I

11 iokar 8044 ·Jl\EH

and the Arab American

LOUISE CAINKAR

THEORIES OF IMMIGRANT are a fit when it comes to Arab Arabs who migrated to the United the first

ethnics

settled in urban and mral areas, flourished artistically,

above average migrants carved out

can communities. While from one

Journal of American Ethnic !

success, from another it could blocked

The differences in

names, or Muslim, discrimination and anti-Arab com-

and persons with the "Arab/Middle Eastern" have been physically attacked It is not clear that the can public has a the

the utter 0H'''p'''~'

since the educated Egyptians and pre-

VU''"''.''"', and better educated

to a lesser extent more recent conditions. While many newer

education and the overall

Cainkm' 245

class human Arab has not declined over time.

In the course of I found that

the]

06

246 Journal of American Ethnic

to establish their current of Arabs held as to have created measurable harmful impacts on

of the Arab American At the same Arab

is a combination of factors: the economic of the earliest Arab who did not face this

the academic achievemenls and resources embedded ethnic networks.

The Arab American does not dominant theories about ethnic in the United States because the conditions and vari-

these theories take eras and concern UVlll~~"Uv more recent political example, consider that domestic institutional processes from American global interests can have impacts on the so-

communities. IS

"1-',"'''0''<0 Americans World War II or German Amer-World War I were serious but short-lived

(c()mpaJred to the many more Arab experience), and the in-carceration of Americans came on the heels of decades of racial exclusion. In other global domestic processes have centered on

political and ...,"".<lUU"ilHl,t:

when over a """"t,.,,,,,,,,,,.-I

litical constructions of the essential differences of Arabs have been forth so '-A'.'-"''''"

Winant has that

Cainkal' 247

most Americans." I 1 I argue that with that stress essential cultural and civilizational differences are

Arabs erected context

and to U.S. in-volvement in the Arab public either mllst engage in reductionist debates about "Arabs" or keep and confine their social relationships to persons who see through these om­nU1rP"PI1t UH«,",,,,C>, Arab and is fore-

248

to this

fluence of new revival was it

9: 3:, ---\-f+---"-

Journal of American Ethnic History

silience for the Arab American American Efe. l -+

2006

culture in the clash of civilizations discourse Harvard scholar Samuel

15 As Arab Muslims became more from others in the communities in which

more real. The ~"M'~'~~ group, are able to make

society than Arabs as a racialized ethnic group. new religious

on the foundations of freedom than the inclusion of de-

ImmOlanon::!1 assertions that "all men are created "

CONSTRUCTING THE ARAB

have had a In their one hundred plus year status has from marginal white to a more subordinate status that shares many features common to the of color. Just as one can document and measure the ,-" ... ,,,,,, .. ,·c

the status

ans /~6/

Cainkar 249

themes evidenced in schol-17 In the late I

nrr,rl •• ('p a new wave of anti-Arab civil and human

by Arab Americans differ in the

superpower. not framed in racial terms,

on Arab Americans. For

relates

250

homeland and 1984ADC

journal of American Ethnic

than to the Arab-American of

terrorists" are tied to rvliddle East. More to the "the source of Americans be described as the domestic Israeli conflict."22

2006

Research on Palestinians in the United States showed how maintain-an American

whose

wilh cont1ict the media as a

were treated the of Ul"iJV'>""')"I~JU

<U\,,'''U,UH • .li Ameri-barbaric group,

",,-,r.n.c>nt as the enemy

that was if not anti-Semitic. were forced to ask themselves were: can one be American and America's enemy at the same time? civil eluded from nature of the ista enemies were was Arabs-men and women imbued with innate cultural to

IVI''-'''.\.. and hatred. The domestic white to struc-

subordinate status was facilitated and the historic and "observable" racial """HUH

can be extended to South Asians and at its core, the social and of Arabs in the States has a racial for-mation process because has been constructed and sold to the American public using constructions human

forms of structural isolation. In the 1

",-,',IVI'" were extended more and became grander-they became as re-

as 1943 the and Naturalization Service as who shared "in the development of our " affirming their white-ness and their eligibility for Arabs and Muslims

the the "clash of

i1egem()I1lC tool (an outcome of the civil the COlilloonent

characteristics held

/ "~6 /

Cainkul'

all members of a group and the use power to and ish based on these determinations.

Since race remains one of the fundament::d tools for and

have been the

can the victims of hate crimes and verbal assault in the 9/11 attacks. The

251

consent needed to support, For this reason, the most noted features of Arab exclusion in the United States are tactical: denial of

of

252 Journal of American Ethnic 2006

have been rendered invisible Their exclusion has been evident in and in HlLiHl'"U

Political exclusion of Arab voices in mainstream civil has been reinforced which leader" silence discussion of issues that U.S. ,-,VBv.,,-,,,

when assertion of them may frustrate other In have race and

ethnic

more serious [than is the of that has

Middle Easterners in the United States. The activities of Arab terrorists in the Middle East and elsewhere have created a sinister image and other Eastern

that was greatly exacerbated the attack on the World Trade Center in

The exclusion of Arab Americans and their stream vehicles of dissent also left them with few nnUJ~'rtl the 1

as isolation left Arabs as open after the 9111 attacks on the United States.

Because the group from as as was a process with and purpose dif-ferent from historic American its manifestation also dif-fers from that of traditionally subordinated groups: African

and Native Americans. Its is not well measured

Cainkar 253

War n Arab came amounts . These to

overcome some of the economic outcomes that ordinate status; at the same time. mask the such subor-

status has on Arab communities with low levels of human taL34 For similar historic reasons, some Arabs may see

if have benefited or seek to from may not, and Arab American cummunities may

alliances and around race. Because Arab Americans may have racial

ethnic members do not

these rea-

attacks

25~ Journal of Amedcan Ethnic 2006

as shared Americans were interned as

World War

these racialized ways of and cultural

Widespread use of the "clash of by film-publishers, the the Christian

the U.S. government-actions similar to what and Winant can racial the social isolation of Arabs and Muslims before

9/11 and established the for collective backlash after the at-the largely it can

about personal and national lash wen as behind some

that concerns the back-

it is in their unbridled collective nature, their inclination to tar-persons who looked like group that shows their racialized

character. Members of groups that have been "othered" vAlJv11'-11vv

lective discipline and any individual's rela-to a

COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY THE 9/11 AND GOVERNMENT .La ~".LJU THEREAFTER

and data collected in an VUHH/",'

of the impact of 9/11 on Arabs and Muslims in the demonstrate the of collective

tacks on Arab and Muslim American fact that U".U'UL-l

mark them as

Cainkar

ment

Tral1S

discussion or a range of domestic

and the war on terrorism the

255

the United States govem­in the name of national

the attacks of

, and ,c,rn.o-,t,,;i U.S. Arabs and Muslims.42 These measures in­

cluded mass arrests, secret and indefinite .. closed

] 1 attacks

most never released iu,-.• n •. u"",,.

wrong at the wrong time many were arrested and detained. More than five hundred of these de-tainees were deported for after

np{'ri',"" to ter-

non-immigrant visa countries (most security clear-

and interviews with some five thousand individuals who came to the United States from Arab and Muslim January 1,

256 Journal of American Elhnic I 2006

In between two divisions of the De-

was not intended to be enforced stopped

was detained for two months and to his address his

mled that the defendant could not be "'n,~~w'~nI the law.

mentation of the program, requiring tens sands of visitors from Arab and Muslim countries to be

photographed, and The domestic caB-in 16 to

three Muslim-majority to report and register with the U.S. immigration authorities

SPleClne~o time frame in order to be were thereafter to submit to routine

licenses, and other dOClH11ents were and some-were checked for terrorist con-

nections. Persons cleared of terrorist connections but found to be in vio-jation

bond, and issued removal "THIS NOTICE FOR

ers UHl1VLlW~Hl'" the

to

Cainkar 257

for

nonimmigrant "55 These statements rnake

view that Arabs and Muslims as a group are considered a risk for the United States. This view is found in other Bush Administration

such as FBI to

"Arne,,, General about

258 Journal or American Ethnic 2006

au-

and

!Jet.>",,",,, to strengthen national defense in response to fears of communist and anar-

in the United It lhat all aliens over the age and

to those thirteen years of age and younger. In tum, received a numbered Alien Card from the DOJIINS

and pres­classes"

grounds for and deportation. The 1918 in turn, was built on the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The Smith Act was aimed not

It also

tures

Cainkar 259

to group thereof"

260 Journal of American Ethnic

After the 9111 treatment of Arabs and

conducted in HHU-.J'-'Lllvl

showed broad

and more than respondents Arab Americans should surrender more

2006

for the

others.65 A March 2002 poll found that 60 the number of

of the polled that there were "too In December

whose actions do not reflect on an

ARABS AND FROM THE ARAB MUSLIMS IN METROPOLITAN

Data a

vide insight into how Arabs view their United One hundred and

and 2004 with Arab Mus-1 "thnn'rYr'

r

Cainkar

% Poorl

0/0 Low Female income

5/ [-::'! U

TABLE 1 STUDY SAMPLE STATISTICS

% Upper

% Middle Middle Class & % % Class Wealthy 19-29 30-49 2:50

"other" and write-in "Arab" as Arabs

H.S. or

less

261

% Some

college % or Post Born

BSfHA Grad. US'"

discussions about do you think

of

262 Journal of American Ethnic lOOt.

There have been discussions about whether Arabs are white or not with different of view, do you think Arabs are

A: This not

not or what?

If there is an other, sometimes I I know we are not other

the "mher" box, This man

vVe are

~r"v'D',' to the

to check

A segment of persons who Arabs were knew this because it is what they were told.

when I learned that we were Caucasian

But most make a distinction between what see as their

write on

Arabs

and what

We used to on affirmative action and I asked my "what should I do? Should I as a mi-

or not?" He did not know so we caned the company you will be white. But

course in real life we are not. As far as statistics go, that's what

about as a student trans­and I have to

to check the white box on forms is another form of discrimina­tion some,

9: ---+-i-+-

Clliniml- 263

are

Tam that I have to am not treated as white (1.5

I don't feel that I am white, I felt I at a to have to check "white." I don't think I that I'm a you

because if you look at me I'm not. I feel that I am should I be and not

a

what is You you know. Like

minorities. We're not defined. __ . we are white but we're not white, Somebody can say I don't have to you be-cause you are white and I have a lot of white here. But

not white!

Arabs Are Not White: KeSP'[m~;es Based on How They Are Treated in American

69

as non-white because and behaviors that accord to

type of under-

These responses, in that the assertion that racial nr,,,prn, to

1.

I call the and "what are What color are we? I don't feel as a white person, People think I must be ask me "where are your

264 Journal of American Ethnic

comes from of American

Arabs in the schools face the same institutional other students of color

You understand that there is racism even if it in-

2006

mcted on you. Muslim is a own and

'vvhen you been this sort of

are structure. We are

Arabs are not white. When I view someone as white are the culture. I don't treated as so 1 am not

Arabs Are Not White: Ke:soc.nslcs on Skin Color and Other O'" ...... ,\<'ll Criteria

The second most common re~;p(ms:e are not was about skin re-sponses were found among both U.S.- and non-U.S.-born al-though frequently of how only learned about ideas and around skin color after in the

it matters if

We don't look white. What matters in the U.S. is not Caucasian has a

1 T

Cainkm'

In this IS

aware of my skin color and looks

I arn from a

You know it's ever discusses color once out of the United States. I think it

is very I mean. My very dark man and when yuu look at him you

Black. We never that unusuaL ... I my hair once at

I never of my hair being would say to me, "we11 you are

that way. I think in their minds of and I don't have that

were race and color. For a 'Vl1',pr"

or offensive.

\Ve are

feel comf0l1able my my

But the whole idea of color makes is black to census forms

than I am. There are Arabs that are than I don't think people should be classified like by

it at ail. If I was to I would consider I would not consider white.

and oldest child would be white and my middle chHd brown. It does not work for me

in our and that is what matters to us

Arabs Are Not White: a of Regions and Skin Colors

most common response are not white was that Arabs cannot be a compass many and skin

265

266 Journal of Amel-ican Ethnic 2006

I think ... If you on the map, Arab cover two

the white white and dark black. If this is my cousin and he's and he's from are you to call him white?

born

It does not matter to me because in the As

tween colors

Arabs are distinct upon themselves. And the Arab world en com­both black and

Arabs are a race of many In my blond hair and blue eyes. Some have brown

Is Different from

The fourth most common response among persons who said Arabs are not white was about culture and To white means and

sense ,-.U"'~U0""H or white

White in my mind means but since I am not feel like I am should I write white?

Most

I have a and male).

comments ii'om a young man how Arab is to ' .. -"XU'-,,'.:>lUUI

I was a LIS and

drove turned

r 1:; i r~\

I

Cainkar 267

r;rr,nnn and

everyone was ... white person or would say

us unless it was in but in it's a little different. Ara-bic are are not the minorities over there Orland

gave what may be called the have with the

we're not white. Like say, doesn't sense. I don't know what white means in terms

Is it north of If you ask

white as a race. Do I think we're white'? I don't

THINKING ABOUT BOX

when asked whether racial identification matters, cent of persons interviewed said racial

like the

268

;' ~ i 06 9: --: t::,

-----r-t-'-----

Journal of AIBerican Ethnk

is unfair and further their subordinate status. \Vhile said Arabs should have their own like

smce do not fit into any many think the whole

2006

cussion is absurd but for the fact that American work on these

wish it doesn't matter, but it does. On resume look at what your says. I think it would be

foolish to think that don't look at race IS

bom

The formation of Arabs as a was a process with

American racism, many category that makes sense.

that rendered them non-white after the categ()m~s and Native

thinking inside the box matters. At the same time, Arab Americans may have racial that mem-

bers of other groups do not possess. When many decide from one context to the next whether are white or not and whether they will select the box they been to or think about color and treat-ment. own racial may over based on their preferences, demands. Local contexts and orga-nized affiliations may affect Arab American understandings about their racial 71 Racial identity is an and so­

constructed process when Arabs • __ ..... J with whiteness. But when they have become hidden

social obsession.

I CD-I

Cainkar 269

m American society as subordinate and translate that status to a non-white racial in a race-based societal not conclude from these data if

in responses to this done racial distinctions.

DISCRIMINATION AND IN POST 9/11 ARAB~MUSLIM EXPERIENCE?J

discrimination, and a are histori-correlated with racial subordination in the United States. These

have

groups, or their names as means of bal harassment or abuse. persons who used to travel have after the either

These that the

270 Journal of American Ethnic ! r"rISn, .. nl,Q 2006

control of members of the group moved inside the mind of the what Hatem Bazian and Nadine Naber call "virtual

our interviewees events took ditlerent forms oepello1ng

spaces, In

in the context of commercial and in comments at work or in the process of ap-

reponed aUacks on their and a number of women were spit upon. was the most

in \vant to kill you. about Arab tenorists were common in work-related slurs.

the fact that many interviewees said had not discrimination, the

in which in public spaces appear to be

express this centers and malls were mentioned as where women en-dured stares and insults. Feeling unsafe is not limited to the

use secret home invasions appears '-'''-' .... HUHl

lim Consequently, rnany of them feel vulnerable to a even in their own homes. while some persons in the

said they felt safest in their others said the hidden eyes of assumed their IJH'.""M

their homes at any matters of collective safety and are tied to racial sub-

in American The circle of closure that Arabs and Mus-is not physically tangible,

occurs. Most that and many vAVB",...,v,",

mass deportation, revocation of ~1t1L-,'_'''' or intemment camps.74 Those with resources have aCl!oplteO these out-comes: have sent their children to other and

building This feeling of "homeland the

range

04

Cainkar 271

Islam is a Threat to America and The are a fifth column in the States and

the 76 Pat Robert-son called

dicated columnist you send your son to die for him.

his son to die for yoU."78 the close between the

CONCLUSION

is a faith in which God UI1-

and the

States. of racial and inferiority used to buttress the development of the United States as a country of white

the faB Arabs from the of marginal whiteness is trace-to the later emergence of the States as a global superpower.

The lens differences and innate educational

Arab

Racial nrnlprrC'

mark the Arab American <>v,,>pr.,,,,,

mentum for the foundation 1 when Islamist challenges to

than nationalism, were to Muslims and civilizational: Both Arabs and were as persons of inherently differ-

than "Americans." These COlt1stm(:tlC)!1S "'A."Qll'v

272 Journal of American Ethnic 2006

since race is under-

were to Americans and to

circled. The most noted features of Arab exclusion have been persistent,

v"'_'HUU'-'U"', denial of 1J,-,"vHN that

began in earnest after movement had been determined and the VU'VF,'_" and

the double burden of had been set, Arabs have

with few treatment in Arnerican after the 9111 attacks

UUVH'~U" activists 'V'''Ji'-,'HL~V~ ago that the road to their political inclusion and an end to the discrimina-

people their untouchable (espe-Palestinian lands) and their domestic

economic role as urban shopkeepers strains on these relationships. Perhaps one of the positive developments in the is the greater of these groups to Arabs their ranks.

Viewed over its ence is not well tion and ethnic assimilation. The reason for this lies in a number as-

rather than a discredited de­the

new racial groups will be that no new group will

: 1

Cainkar

:3 ----"-l--t---~

273

groups are no are over. Research should therefore focus on whether the color lines are whether some groups are nprn1lPClt, the old boundaries of race as evi­denced to face

ng processc:-; arc nol the American that racist ideas constructions of es-sential human differences can be hidden behind new dis-courses, and that these The fact that such of the

of

274 Journal of Amel'ican Ethnic History I 2006

it is necessary to them in one construct: the ArabI Muslim/Middle Easterner. This consolidation will move Arab and Muslim

States.

to transform dominant ~H.,",>~'UU group may be more success­

than

NOTES

L Arab largely fit into the category, which in-cludes Italians, Poles, Slavs, Jews, and Greeks, among others. This conclusion is based

of the structural of Arabs demonstrated in thc literature Arab immigrant experience (1890-1930). consider the (such as

nrcmprTVownersrnp, voting, and natllralization), residential patterns, and em-of Arab and their children as indicators of

their marginal white social status. 2. There is evidence that in some locations, sllch as Detroit, Buffalo, and parts of the

South, their whiteness was contested. This outcome to the notion that racial can have distinct local characteristics within the context of tional structures. An examination of the racial status and positioning of the HH"W6"~",·,,is found in Sarah Gualtieri's work. See, for example. S~ll·ah Gualtieri, "Strange

Immigrants, Violence and Racial Formation in the Jim Crow Arab Studies 26 no. 3 63-85.

Portes and Alex The CA,1993).

4. United States of Commerce, U.S. Censlls Bureau, We the Arab Ancestry in tile United States DC, M:u'Cll 2005).

5. Ibid. "Arabic" to persons who described their y"U""".J

bian, or Arabic and is different from the collective Arab category. of census data for metropolitan showed that, among Arabs, Palestinians were most to use this tenn.

6. Louise Cainkar, with Culture, ences of Palestinian Women in the United States" (Ph.D. diss. Northwestern 1988), By "intentionally Palestinian," I mean that they defined much of their p''''n",i~v tural and political in reference to a Palestinian

7. Richard Alba and Victor Nee, the American Mainstream: Assimilation and MA, 2003).

8. Herbert Gans, "Introduction, in Neil Sandburg, Ethnic and Assimilation: The Polish (New York, 1973): vii-xii; and Portes and Min Zhou, "The New Second Generation: Assimilation Its Variants," Annals a/the American and Social Sciences 530 (November 1993): 74-96. The characteristics of those experiencing Portes and Zhou's as minorities are becoming evident among Arabs of low socio-economic slams in '-'HH.<l)'.V.

This has in the pas! fifteen For racial exclusion, see for C";.l11.l,,"C, Robert Blaunel', Racial in America (New York, 1972).

9. An examination of the role of social (ethnic and and V'"""'UI,""LV'"'' niches in the economic Sllccess of Arab Americans despite other

is warranted. The author has such a study.

,~ !

Cainkm'

10. Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formatioll ill !960s to the ]990s (New York, [(94).

275

I . Howard Winant. The World is Ghc/w (New York, 200 and Alba and 15.

that the editors of COlllexts, a can Association, included this discussion in the Fall 2005 issue on r:1ce. Louise Cainkar, "Violence Unveilcd," Contexts 4, no. 4 DC:' American

Association). 67. My argument that Arab Americans have been facialized builds on Naber's its sourcc, well the source of Arab Americ;:m invisi-

and the "racialization ofIslam," in structural Naber, of Arab-American and Racial Studies 23, no. 2 (200(»: 37-61.

to Ihis pattern found among activists and olhers linked ll) progres-sive and low-income Arabs in multi-racial where dominant stereotypes have less

14. I discuss the process of Islamic revival among Arab Americans other paper. See Louise Cainkar. "Islamic Revival lims in The American and Globalization Intersect:' Bulletill

Illter-Faith Studies 6, no. 2 (AutumnlWinter, 2004): 99-120. 15. Samuel Huntington, The Clash and the 1<".","..,11 Order

(New York, 1996). 16. For the process of becoming white see David,

ness: Race and the American Class The WaRes of White­

York, 199/): and Noel How the Irish Became While (New York,

17. See, for Jack Shaheen, The TV Arab Shaheen, Reel Bad How W. Suleiman, ed.,Arabs in America: Ernest McCarus, ed., The Development American Identity (Ann Arbor, MI, 1994); Sameer Y. Abraham and Nabeel Abraham, eds., Arabs in the New World: Studies 011 Arab-American Communities Baha Abu-Laban and Michael Suleiman, eds .• Arab Americans: ContillUily and (Belmont, MA, 1989); M. Cherif Bassiouni, ed., The Civil The Measures (North Dal1mollth, NH.

Louise Cainkar. with Culture," 1988; James Root Bear-ing Fruil (Washington, DC, 1984).

18. Ronald Stockton, "Ethnic and the Arab " in The Americallldemity, ed. Ernest McCarus (Ann Arbor, MI, 1994), 119-53;

Martin Lipset and William Schneider, "Carter VS. Israel: What the Polls Re-64, no. 5 ( 22; and Shelly Slade. of the Arab in Amer-

of a Poll on American " Middle East Journal 35 no. 2

James Root, 1984,21. 20. Abu-Laban and Suleiman. Arab Americans, 1989, 5. 2!. Ibid., 18,21. 22. Ibid., 22. 23. Louise Cainkar, with Culture:' 24. U.S. of Justice, and Naturalization Service, "The

of Arabs to Naturalization," INS 15. 25. Field data, Orland Park 26. "Middle Eastern" is an constmct created in the West with defin-

itions. For some, the Middle East ranges from North Africa Muslim Asia. For others, it is the Arab countries in Asia. Sometimes its is left undefined.

few persons from "Middle Eastern'· countries [n

276 Journal of AmerinUl Ethnic 2006

., percent of Arab respondents Bureal! The Arab Population :;U03): 2.

The author examines this PWPl)SH!ll[] about niches, and the social and

fent work in progress. 28. Helen Hatab Samhan, "Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab-

in Suleiman, ill America: a 1999),209-26.

29. Therese Saliba, " in Suieiman, Arabs ill America, 304-19. and Muslims in Race amI Ethnic Stud­

paper Drc~sente;d Association, Atlanta, ~~~ •. ",""

31. Martin added.

the Arnerican

165.

32. See Fay in RoOf, where she discusses the isolation of Arab Americans and ADC's efforts to establish ties with other ethnic and racial groups in Of-

der to anti-racist allianees. 33. Indeed, this exclusion is invisible 10 many. attributions of Arab blame

for their own situation the very outcome desired the erafters of stereotypes and of exclusion.

3et Here we may see evidence of segmented assimilation processes. 35. !VLu'y C. Waters, Ethnic Oplions (Berkeley. CA, 1990). 36. In other words, I argue that Arab American indud-racial identification, and Arab American

comes of the structural processes I describe. nor can be lIsed to the structural

are not of these proeesses of Arab Americans.

37. I am domestically here, but the wars in Iraq and and other features of the War on Terror (Guantanamo, IOrture, suggest a collecti ve global responsibility.

38. Emile Durkheim, in Anthony Giddens, ed., Emile Durkheilll: Selected Wrilings (London, 1972), 139.

39. Elliott Barkan this nugget media -.l0. See Louise Cainkar, "The l)1' 91! I Oll Muslims and Arabs in the United

States," in 711e Maze Security & Migration 11th, ed. John Tirman (New York, 2004), 215-39; and Louise Cainkar, Homeland insecurity: The Amb/l\liuslim American Experience 9/11 (New York, title.

41. The was funded a grant from the Russell 42. Fred Tsao and Rhoda Rae Gutierrez, Ground ~'-.."uv"r;'J,

Some 83,000 persons in the United Slates underwent call-in !ration, to the Department of Homeland At minimum. at least 20,000 additional Arabs and Muslims nationwide have been affected by one or more of the nu-merous 1 national

44. chart in Louise of the lIth Attacks" Journal Studies the Middle East" 24, no. 1 2004): 248.

45. 46. General. The

47. Statement made at a with top government officials and mem-bers Arab community.

HH .... b""""'" Forum, national conferellee call, 15,2002.

: 3

Cainkar 277

aliens" includes all who upon entry to the United States and are not U.S. citizens. permanent residents, for permanent residency, asylum. Special rpo,d"M,,,,,,

who with international few other narrow A and 0).

50. Richard Swarms, "More than 13,000 Face "New York Times, 7 June 2003; Reuters, 18 December 2002; BBC News Online 19 December 2002; News­day 13 December 2002.

51. Reuters, 18 December 2002. 52. Carol Hallstrom, of Homeland Relations.

e-mail to Louise Cainkar, June 2003. 53. 556 nationals werc np,.or/pn

"Detention Disorder:' Thc American back is another instance of mass expulsion.

54. INS Memo (undated), HQINS 70128, from ate Commissioner, Office of Field Operations.

the Palmer Raids. Alex Oourevitch, 2003. Wct-

Williams, Executive Associ-

55. U.S. Department of Homeland "Faet Sheet: US-VISIT Program, 19 2003. The acronym NSEERS stands for National Security Entry Exit Registration System.

56. See, e.g., Michael Isikoff, "The FBI Count the " 3 Feb-ruary 2003. For a list of some of the earlier programs, sec Cainkar, "No Invisible: Arab and Muslim Exclusion After I L" Middle East ington DC: MERIP), No. 224 (Fall 2002), cainkar.htmL

57. The law aliens to carry their documents with them at all times is still on the books. This would mean that one's passport bearing tion information is mandatory, although not currently enforced.

58. Public Law, 97-1 December 29, 1981, and Act Amendments of 1981.

59. House Committee, No. 97-264,2 October 1981, "Need for

52584 (8 December 2002). was during the 1990-91 Gulf War The govern-

ment's stated reasons for include the theft of Kuwaiti travel documents, the "p<)tentJ:)i for anti-U.S. terrorist-type activities" of "US condemnation of and eco-nomic sanctions the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait," and infonnation on ter-rorists." Reno rescinded this rule in December 1993, amended the of Federal Regu-lations to make the country designation proeess simpler, and then a Federal

notice requiring "certain non immigrants from and the Sudan" to In 1996 Reno added "certain nonimmigrants Iranian and travel documents. Ashcroft added to this list on 6,2002, and at that time declared that citi-zens and nationals of these five countries, and persons believed to be such, were to the newly expanded registration.

62. Omi and Winant, Racial I<nrmn1,nn

real, true human essences, to social and historical con-text."

63. Daniel Smith. "When 'For a While' Bewmes Forever," Monitor, 2 October 2001.

64. Sun-Times,::! October 2001. 65. The News Sun (Springfield, 20 December 200 l. 66. News Service, 8 August 2002. 67. Erik C. Nisbet and James Shanahan, Restricliolls Ch'il Liberties, Views of

[slam, & Muslim (Itlmca, NY, 2004).

1

278 Journal of American Ethnic 2006

tJ,S. of Commerce, Censll~ Bureau, Technical S/lII/-

lIi(/ry Fill' 3, 2UUU, issued March 2005. There was a the United States to check the "other" am!

whitcncss and to for an Arab category. This re-A few Arab nationalities are curiously exempt from the white re-code.

69. Since these are ethnographic interviews, some persons offered re-sponses that fall into

70. Waters the concept "1 am this concept to race. See Waters, Ethnic

I Thc different responses to Ihl~ raee: in the Detroit Arab-American may be the result of a number among them local

can experiences with race and with as well as HII:lll.<JUV"J,~ll,"'" was formulated in a manncr that ncplieated official and boxes. See

Baker, et aI., Findings ji-om the Detroit Arab American Sludy (Ann Arbor. MJ, 2004).

72. Read finds some evidence that Muslims more discrimination after 9f 11 and that they were more likely to define and themselves as a group than Christian Ambs. See Jen'nan Ghazal Read, Identities and Post 9111 Dis-crimination: A of Muslim and Christian Arab Americans," in From invisible Citi;:ens to Visible Subjects: "Race" and Arab Americans Before alld September

ed. Jamal and Nadine Naber NY, forthcoming). 73. A more extensive elaboration of this section may be found in Louise Cainkar,

Outside the Box: Arabs and Race in the U.S,," in Jamal ane! Nadine Naber, eds., From invisible Cili;::.ens to Visible ."'nI?'"''

These fears may be receding, as as the domestic front is Fears remain about what might occur in the event of another terrorist attack,

75. Mathew Lee, "US says Muslims 'Worse Than Nazis'," France Press 12 November 2002.

76. William Lind ;md Paul Islam is a Threat to America and the West dJUlH.",lVll, DC, 2002).

Mohamed Nimer, "Muslims in America After 9-11, Journal Law amI Culture 7 no. 2 (2003): 73-101.

78. Ibid. For more documentation of these types or comments, see Ameriean Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Americans: The Post 11 Backlash DC, 2003).

79. The of Islamic revival is a that merits extensive I discuss this proeess in greater detail in Second-

Arab Muslims in The American and Inter-sect:- Bulletin Royal lnler-Faith Studies 6 (Autumn/Winter, 2004): 1. This resem'ch is supported by a Corporation Scholar Award,

80. Alejandro Portes, quoted in Charles Hirschman, "The Role of and Adaptation of Immigrant in the United States,"

Princeton University conference on and V,:ve:lo]prrtents of International 23-25 2003.