Essay On Middle East American Culture

Middle Eastern Americans travel to America to obtain a better quality of life. Many want to have a better education, job and life style as in their native country they are restricted from following these dreams due to their government’s regime. Other Middle Easterners come to the United States escaping persecution and genocide. Slowly, they begin to assimilate into the culture of the United States and are then called Middle Eastern Americans. The term Middle Eastern American refers to Middle Easterners who had children and their ancestry can be calculated back to the Middle East even though they are living here - these children have assimilated into the American culture ("MEARO 2009). Many of the children of Middle Easterners have grown up
and adopted the customs and culture of the United States and now consider this nation their country and therefore remain here. Most Middle Easterners are citizens from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Iran (Center for Immigration studies 2002). These countries are the ones who are most affected by terrorism and government oppression and their citizens are escaping from them. This research paper will examine the racial profiling of Middle Eastern Americans in the United States before and after September 11,2001 and how their lives have changed. It was decided that this paper would be written due to the recent discrimination and racial profiling that has happened to Middle Eastern Americans due to the isolated terrorist attacks.
Ethnicity and Race After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Middle Eastern Americans were sternly racially profiled due to their physical appearance and ethnicity as it would make them more “visible” and distinguishable from others.
Their physical characteristics consist of dark brown or black hair with medium to dark skin color. They are usually an average height of 5’ 5” or 5’ 7” (Obeidallah 2017). Their ethnicity makes them also very vulnerable to identification and stereotypes as their language, religion and the way they dress is very different from the rest of society. The most common Middle Eastern language spoken is Arabic as it originated in the Middle East and is associated with Islam. Most Middle Easterners are taught Arabic in school and therefore it is the most common language they share. Arabic is very different from other languages and distinguishable, that is why after September 11 anyone who was heard speaking Arabic was accused of planning a terrorist attack and was detained (Chehade 2017). Middle Eastern Americans dress in a way that is very different from society. Women dress in long loose dresses that reach their ankles and wear a veil over their head to cover themselves as this is part of their culture and religion. Men cannot wear shorts or any shirt that is not decent or any open shoes. Their religion is Islam and they attend a Mosque where they are required to kneel and pray in a certain direction of where the main Mosque is located (Globe Trekker 2012). These
different characteristics make Middle Easterners targets of discrimination as they are biologically identifiable and society is always identifying the different ethnicities to oppress them, in this case Middle Easterners were accuse of being part of a terrorist group.