Page - 186 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Kenneth Starck | Perpetuating Prejudice 186 of the immigrants after 1965 were Muslims who valued the freedom to worship and to build mosques.3 Immigrants normally do not fit into their new environment easily, espe- cially if they are perceived as minorities and appear visibly different from others. Such was the case with Arab immigrants. Arabs come in varying shades of white and black, and until 1909 Arabs generally were regarded as white and were granted citizenship. But then the U.S. government changed its census and immigration categories, and after 1911 the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization denied citizenship to Arab Americans. A number of court cases ensued, and it wasn’t until late in the 1940s that Arabs could feel comfortable that they had established that they were to be classified as “white”.4 This was important due to struggles involving civil rights. Kayyali (2006) points to an interesting phenomenon among Arabs during this period of racial unease in the United States. In an effort to prove their worthiness to mainstream society, many Arabs gave up their cultural identity in favor of assimilating. Later, during the 1970-80s, the United States civil rights movement, along with revulsion over media coverage of the Six-Day War which depicted Arabs as evil, rekindled ethnic consciousness. Arabs also established a number of politi- cal and social organizations to assert their ethnicity and particular concerns. Stereotypical images and offensive labels accompanied the establishment of Arab-American communities. One stereotype of early Arab immigrants was that of peddlers. This door-to-door selling became a popular way for immi- grants to support themselves. The image quickly stamped itself into the main- stream mind. Because of their color, Arabs came to be called “wetbacks”, “dago”, and “sheeny” (Kayyali 2006, p. 53). Later the slurs turned ethnic with such terms as “camel jockey”, “dirty Syrian”, and “Turk.”. Such labels were to multiply and become even more derogatory over time. Attitudes toward the later groups of immigrants were affected by events beyond their control, namely, the creation of Israel and subsequent disorder in the Middle East. As a result, some Arabic immigrants never completely became part of the American “melting pot” and have been searching for their American identity. Exacer- bating the situation for Arabs in the U.S. were the attacks on 9/11 and events that followed. 3 There is some debate over where the first mosque was built in the United States. Orfalea (2006) suggests that the first mosque likely was built in Ross, North Dakota, in 1929. Both Orfalea and Kayyali (2006), however, indicate that the oldest surviving mosque in America was built in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and that the dedication took place June 16, 1934 (Judge 2006). 4 For an interesting discussion of the Arab-American experience in relation to race, including possible implications in terms of social diversity, see Samhan (1999).