Arab Americans, nationally and locally in San Diego County, represent another chapter in the American immigrant story whose long arc weaves into the fabric of our history and society.
Like most Americans, we arrived to escape religious or sectarian persecution, colonial and post-colonial oppression, and to seek economic opportunity. We come by freighter through Ellis Island or jumbo jet to LAX. We grew out of 19th-century masons and auto-plant workers to modern-day technocrats highly sought by multinationals for our educations and global fluency. New refugee arrivals from Syria, Sudan and Somalia invigorate our culture and challenge us to shape solutions for economic equity for all.
Arab Americans come from countries where Arabic is spoken today. The Arabic language was the lingua franca of medieval global trade, from the great wall of China to the western Mediterranean. The Arab world spans from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east and from Syria in the north to Yemen, Somalia and Comoros in the south. Arabic is an ancient offshoot of Aramaic formed in the Fourth Century BCE in the Western Levant — modern-day Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Islamic expansion out of Arabia a millennium later fixed it as the written formal language as in the Holy Koran and promulgated its use through the Byzantine and Persian empires. The Roman North African and Visigothic Spanish empires were present as Arab culture developed to influence the Spanish language. Arab cities, medieval centers of innovation in architecture, science, mathematics and medicine, ushered in the modern world. Arab culture linked to the almost lost ancient world.
Arabs take pride in the recent California Senate Concurrent Resolution 22 declaring April as Arab American Heritage Month. The California Senate has been ed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and Mira Costa College, as well as about 100 other civic entities in the United States.
We witness the unprecedented local and national recognition of Arab American month as a rebirth of our Arab voices. These proclamations are not only symbolic, they signify our emergence and increased participation in our communities and civic bodies. Arab Americans are motivated to share our culture and voices with San Diegans and Americans at large.
We are peace-loving peoples from 22 countries of origin. We are Jewish, Christian and Muslim. Many of us from the Mediterranean rim are quite expressive in our speech and hand motions, like other Mediterranean peoples! We blend our generosity of spirit with America’s evolving ideals for a freer and just world. We are extroverted family-centered people who embrace hard work, innovation and education. Our traditions survive and evolve through multigenerational households to which we still gravitate, from the dances, art and music to the refugee kitchens where hummus will always be king.
Arabs like most of humanity are descendants of empires who keep to earlier traditions. We experienced the Arabian expansion and Ottoman Empire to 19th and 20th century to the colonial era that continues to drive immigrants and refugees to the United States and elsewhere. Peoples in Arab lands adhering to ancient cultures, languages and religions predating the Arab expansion have survived to this day as a sign of a tradition of inclusivity.
Arab culture tends to be cumulative. Arabs synthesized knowledge and innovations to absorb older cultures. The Ummayad Mosque in Damascus reveals layers of prehistoric monolithic footings, Roman columns, Byzantine architecture and Islamic mosaic. It flourished in Baghdad, Cairo, Jerusalem and other urban centers in North Africa, Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the truly ancient cities of Damascus and Aleppo, continuously settled for over 10 millennia.
Arab American contributors to the fabric of American life and history include Michael DeBakey who performed some of the first heart transplants, and Californian activist Ralph Nader. Comic actress and San Diego native Kathy Najimy grew up in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego.
Perhaps Arab American culture is a process. Recently deceased surfer music legend Dick Dale (born Richard Monsour) is a case in point. Dale created a modern-day musical fusion with his frenetic guitar performances derived from the Arabic oud music his Lebanese father and uncle played.
Americans will understand that our heritage is one they can see themselves in. How can you be more American than surfer music?
Abu-Ghazaleh is the president of Grossmont College. Bittar, an artist, educator and writer, is San Diego chapter president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
