Arab American

Arab-Americans are Americans of Arab ancestry. Over 4 million Americans trace their ancestry to Arab countries, and the vast majority are citizens of the United States. Over 75% are Christians, many having escaped religious persecution in their homelands. Today, one-third of Arab-Americans live in California, New York, and Michigan. They are better-educated than the average American. The average Arab-American entrepreneur may have a higher personal and household income than a non-Arab-American counterpart in most regions of the United States. The overall U.S. population grew by 13% in the 1990s, while the Arab-American increased by 38%.

A majority of Arab-Americans, around 62%, originate from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan.

After the horrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, Arab-Americans braced for the worst, but thankfully the fears of heavy reprisals did not come as the vast majority of America realized they were not to blame. Incidents of harassment were up only slightly from year to year. According to the Department of Justice's 2001 Hate Crime Statistics Forward, "Another notable increase in 2001 was among religious-bias incidents. Anti-Islamic religion incidents were previously the second least reported, but in 2001, they became second highest reported among religious-bias incidents, growing by more than 1,600 percent over 2000 volume. In 2001, reported data showed that there were 481 incidents made up of 546 offenses having 554 victims of crimes motivated by bias towards the Islamic religion."

Organizations like the "American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee" work to empower Arab Americans and defend the civil rights of all people of Arab heritage in the United States.

See also

• Arab
• Islam
• Arabic language
• Saudi Arabia
• Michelle Malkin
• Ramadan

External links

• National Arab American Organizations
• Arab American National Museum
• The Arab American University
• American Arab Forum
• Arab American Institute
• The Arab-American News
• A vow for better Jewish, Muslim relations in US
• Arab Center of Washington
• American Muslims Ready to Attack USA? by Sher Zieve.