Abstract
This chapter discusses the political ethos and praxis of the Arab American community. Its main thesis is that this ethnic community is heterogeneous and went through two main historical stages, World War I and the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, in the formation of its political identity. This chapter argues that the Arab American political praxis emerged mainly, but not exclusively, in the sixties and developed in the eighties with the formation of different ethnic institutions and the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign. Nevertheless, it still suffers to this day from many problems, among which are the negative stereotypes prevalent in the American culture that ascribe an essentialized otherness to the Arab-Muslim as an alien, the lack of financial resources, the weak block vote of Arab Americans, a strong nemesis embodied by the well-structured and generously financed Israeli lobby, and, most of all, a dissonance with the fundamentals of US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This said, Arab Americans made cogent progress in the political realm as they are a more visible community now. Arab Americans still need to seek political alliances with other dominant minority ethnic groups like the Latinos or the African Americans to be able to advocate effectively on issues of interest to this constituency.1
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http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/11/03/lettertoobama/
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© 2016 Younes Abouyoub
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Abouyoub, Y. (2016). A Season of Migration to the West: The Arab-Muslim Diaspora in the United States; Political Ethos and Praxis. In: Ennaji, M. (eds) New Horizons of Muslim Diaspora in North America and Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137554963_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137554963_2
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