Trying to Be an American All My Life

I have been trying to be an "American" all my life. I didn't realize it, though, until I got older, because I always thought I was.

The first hint of what would become an adult-life struggle came when I was in elementary school. The other kids surrounded me and demanded, "What are you?"

I didn't know we had to be something. I replied surprised by the question, "I'm an American."

Maybe it was the insecure, hesitant manner in which I responded that prompted them to proclaim like a church choir singing a popular refrain, "No you're not!"

I went home and asked my dad. It was just after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Not too much after. The war only lasted six days. My dad was shocked. "Don't tell them you're Palestinian. Tell them you are Syrian, or Lebanese. Imagine. Back then, it was okay to be Syrian or Lebanese.

When the kids surrounded me again, and demanded to know, I replied, "I'm cereal. But I think my mom is a Lesbian."

We were all cereal that summer. We had no idea what a Lesbian was. Two years later, all of us, my family included, fled from Chicago's Southeast Side when one family that couldn't answer that question to anyone's satisfaction, apparently, soon followed. They were black.

We never met black people before. We heard about them. A lot, especially from the realtors who swarmed through our neighborhood like summer wasps. No pun intended.

We had a serial killer who murdered eight student nurses who lived not too far from our home. Street gangs. Drug dealers and teachers and priests who were pedophiles. No one wanted to sell their homes then.

The Southeast Side Chicago neighborhood around "Pill Hill" -- a warren for doctors and their lawyers -- once had the largest concentration of Arabs and Jews living together, even after the 1967 War. Strangely back then, Arabs and Jews got along because "Americans" hated both of us.

Maybe it was relief that prompted everyone to move, although for a long time, I thought I was the "black people."

Did that make me an American? Or was it military service?

My dad and an Uncle served during World War II. When they enlisted, the Army grabbed my dad, George, but they sent my uncle to the Navy, where they thought he could do some good. His name was Moses.

My brother was a Marine and I served during the Vietnam War in the Air Force, when my draft number came knocking hard at my college door.

Being in the military gave us a special reason to put the American flag out in front of our home. For a long time, we and a few other families with military members were the only ones.

Veterans Day. Memorial Day. Flag Day. Holidays. The flag was out there.

Then on Sept. 11, 2001, I woke up one day to find nearly every home on my block, across and down the street and all over our neighborhood, displaying American flags.

It seemed like they were all pointed at my home.

Employees where I worked started pointing a finger at me, asking "Why did your people do that?

My people? I try to tell them I'm Palestinian. I come from a place consumed with violence, murder, killing, bombings, hostage taking and government agencies that show absolutely no respect for the people they supposedly serve.

Which is why I live in the suburbs and never go back to Chicago any more.

Weeks after the terrorist attack, a little old lady came up to me and asked a serious question. "I can't believe you abandoned your Christian faith to become an Arab."

Another neighbor threatened to kill me. I'd get mine, he vowed.

When the local police went to investigate, informing him I was a red blooded American -- okay with Tahini colored skin -- and I came from a long line of military veterans. The man told them, "I'm so sorry. I threatened the wrong Arab."

Americans. They are the most educated people in the world, but the least educated about the world.

They can't tell the difference between a Pakistani or a Palestinian. An Indian or an Iranian. A good president or a moron.

Actually, Chicago and the Middle East share much, however. We both have dictators who can barely speak English.

Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist, author, radio host and standup comedian with the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour. You can reach him at www.hanania.com.

Comments

[derik]

It does seem perplexing that after 52+ years I wonder around and run into people that perceive me as everything else other than American. I tell my kids that we have the best of all worlds ... they could be Latino, Arab, Jewish, Indian, Pakstani and everything else except European, African or Chinese. hmm, maybe this state of confusion by others merely define us Americans. I wonder how it was for those living in the Roman Empire as they "romanized" the world.

[OnTheCusp]

The majority of US citizens are so stunted intellectually because they refuse to TRAVEL. And most US citizens don't travel either out of fear or just from believing blindly that the "American way" is best, and yet, how can they know unless they've traveled? A person who travels will see other ways of being, acting, eating, living and believing. When exposed to other people and places, most people will acquire a curiosity that will prove expanding for their minds, and for their compassion, too. If a person only sees other cultures from television, the people of that culture remain "them." But if a person goes to other countries and breaks bread with other people, then other cultures are no longer "them," but friends, and it's hard to bomb people who are your friends. This is why it ought to be MANDATED that US citizens not be allowed to enter a US college or university without having traveled for at least a month, preferably three or more, in a non-English speaking country. Then, when they come home, they'll have at least a clue regarding their own, and everbody else's, humanity.

[JScott]

Interesting too that the middle eastern surnames (I think) such as Nader and Masri are more known for advocating for the consumer (Nader) and victims of irresponsible corporations (Masri-chief if the law firm that Erin Brockovich worked for).

[ArabianMonkey]

Great read! Your personal story is so telling about this dress-charade-obsessed world choking in ignorance and fear.

[True]

Heartfelt article, but please, let's cut out the "All Americans think alike" talk in the comments and in the article. I would be equally wrong and unjust if i said "All Arabs think alike."

There are literally tens of millions of Americans who are educated about the world and are actively working to heal our cultural psyche's powerhungry bloodlust.

Don't just be intellectually lazy and say things like "Americans don't know anything about the world."

[Rescisco]

Very thought provoking. Thanks for an excellent post.

[lwise1129]

Ray,
I can't believe you're making fun of Richie!. Hi. I'm Liz Lunk-Wise, used-to-be from Marty Russo's office. Just stopped by to say "Hello!" and to tell you how proud I am to say that 'I knew you when...' The work you're doing with the Palestinian people is wonderful.

[RabidRightRebel]

Why is it that so many Americans think that Americans are the best educated? This is simply not true. The truth is that almost every country in Europe provides a better, more comprehensive education to all their children than does America.

The fact that small number of rich peoples children are able to afford to go to some of the most expensive schools in the world does not in anyway translate into Americans being the best educated. The sad truth is that the vast majority of Americans are poorly educated and that is why the ignorance you illustrate is so pervasive in this country.

[groovychaos]

agreed! whenever i traveled to england there was a marked difference when meeting and speaking with "average" people. in general, the brits are very well educated, well read and well rounded compared to americans. and then there is the rest of europe where most citizens are guaranteed a complete university education for free for those who choose to pursue that route. education and health care should be made available to all citizens. they are basic human rights, simple as that.

[Sir681]

It's part of our culture, we think we're the best at everything. Best educated we say, but we have one of the highest rates of teenage sexual activity, pregnancies, STDs and abortions in the industrialized world. Best healthcare system we say, but the World Health Organization's study puts us at #37. Best democracy we say, but how is it better than that in any other country? Our convoluted mess of primaries, caucuses and electoral college, or that a 50% voter turnout is something for which we should be proud?

We have enviable press freedom, but the press is controlled by big corporations and the garbage that it spews is unbelievable. We can visit any country we consider terrorist in nature, but we can't go to Cuba. If we migrate to another country, we still have to pay taxes to Uncle Sam. Let's not even compare our cell phone service to Europe and Asia. If we point out things here that are wrong, people say that you should leave, but we say we have freedom of speech.

Yes, we are the best at everything.

[mamacat]

Enjoyed your article, thank you for writing it.
When you say that Americans are the most educated people in the world, I strongly disagree.
When you say that Americans are sadly lacking in knowledge of the world, I sadly agree.

In my experience, people with a background from other countries tend to know much more about the world than Americans whose families have been here for generations. I have talked with janitors and laborers who came from other countries who were more highly educated and knew more about the world than most native born Americans.

BTW, an Iranian doctor I know, who left Iran to escape from persecution, and who hates the Mullahs but still considers himself Muslim, is very concerned that the U.S. may attack Iran and cause terrible casualties. We live in a very strange, complicated world, and leaders who have no idea about the difference between Shia and Al Qaeda, but want to attack Iran anyway, are what concern me.

[mlaiuppa]

Move to California.

No one here is gonna care.

[dadw5boys]

Well I solved the problems of tell you guys apart!
I just treat all of you like human beings and if you feel it is important that I know where you come from you will tell me if not then ok.

Maybe if you stop living and Indian, Pakistani, Irainian or what ever then you can just be a human being. If you culture is that important to you that you need to shove it in everyone face then stay over ther we can really get along with out all that bullshit we have enough self center, attention grabbing, the world rotates around me asshole we can stand here already.

[HybridTea]

This makes me sad as well. But it is the reality that Rev Wright ranted about. I can't agree with everything he said but he must have read Ray's articile when he said "Arabic is not a religion - it is a language. There are Christian Arabs, Moslem Arabs, and Jewish Arabs". Americans don't understand the world around them thanks to the media which keeps them focussed on the mundane and the sensational.

[nsiah7]

So you have mundanes like George who is voted twice to become the president of the Greatest nation on earth. Will Americans ever learn. We wait and see.

[Hare]

Wright is right about the race issue. It is not that people don't understand the world around them, simply most people do not care to understand it. A large number of Americans are content in their ignorance. The idea that the only thing that matters is America and that we are #1 gives some the excuse to make the rest of the world irrelevant. This is no new but it is about time it changes. We are known all over the world for our major ignorance of other cultures, countries and races. The rest of the world laughs at our ignorance and makes jokes of our behaviors.

[Herrington]

My grandmother was a full blood Choctaw. Her grandmother would have walked the Trail of Tears. If you applied the same "one drop of blood" theory to me that is applied to African Americans, I would be considered a Native American. And, my nation then would have been nearly exterminated by the very people who usurp the term American.

But this is nothing new. No one living now was killing wild Indians on the frontiers. The only thing that is new, and then only for those to whom it never mattered before, is the relief in which the tensions born of 9/11 have cast western and eastern bigotry. It shows fully, and with the urgency of presence, that the same things that propel a nation to commit the genocide of a people are just one misplaced focus of outrage away from becoming a new historic tragedy.

We should tread lightly on ground that has been shown to lead to things that will disgrace us for all time.

[glny]

It's not a problem to be a lesbian or bisexual. It depends on how to see it. "People live in fear of discrimination and, consequently hide their sexual orientation, hide their families, their children and their lifestyle as a result," Johnson said. "I believe it will positively impact the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered community."

So I think GLBT should release them, maybe come out. Then they may be more healthy. Maybe try bilovesdotcom (many lesbian, gay or bisexuals explore their sexuality, come out, release themselves here)

[anamorphicart]

This makes me sad, I brought my sons up to be decent and kind to everyone, I just wish more mothers would do the same with their children. We will never have peace if we continue to judge others. I am an atheist, but more moral than any religious person.

[RabidRightRebel]

Most atheist are more moral than any religious person. This is mainly becasue they take responsiblity for their actions and look to facts rather than dogma for their truths.

[patenapier]

Agreed. I'm one of them. Morals have nothing to do with religion. Sadly, our children are brainwashed to believe that it does. Atheist should speak up and come out of the closet. Trust me, you will not be struck by lightning.