[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1022 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1022
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 1, 2022
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, every April, the United States celebrates Arab American Heritage Month;
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 Arab Americans contribute to our country's unique diversity through the
process of attaining citizenship and integration, as modeled by the
family of Dr. Joseph Arbeely, the first recorded Arab family to come to
the United States with the intention of becoming citizens, and whose two
sons, Najeeb and Ibrahim, went on to establish the first Arabic language
newspaper in the United States (Kawkwab America);
Whereas Americans of Arab descent helped grow this country through the
development of industry and free enterprise, as in the case of world
fairs, which attracted many immigrants from the Arab world;
Whereas historical Arab-American communities 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, as in the case of the first major Arab-American
community, ``Little Syria'', which was depicted in Ameen Rihani's 1911
masterpiece, ``The Book of Khalid'';
Whereas the growth and development of Arab-American communities transforms and
enriches all areas of American civic, social, and political life,
including in the areas of religious pluralism, poetry and philosophy,
and journalism, to name just a few;
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 U.S. 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 was
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 reinforce
longstanding racial stereotypes about Arabs, which contribute to anti-
Arab hate crimes and obscure 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 Arab American Institute estimates that there are roughly 3,700,000
Arab Americans living in the United States;
Whereas the establishment of a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) category
within the United States Census and Statistical Policy Directive Number
15 of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which sets the Federal
Government's standards for data demographic 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, according to Census Bureau data, Arabic is one of the fastest growing
languages in the United States;
Whereas President Biden recognized the celebration of Arab American Heritage
Month in an April 19th, 2021, letter to Arab America and the Arab
America Foundation, making him the first sitting U.S. President to do
so;
Whereas the Department of State recognized April as National Arab American
Heritage Month in 2021;
Whereas at least 40 States and territories have taken steps to recognize April
as Arab American Heritage Month, including the governments of Arizona,
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of
Columbia, Georgia, Hawai`i, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia,
Wisconsin, and Wyoming;
Whereas numerous cities, towns and counties across America have taken steps to
recognize April as Arab American Heritage Month, including Los Angeles,
CA; Orange County, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Diego, CA; Gainesville,
FL; Orlando, FL; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Cook County, IL; Baltimore,
MD; Detroit, MI; Wayne County, MI; Dearborn, MI; Dearborn Heights, MI;
Flint, MI; Yonkers, NY; Westchester County, NY; Raleigh, NC; Cuyahoga
County, OH; Cleveland, OH; Toledo, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, PA;
Dallas, TX; Alexandria, VA; Richmond, VA; Milwaukee, WI; and Madison,
WI; 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 the month of April of each
year as 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 recognize, address, and celebrate the unique
contributions of Arab Americans to the United States.
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