Six Hummus Haters in One Holiday Weekend
With all the anti-Arab bashing we see in the news every week, Arab America is determined to expose those who discriminate against our community. We will recognize those who vilify the positive influence and contributions Arabs have made to the fabric of American society. And we will use hummus as our weapon. By naming those who vilify the Arab American community as #HummusHaters, we can express our culture positively while showing intolerance to bigotry.
BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer
If “Heebijabi” is Giving You the Heebie-jeebies, You Might be Ignorant
On July 1, presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, held a rally in New Hampshire. During his question and answer period, a woman asked something terribly offensive, but a little funny.
She asked: “Why aren’t we putting our retirees, our military retirees on that boarder or in TSA? Get rid of all these hib—heebiejabis they wear at TSA. I’ve seen them myself!”
By “heebiejabis,” this racist woman meant hijabs. She is asking why the government cannot discriminate based on religion in employing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents.
In response, Donald Trump said: “I understand.”
“We need the veterans back in there to take it. They fought for this country and defended it. They’ll still do it,” the woman said.
Trump responded: “and we are looking at that. We are looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”
A presidential candidate is “looking into” breaking the Civil Rights Act, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, and gender. That is both alarming and discriminatory.
Anyone in a hijab is more than capable of protecting the flight passengers. The woman who said “heebijabi,” as well as Donald Trump, are definitely hummus haters this week. One bite of savory hummus can help both of them learn how to say “hijab” correctly and put a little more value into the Civil Rights Act.
Ohioans Meet One Arab – Chaos Ensues
In the Cleveland suburb of Avon, an Emirati man was detained because he looked suspicious to his fellow hotel guests. Why did he look suspicious? He was wearing the traditional dress of Dubai – a plain, white thobe (also known as dishdasha) and a plain, white kufiya on his head.
The man, Ahmed al-Menhali, was in Cleveland for a medical visit. A hotel clerk called 911 after seeing Menhali. When the police came, he was speaking Arabic on his phone, causing even more suspicion by the poorly trained police officers and hotel employees. The hotel clerk thought the Dubai businessman was pledging his allegiance to ISIL, even though the clerk does not speak Arabic at all, and would not be able to know that by listening to the phone call.
When the police came, they held Menhali at gunpoint. Others at the hotel were yelling at him and held him down. This brutality left Menhali feeling ill and in need of medical attention. He had recently suffered from a stroke.
Avon police have since apologized for the incident, calling it “very regrettable.” This has prompted the UAE government to issue a warning statement to Emiratis traveling in the West. They ask the men to refrain from wearing traditional clothing, and for women to abide by bans on face veils in Europe.
This incident is another lesson in the need for sound education on the ways of the Arab world. Speaking Arabic and wearing modest Arab clothing are not crimes. If hotel staff were properly trained in cultural sensitivity, this incident probably never would have happened.
The hotel clerk, the Avon police, and the people who joined in the embarrassing physical and verbal abuse of Menhali are all hummus haters in this story. These people need to make an Arab American friend who can whip up a dish of hummus and serve it to the city of Avon. Learning a word or two in Arabic might also be helpful, but one step at a time.
Nine Muslims Attacked Outside of Mosques Late at Night
Between July 1 and 3, several people were beaten, shot, and stabbed outside of mosques from Minnesota, Florida, Texas, and New York. This disturbing rise in hate crimes has many Arab Americans and Muslims on edge.
In Texas, an American Muslim doctor was shot twice and stabbed while walking into his Houston mosque for morning prayers. The attackers escaped, and the police have not cited a motive for the incident. Witnesses who found the doctor, Arslan Tajammul, said he was able to ask for help. He is currently in intensive care.
In Minnesota, five American Muslim men were wearing traditional Islamic clothing, sitting in a car at a red light at 2:00 a.m., on their way to a Minneapolis mosque. Two white men approached saying disparaging comments about Muslims and shot seven bullets at the men. Two of the Muslim men suffered from wounds when they were shot in the leg. The Muslim community in Minneapolis is urging police to investiage the incident as a hate crime.
In New York, two teenage America Muslim boys were viciously beaten outside their mosque, while their attacker called them terrorists. Also taking place late at night, the attacker was a man who lived nearby and is aware of the mosque. New York Police are not calling this a “non-biased” incident, causing local Muslims to accuse the police of covering up a clear hate-crime. The men were severely injured and have received medical attention.
In Florida, a man was beaten an American Muslim man was beaten outside an Orlando mosque – the same mosque attended by Pulse nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen. This attack also took place late at night. A white male approached the Muslim man, asked him what he was doing, then punched him several times in the face. The attacker, Taylor Mazzanti, allegedly made several anti-Muslim comments before attacking. He has been detained as a suspect, but the police claim they have no reason to suspect the man was beaten because he is Muslim.
Since 2015, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of hate speech directed toward American Muslims and Arab Americans. This sharp spike in physical abuse over the holiday weekend means the country has a lot of healing to do. One cure the need to punch an innocent person in the face is definitely hummus. America needs to literally break bread together, dip it in hummus, and eat up. The only way these hate crimes can stop is if there is a better understanding of the communities affected by violence and anger.