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ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM

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Celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month

The Arab America Foundation commemorated the contributions of Arab Americans on April 27, at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, DC. Nearly 250 guests admired artwork in the MEI art gallery until the Faris El-Layl Folkloric Dance Troupe arrived and invited attendees to dance a traditional zaffa wedding march with them into the meeting room.

Arab America co-founders, Warren and Dr. Amal David, and chairman of the foundation, Dr. Adel Korkor, welcomed attendees. This year, they noted, President Joe Biden, as well as Congress, the Department of State and more than 40 state governors recognized the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month.

Virginia activist Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison announced a permanent decree designating April to be Arab American Heritage Month in Virginia.

Alexandria, VA poet laureate Zeina Azzam recited her deeply moving poem, “I am an Arab American.” Azzam, who writes “in languages that flow in opposite directions,” described the beauty of her Arab American identity: “I am an Arab American because I tend the fig tree as earnestly as the dogwood and the pine. Because cinnamon and anise, cumin and cardamom inhabit my shelves and senses. Because I bake both baklava and blueberry pie for my family....”

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, described the grassroot efforts it took to honor Arab Americans nationally. She urged listeners to continue to work until the MENA community, (the 3.7 million Americans who trace their roots back to a Middle Eastern or North African country) are accurately counted in the census and other government documents.

Cedric Richmond, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, emphasized the importance of fighting for rights, including the right to uncontaminated water pipes, education and health care. “Equity doesn’t happen by default,” he said, adding, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice because we make it bend.”

Next came Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who joyfully proclaimed, “I am unbelievably, unapologetically Arab!” and described the thrill of introducing H.Res. 1022 on April 1, 2022, which supports the designation of the month of April each year as Arab American Heritage Month.

On April 26, she introduced H.R. 7591, the Health Equity and MENA Community Inclusion Act of 2022, to amend the Public Health Service Act to include Middle Easterners and North Africans (MENA) as racial and ethnic minority groups. This legislation would help ensure that the needs of the MENA community are reflected in the federal government’s focus on public health, she said. When people in the MENA community are categorized as “white” or “other,” Tlaib explained, they are invisible, marginalized and their true identity, needs and experience isn’t reflected in the U.S. public health system.

After the remarks, volunteers wearing traditional Arab dresses took to the stage, followed by vocalist Nano Raies who sang classic Arab songs.

By then the sun had set and guests who’d been fasting, as well as everyone else, enjoyed traditional Arab food served in the courtyard. —Delinda C. Hanley

PHOTO COURTESY ARAB AMERICA

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D‐MI) describes legislation she introduced to celebrate Arab American heritage and ensure the community’s needs are properly documented by the government.

Palestine’s “Seed Queen” Connects Cultural and Sustainable Farming

Growing Palestine hosted a luncheon featuring Vivien Sansour, the “Seed Queen of Palestine,” on Feb. 27, at the home of board member Samar Hussein Langhorne in Washington, DC. Langhorne described Growing Palestine’s mission to help Palestinian farmers resist buying seeds from Israel and help them plant long-forgotten Palestinian heirloom and native seeds. PalestinianAmerican Sansour hopes traditional cropgrowing methods will push back against the challenges imposed by the Israeli occupation and resulting water and electricity shortages.

Sansour’s first in-person talk in two years, due to the pandemic, focused on the Palestinian zahra baladiya (homegrown organic cauliflower varieties), which she is helping save from extinction. She passed out a seed to each listener and urged them to hold it and “feel the energy of your grandmother. Seeds are our ancestors, not a commodity, but a product of communal genius,” she said, explaining that generations of farmers tweaked these seeds to improve their crops. Zahra baladiya is buried in soil for nine months, and when it’s harvested it’s worth the wait, she noted.

Sansour said that while she went to Palestine to teach farmers, she instead heard a wealth of stories and learned from them. Every grandmother had a jar of

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