Arab Americans Wanted…
The CIA ran an ad this week in the Economist that said: "For over 100
years Arab-Americans have served the nation. Today we need you more than
ever. . . . For additional information and to apply online, please visit
our website at www.cia.gov."
Here is an Arab-American who is very unlikely to apply for a job online or
off line - an Arab-American who is feeling increasingly more Arab than
American. This post 9/11 Arab-American has had his loyalty questioned so
many times that he no longer will raise important questions when he
should.
After weeks of the jury's debate and dragging discussion, and after a long
silence and not sure of all the implications, he finally found himself
nodding in agreement with the guilty verdict, as that was his only way out
of the terrifying jury duty confinement. The decision for him was very
simple; it was a straightforward decision, he confessed. Giving in to the
other 11 jurors was the only way out of this horrifying jury experience.
He felt he was the victim, he explained. The confusing process intimated
him, and ignoring his feelings by voting to keep a young man behind prison
doors for life was the most obvious gate to his own freedom.
He didn't have any remorse. If it has never worked for thousands of
Arab/Muslim-Americans, he complained, why should it work for this young
man? He didn't want to confuse himself with truth; instead, he just wanted
to escape from the laborious task and resort to the comfort of his
ignorance.
He didn't pay close attention to the deliberation process or the mumbo
jumbo court language; he didn't want to prolong the agony of civic
participation. If the majority of jurors found the defendant guilty, why
rock the boat of justice? Besides, they have been unjustly arresting
Arab/Muslim-Americans all over the place without any due process - why
should he bother to seek the truth for this man? he thought to himself.
He was just another Arab-American who fell through the holes of Mr.
Rumsfeld's Swiss cheese-like justice system. His judgment was tarnished by
the post 9/11 scare; the fate of the defendant wasn't much of his concern.
As for his own fate, he never felt like a full citizen anyway; he never
was part of the American dream, especially now. He was just another Arab-
American who yearned for his own homeland security! After 9/11, the
attorney general's paranoid and undue processes kept him away from being
part of the due process. He was another Arab immigrant who just wanted to
go back home, where fairness and justice were applied to all citizens
equally.
Ahmed/ 1-29-2003, Host and Producer
Belahdan/ Arab Americans TV show
Airs Sundays at tpt Ch17 at 10:30pm
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