[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 353 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 353
Expressing support for the recognition of April as Arab American
Heritage Month and celebrating the heritage and culture of Arab
Americans in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 26, 2021
Ms. Tlaib (for herself and Mrs. Dingell) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the recognition of April as Arab American
Heritage Month and celebrating the heritage and culture of Arab
Americans in the United States.
Whereas from April 1, 2021, through April 30, 2021, the United States celebrates
Arab American Heritage Month;
Whereas the first Arabic speaker to come to North America, Zammouri, arrived as
a slave from Morocco in 1528 and was an important explorer of the
present-day American Southwest;
Whereas since migrating to the United States, people of Arab descent have shared
their rich culture and traditions with neighbors and friends, while also
setting fine examples of model citizens and public servants;
Whereas Arab Americans have brought with them to the United States their
resilient family values, strong work ethic, dedication to education, and
diversity in faith and creed that have added strength to our democracy;
Whereas for over a century, Arab Americans have been making valuable
contributions to every aspect of American society--in medicine, law,
business, technology, civic engagement, government, and culture;
Whereas the Arbeelys of Damascus, Syria, who were immigrants to New York in 1878
and the first recorded Arab family to come to the United States with the
intention of becoming citizens, demonstrate the roots of the Arab-
American community's contributions to our country's unique diversity,
including through Dr. Joseph Arbeely's two sons Najeeb and Ibrahim, who
went on to establish the first Arabic language newspaper in the United
States (Kawkwab America);
Whereas world fairs were one of many ways that some Americans of Arab descent
came to visit the United States from the Arab world and helped grow this
country by creating businesses;
Whereas writer Ameen Rihani's 1911 masterpiece, ``The Book of Khalid'', the
first Arab-American novel, is an important record of Arab immigration to
``Little Syria'', the first major Arab-American community which boasted
dozens of restaurants and grocery stores, newspapers in both Arabic and
English, houses of worship, as well as numerous manufacturers,
importers, and purveyors of women's clothing;
Whereas Joseph Howar, a Palestinian-American born in 1879 as Mohammad Issa Abu
Al Hawa who worked in the United States as a peddler before becoming a
real estate developer whose contributions include the Islamic Center of
Washington, DC, the first mosque in the city, demonstrates the
transformational quality of Arab-American contributions to American
society;
Whereas Arab-American poet Kahlil Gibran's 1923 masterpiece, ``The Prophet'',
was a transformative piece of literature which discusses topics of the
human condition in the most eloquent of ways by highlighting inclusion
and understanding of all peoples, and which was translated into over 100
languages, making it one of the most translated books in history;
Whereas in 1959 Mohamed Atalla, an Egyptian-American engineer who was an
important pioneer and contributor to the early field of modern
electronics, invented the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect
transistor (MOSFET), which is the most frequently manufactured device in
history, the basis of the contemporary 4th Industrial Revolution, and
hailed by the US Patent and Trademark Office as one of the most
important inventions in electronics;
Whereas the Lebanese-American woman Helen Thomas covered every United States
President from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama served as White House
correspondent for United Press International, later serving as the White
House Bureau Chief and Dean of the White House Press Corps, and
recognized by the World Almanac as one of the 25 Most Influential Women
in America;
Whereas the Federal Government has overstepped its constitutional boundaries in
regard to surveillance and suspicion of the Arab-American community as
far back as the 1960s, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
included Arabs as targets of its Counterintelligence Program
(COINTELPRO);
Whereas, in 1972, the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism directed the State
Department, FBI, and Immigration and Nationality Service (INS) to enact
``special measures'' to monitor both non-citizen residents of Arab
origin and Arab Americans who were United States citizens, including
unconstitutional interrogation of Arab students' political views, often
leading to deeper FBI investigation, and close scrutinization of visa
status, often leading to enforced penalties such as deportation;
Whereas media representations of Arab Americans in the post-9/11 era reinforces
longstanding racial stereotypes about Arabs which contributes to anti-
Arab hate crimes and obscures the actual character and complexity of
community members;
Whereas Raza v. City of New York demonstrates the persistence of anti-Arab bias
in Federal, State, and local law enforcement programs as well as the
contributions to community safety of Arab-American community
organizations like the Arab American Association of New York;
Whereas systemic and structural anti-Arab discrimination have impacted the
health outcomes, socioeconomic conditions, and life chances of Arab
Americans in ways not captured by the Federal data on racial and ethnic
minorities, leading to the persistence of racist disparities;
Whereas socioeconomic and health disparities between Arab Americans and the
general population are obscured by Federal data collection and reporting
standards, which do not disaggregate between Arab Americans and White
people on the United States Census, nor in the Office of Management and
Budget's Federal Statistical Policy Directives;
Whereas the establishment of a Middle Eastern and North African identifier
within the United States Census and the Federal Government's data
collection and reporting standards would allow for the collection and
reporting of disaggregated data between White people and ``Middle
Eastern and North African'' people and demonstrate the unique impact of
systemic anti-Arab racism on Arab Americans' socioeconomic conditions,
health outcomes, and life chances;
Whereas there is a need for public education, awareness, and policies that are
culturally competent when describing, discussing, and addressing the
impacts of being Arab American in all aspects of American society;
Whereas the Arab American Institute estimates that there are roughly 3,700,000
Arab Americans living in the United States;
Whereas according to Census Bureau data, Arabic is one of the fastest growing
languages in the United States; and
Whereas the incredible contributions and heritage of Arab Americans have helped
us build a better Nation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the designation of Arab American Heritage
Month;
(2) esteems the integral role of Arab Americans in the
economy, culture, and identity of the United States; and
(3) urges the people of the United States to observe Arab
American Heritage Month with appropriate programs and
activities that celebrate the contributions of Arab Americans
to the United States.
<all>