Fighting Anti-Arab Racism
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights was founded in 1950 at the dawn of the modern civil rights movement just two years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and five years after both the internment of Japanese Americans on U.S. soil and the Holocaust, a cataclysmic violation of human rights.
Given the inherent connection between civil and human rights, at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, we believe that civil and human rights must be measured by a single yardstick. From demanding that the United States live up to its obligations under international human rights treaties, to advancing and protecting civil rights laws, the focus of The Leadership Conference has long been domestic and remains so today.
That does not, however, mean that we turn away from the domestic implications that international conflicts have on the communities represented by our diverse coalition or on our civil rights.
Since the terror attack on October 7, 2023 by Hamas in Israel and Israel’s response and war on Gaza, anti-Arab (including anti-Palestinian) and anti-Jewish hate crimes in the United States have spiked. While these communities, and many more, are no strangers to the pains of discrimination and hate, it is important to acknowledge the experiences of each of these communities, in order to deepen our understanding, strengthen our solidarity, and continue our work to address all forms of hate collectively.
This blog is focused on anti-Arab racism.
Anti-Arab hate crimes did not begin in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, just as they did not begin in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. From the lynching of Arab American businessman N’oula Romey in 1929 to the assassination of civil rights activist Alex Odeh in 1985, to the hate crime murders of Khalid Jabara in 2016 and six-year old Wadea Al-Fayoume in 2023, anti-Arab violence, like other forms of racism, has long been a part of the more despicable aspects of American history.
While violent hate crimes are among the more blatant manifestations of racism, more discreet forms of bias are incredibly harmful and can contribute to increases in hate crimes and violence. Such bias includes stereotypes and tropes that Arabs are inherently violent, barbaric, and morally depraved. Like other forms of racism, these views are rooted in White supremacy. Over time, media portrayals of these stereotypes have seeped into the mainstream, including in public and political discourse.
Today, anti-Arab racism can show up as racial profiling. For example, Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a population of under 110,000 people, which also has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, is reportedly one of the most “watch-listed” cities in America – second only to New York City.
Anti-Arab racism can also be present in the false equivalence of advocacy for Palestinian human rights or Palestinian liberation with support for terrorism and in claims that treat criticism of the state of Israel or the ideology of Zionism as inherently hateful.
In recent years, Arabic words or cultural attire that have long held cultural significance, such as the keffiyeh, have been maligned or deemed symbols or expressions of violence.
These prejudices are not just dangerous to Arab Americans; they threaten all of our civil rights.
Awareness of these biases allows us to better identify and challenge them when they arise. It is why our coalition, including The Leadership Conference’s Hate Crimes Task Force, has come together to advance and protect the civil and human rights for all. We work in solidarity to fight hate, discrimination, and violence by increasing awareness and understanding about how all forms of racism and bias are interconnected and must be addressed collectively.
The founders of The Leadership Conference believed that the fight for civil rights could not be won by a single community alone, but rather in coalition. They understood that communities are tied together in “the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality” that Dr. King spoke of years later at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Today, 75 years after The Leadership Conference’s founding, our coalition is more diverse than ever. Together, we prove that solidarity and collective action is stronger than hate.
Additional resources:
Civil Rights Coalition Joint Statement on Antisemitic Hate Crimes
Letter From Civil Rights Organizations on Countering All Forms of Hate