ARAB AMERICANS ARE AN INCREASINGLY
COHESIVE AND POLITICALLY ACTIVE FORCE,
MIRRORING THE EARLIER JEWISH EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S.

DEBRA ISAACS
Jewish Renaissance Media

Los Angeles

0

n the day before last month's
celebration of Ramadan, the
Islamic Cultural Center of
Southern California buzzed
with the cadences of prayer and the
exhortations of lecturers answering ques-
tions about the month-long fast. Parents
chased their exuberant children or stood
chatting beneath a wall-mounted map
that pinpointed Muslim populations
state-by-state and country-by-country.
Taking a break from helping out at
the center, Arash Spencer talked about
how George W. Bush had won his vote
during the first presidential debate last
fall. The 19-year-old Angelino (Los
Angeles resident), the son of an Iranian
mother and a Hawaiian father, said he
didn't think Bush differed much from
Vice President Al Gore when it came to
America's Middle East policy.
But, like a lot of Arab Americans and
Muslim Americans, he voted for Bush
because, in the debate, the Texas gover-
nor came out against government terror-
ism prosecutions that rely on informa-
tion withheld from the defense, so-called
"secret evidence." Bush had said: "It's
wrong, it's against the Constitution."

Debra Isaacs is a special writer in Detroit.

Gore, said Spencer, "didn't make time
for the Muslim community."
Making time for Arab Americans, a
major component of Muslim America, is
suddenly an important issue not just to
political insiders and sociologists, but
also to Jewish leaders. They understand
that these 3.5 million citizens are gain-
ing a credible voice in Washington and
beyond, even if they agree that the Arab
American community does not speak
with a single voice.
More worrisome is the radicalism that
thrives even within mainstream organi-
zations, but Jewish leaders say extremist
views will not survive the scrutiny of the
American public in general.
"The concern is not the activities or
the inclusion in the political process,
which we encourage," said Malcolm
Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the
Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations. "But
there are people who advocate views that
are inimical to American interests, groups
that openly support Hezbollah and
Hamas and groups that have helped in
fund raising for terrorist organizations."

Becoming Legitimate

Over the past eight years, Arab
Americans have built an impressive net-
work of social, media, political and reli-
gious organizations.

Voter turnout is above average. The
mainstream media are spotlighting Arab
concerns about discrimination at home
and are likelier nowadays to cover the
Middle East from a kitchen table in Gaza.
"There is a marked difference now in
the way the media is covering the Middle
East," said Ann Lin, a professor of politi-
cal science and public policy at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "I
think you see Arab Americans making
the point that Israel and Palestinians are
fighting, but the vast majority of people
hurt and killed are Palestinians, and that
fact is getting through to people more
than it did five years ago."
Bush showed them they mattered dur-
ing the first presidential debate when he
denounced the use of secret evidence to
hold suspected terrorists and condemned
ethnic profiling — red-hot issues for Arab
Americans, who claim they are the pri-
mary target of these practices. He spoke
twice to important Arab American organi-
zations and won their endorsements.
Al Gore also reached out to the com-
munity, but his choice of Sen. Joseph
Lieberman as a running mate didn't
endear him to Arab Americans, who
couldn't imagine an Orthodox Jew budg-
ing on questions of support to Israel.
Undoubtedly, the current intifada
(uprising) galvanized the community
and may have contributed to Bush's
GROWING CLOUT on page 10

Opposite page
clockwise from
top left:

A. Khan and
his son at the
Islamic Center
of Southern
California.

A protestor
holds a large
Palestinian
flag during a
demonstration
on Cleveland's
Public Square
on Oct. 6
Arab Americans
protested U.S.
involvement in
the Middle East.

The Islamic
Center of
Southern
California in
Los Angeles.

A man in prayer
at the Islamic
Center of
Southern
California.

2001

7

