The road to Arab empowerment in American politics

Arab Americans continue to be pushed aside, marginalized and bought off to keep us from taking our seats at the table of influence and power to make decisions.

By Ray Hanania

PAID/Arab Americans/Monday Nov. 18, 2024

We see the fight play out in our history as Arabs in America. My family moved into Burbank when it was a low to middle income community. We were the first Arabs to move into Burbank in the summer of 1969 along with the family of Sheik Zayed, the first Imam of the Muslim community who fought to build the Bridgeview mosque.

When we moved in, the neighbors looked at us as being "different." They didn't understand our culture. We were "different." We became good neighbors, but we were excluded from local politics, never elected to decide the fate of Burbank even though we became one of Burbank's largest constituencies.

My family moved to Orland Park in 1985, again one of the first Arab families to settle there. And again, nearly 40 years later, we still remain outsiders even though the Arab community in Orland Park grew from one family in 1985 to 3,000 families. today.

So, what happened?