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Feedback- what do you Think?
Oct. 17, 2001
By Ray Hanania
I didn't have to buy an American flag to hang in front of my home on the
dreadful morning of September 11, 2001. I already owned one. I didn't have to
learn a lesson about patriotism, because I consider myself to be a patriot.
I wonder who are those people who send me email saying they hate me because I am
Arab? I am Arab American and I am proud of that. Both sides of the hyphen.
I didn't hesitate to serve this country in the armed forces. I was about to be
drafted while I was in college and I decided not to wait. I enlisted in the U.
S. Air Force for four years during the Vietnam War. And when the Vietnam War
ended, I received an Honorable Discharge and I then entered the Illinois Air
National Guard where I served for nine and one-half years, receiving another
Honorable Discharge when I left.
I learned that patriotism from my father, George Hanania, who immigrated to this
country in 1926 and proudly served in the U. S. 5th Army in Europe fighting the
Nazis during World War II to defend Democracy, to defeat the enemies of freedom,
to free those who were subjugated by Nazism and Facism, including the Jewish
people. He did it proudly. My uncle, Moses Hanania enlisted in the U. S. Navy
and fought during World War II, also.
Those people who hate me because I am Arab are wrong. That's not patriotic. It's
un-American. Because I know that I am the image of patriotism in this country
and I am not ashamed of that.
I am also very proud of the fact that mother, Georgette Hanania, was born in
Bethlehem, a Holy, Christian city. We're Christian and that is important to me.
The viciousness of stereotyping:
My book is not about terrorism. It's about ethnicity and it's about stereotyping
and how the two come together in America. It's not a criticism of America
either, just a personal perspective on a fact of life. Discrimination does exist
in America. Why? And how can you combat it?
The book is about ethnic profiling. If there is an aspect about terrorism, it is
the way our society sometimes terrorizes those who have an ethnic look.
Hollywood movies, TV sitcoms, novels and fiction portray the Arabs in such a
negative manner.
Of course, there are terrorists who are Arab. That's a fact. But that's not all
there is. There is a lot more and we don't see it. There's no balance against
the negative stereotype and that is what is really wrong with most Hollywood
movies that oftentimes simply add an Arab terrorist character gratuitously.
For every one Arab terrorist there are millions who are good, kind and religious
people. They don't hate America. For every one Arab terrorist, there are
hundreds who have done great things for this country and this world. These are
the Arabs who should be showcased to our American society, and they are not.
You grow up as a child in this country and you grow up seeing images of the
people you love cast as vicious terrorists. There are few if any real, positive
role models. If all you see are terrorists who look like yourself, your father,
mother, sister, brothers, relatives and people, and all Americans see are
terrorists who look like you, it creates a separation.
Why I wrote the book:
Part of the problem is Arab society itself. We don't know how to speak to the
American people in a language that they can understand. I'm not talking about
speaking English. I am talking about speaking "American." It's more
than a language. It is a way of life. A certain style of existence. It is a way
of thinking that can only come from true freedom.
We don't have any books that really speak to the American people in this manner.
I think my book attempts to do that, even if it still doesn't do it in the most
effective manner. But it is closer to what we need.
My book was published as a response to the wave of hatred that swept through
America in the days and weeks after the April 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City. It was vicious and intense. It was everywhere. People
blamed me for what others did simply because of the way I looked. And then, even
when we learned that the terrorist where "home grown Americans" right
from the American "heartland," people still blamed us. We were
targeted. There are many who still believe that Arabs were involved and that
some how we made Tim McVeigh and Terry McNichols do what they did.
What did I do? Why did I deserve to be victimized by hatred?
I felt a desire to respond to this hatred by wanting to tell the story of what
Arab Americans go through. The book is about helping Americans understand who
Arab Americans are. The book says that ethnicity is a common denominator that
should bring us together, not set us apart. It says that bigotry against ethnics
in this country is a serious and sometimes too common affliction of this society
that must change.
Thank you,
Ray Hanania
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