Eth_125_Week_5_Checkpoint

Week Five Checkpoint ETH/125 As early as the 1600’s Arabs began immigrating to the North and South. The first group was made up of Christian Syrians and Lebanese, which immigrated to the United States between 1875 and 1920. The word Arab describes a cultural and linguistic term and identifies one who is Arab, speaks Arabic as their first language or is a descendant of Arabic speakers. Arabs are considered to be part of an ethnic group and not a racial group. After the 1970’s immigrants from the Arab World were similar in terms of their country of origin, religious background, and education, which allowed them to be part of a multiracial heterogeneous group. This group of individuals practice different types of religion, which include Christian, Jewish religion, Druze, etc (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2005). Muslims are followers of the monotheistic religion of Islam, and believe that their faith is a combination of Judaism and Christianity. Muslims use Arabic language when referring to God and in prayers. The Qur’an is part of the belief of the Muslims, which is the basis for Muslim beliefs regarding God, morality, worship, and wisdom. Muslim people can belong to diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures. For example: Some Muslim women choose to wear head scarves, where others choose not to wear head scarves. Muslims and Arabs are somewhat similar individuals, but their religions may present different beliefs, cultures, and traditions(American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2005). The United States has taken a few steps over the past couple of years to make changes to policies that support Muslims and Arabic members of society. One of these changes was introduced by President Obama, displaying efforts to promise a new beginning for Arabs and Muslims. Another effort to reach Arabic and Muslim people included memorable moments in advertising campaign to “brand America,” which included a lifestyle magazine, a youth pop radio station, and a new television station in Arabic. Even though these efforts have been made by the United States, none succeeded in providing a code on how to better communicate with the Arab world. In order for the U.S. public diplomacy to improve the image of within the Arab and Islamic world, there will need to be a compatible change in how Americans view Arabs and Muslims. With President Obama in office hopefully this change will come about, which will truly mark a new beginning for the U.S. and Muslim relations in the future (Institute for policy studies, 2009). A couple of characteristics that are attributed to Orientalism are inscrutability, religious extremism and being backward culturally, scientifically and in technology. Orientalism has become negative in the meaning when referring to Eastern cultures and societies (, 2008). One common hate crime is not understanding or fearing differences. People are taught fear at a younger age and choose to follow this fear through adulthood, instead of going against their teaching and learning more about the culture (, 2008). In order to help overcome prejudice in towns and cities, we need to start at home by teaching our children tolerance towards different cultures and beliefs. Replacing positive aspects to teaching tolerance and acceptance will replace the teachings of fear. With using a different road to teaching our children we can help to break the cycle of hate and live together in a more understanding and fearless world.