p>
<p>My questions asked about people who are Arab or Middle Eastern, while Donald Trump’s comments are targeted at Muslims. These groups are not the same. But I believe my survey results shed some light on how Americans view Trump’s comments because <a href="https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0815631529">many Americans</a> have trouble identifying the difference between these groups. Indeed, many <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/01/the-trouble-with-wearing-turbans-in-america/384832/">Americans even confuse</a> Sikhs, adherents of a religion originating in Southeast Asia, with Arabs and Muslims.</p>
<p>Overall, the results of my research showed broad support (66 percent) for increased searches of people who are Arab and Middle Eastern. </p>
<p>The results also showed that roughly one-third of Americans supported placing people in camps until their innocence can be determined: 34 percent supported interning Arab and Middle Eastern immigrants while 29.5 percent supported interning Arab and Middle Eastern American citizens. Most of this support came from whites, Republicans and people without a college degree. </p>
<p>According to my survey, the people who were more likely than others to support profiling were people who:</p>
<ul>
<li>feared they or someone they know might be a victim of a terrorist attack</li>
<li>felt that whites are discriminated against, and </li>
<li>thought that in order to be a “true American” someone must be Christian, white, and born in America. </li>
</ul>
<p>The aggregate level of support for internment was around 30 percent. </p>
<p>Among the six percent of respondents who strongly agreed that “true Americans” are Christian, white and born in America, support for interning Arab or Middle Eastern Americans was 73 percent. </p>
<p>Among the 25 percent of respondents who said it was somewhat important that Americans have these characteristics, support for interning U.S. citizens of Arab or Middle Eastern origin was 51 percent.</p>
<p>These findings are particularly relevant for our current election. Exit polls from the 2016 Republican primaries show that Trump has done particularly well among <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/who-are-donald-trumps-supporters-really/471714/">whites without college degrees</a> who feel that they are being left behind. </p>
<p>Trump’s call to “make America great again” hearkens back to a mythical past that disaffected whites yearn for. There is likely an overlap between the whites in my study who resist defining American identity as inclusive of people with nonwhite, non-Christian and non-European origins and who think that white Americans are getting the short end of the stick. </p>
<p>Put simply, I believe the groups most attracted to Trump throughout the primaries are the same groups that were particularly likely to support ethnic profiling back in 2004. </p>
<p>Some portion of the electorate is made up of voters who welcome Trump’s rejection of pluralism and inclusivity in the name of national security. The question now is how big this group is – and whether they will turn out to vote. Will Trump’s stance mobilize opposition and increase the ranks of voters who support diversity and inclusion? We won’t know the answer to these questions until November.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For the research described here, Deborah Schildkraut received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation. </span></em></p>How is the electorate reacting to Trump’s call for surveillance of American mosques? A survey taken after the 9/11 attacks suggests some answers.Deborah Schildkraut, Professor of Political Science, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.