[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 353 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.
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