Congress is giving away its war powers
A few weeks ago, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia made a small splash in the press when he took Congress to task for failing to authorize our nation’s ongoing war against Islamist militants. “The silence of Congress in the midst of this war is cowardly and shameful,” he said. “his Congress, the very body that is so quick to...Rejecting Obama’s action on immigration is racism
"One cannot praise immigration while working to disenfranchise immigrant families."The last time the Congress declared war on another country was during Word War II. Since then, our government has engage militarily in Korea, Vietnam, several conflicts in Central America, Bosnia, Libya and twice in the Gulf, mostly on presidential...
Saudi sectarianism is turning into terror
May 27th, 20150 People examine the debris after a suicide bomb attack in the village of al-Qadeeh, May 22Saudi King Salman has vowed to punish the perpetrators of the suicide attack that targeted a Shi'a mosque, killing 21 civilians in the eastern part of the kingdom on May 22. The monarch called the bombing, which was claimed by ISIS, a "heinous...Fear: The Art of sale
It has long been said (maybe the renowned sociologist Vance Packard said it first) that Madison Avenue’s advertising campaigns pivot around man’s conscious or subconscious fears. Fear is the catalyst. Indeed, man’s fears, insecurities and regrets are what make possible the Art of the Sale. Examples of fertile ground: The fear...Terror against Muslim Americans gets ignored
Robert Doggart "Our small group will soon be faced with the fight of our lives. We will offer those lives as collateral to prove our commitment to our God." These are not the words of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi or one of the 9/11 hijackers. They are the words of a Christian American terrorist, who admitted planning attacks...Beyond Baltimore: Arab-Black solidarity needed for social change
As the Baltimore uprising began to take hold in reaction to the killing of Freddie Gray by Baltimore police officers, an unassuming tweet about a young African American man in New York made the rounds through Arab and Arab-American social media: "Last night in jail I (Black) was wearing a #Palestine T-shirt sitting next to a...
We will not yield to threats
May 15th, 20150 Last weekend, family members of the man who killed his wife before committing suicide in Dearborn called the home of one of our reporters, making death threats and harassing his family. The threats were crimes in both the legal and ethical senses. Responding to words with threats is cowardly and uncivilized. We will not tolerate it. We...Nakba Day: Palestine will not be forgotten
May 15 marks the 67th anniversary of al-Nakba, the catastrophe of Palestine that still haunts the conscience of every Arab on the globe. More than 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homeland to make space for the creation of the state of Israel. And while Palestinians commemorate their loss that continues to grow by the day,...Birzeit wins again: Students of the West Bank unite
In November 1993, I was on a mission. At the age of 21, I wanted to change the world, starting with Birzeit University, the second-largest Palestinian university in the West Bank, situated near Ramallah, in the heart of the occupied territories. Back then I had made a name for myself with my nationalist poetry and my first poetry...We condemn terror and bigotry in Texas
Two gunmen were shot dead Sunday while trying to attack a gathering in Garland, Texas that showcased cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad. These men did not represent the Muslim community. Muslim Americans, like all Americans, reject violence and terrorism. But there is another side to the incident. The woman behind the cartoon...
We all have a duty to combat domestic violence
May 6th, 20150 A Dearborn man murdered his wife and committed suicide on Sunday. The ordeal unfolded in front of the couple's children. According to police, the husband was "estranged", but sources who knew the victim said he was abusive during the days of their marriage. Domestic violence is wrong, inexcusable and can turn deadly. We all have a...Baltimore and the Human Right to Resistance
Anti-Black racism, always just beneath the surface of polite racial discourse in the U.S., has exploded in reaction to the resistance of Black youth to another brutal murder by the agents of this racist, settler-colonialist state. With the resistance, the focus shifted from the brutal murder of Freddie Gray and the systematic...Money and politics: We need change now
I’ve seen a lot over my decades in politics, and not much alarms me. But I have to be blunt: Money is poisoning our political system. The people who matter most to a representative democracy — the ordinary voters in whose interests elected politicians are supposed to act — feel as though they’ve become an afterthought in the...U.S. and Iran seem positioned to strike a deal
Self-serving lawmakers in Washington keep trying to make it impossible for President Obama - and his international partners - to reach a pragmatic agreement with Iran. Fortunately, the momentum for a finalized deal by the end of June looks too strong to reverse. The consequences of these negotiations are huge. Failure to bring the...ACCESS should be commended for this year’s honorees
At its annual banquet in 2014, ACCESS (The Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services) honored former congressman and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as its "Arab American of the Year." The Arab American News, along with many others, criticized this selection. But this year the social services organization made amends......
We endorse proposal 1
After years of the Legislature's incompetence and failure to fix our roads, our lawmakers passed the burden of making a major decision on taxes and infrastructure directly to the voters. Proposal 1, which will be on the ballot in a special election Tuesday, May 5, promises to secure funds to fix our roads after a hike in the sales and...
Thank you for your support
April 24th, 20150 The Arab American News' 30th anniversary dinner was not only a testament to its influence, but to the growing success of Arab Americans. About a dozen prominent mainstream journalists and elected officials took the podium to praise the newspaper and pay tribute to its quality journalism. "Looking at recent copies of the......
America’s moral failure: Abandoning U.S. citizens in Yemen
A C-17 aircraft evacuating Indians stranded in Yemen.Thousands of Americans are trapped in war-torn Yemen. But the U.S. government, which is legally mandated to protect and evacuate its citizens from dangerous situations anywhere in the world, is doing nothing to help them. Instead, the Obama administration is delivering weapons to...Rosa Parks should be the face of the $20 bill
An organization committed to gender equality is demanding that President Obama put a woman on the $20 bill, which currently features Andrew Jackson. Wilma Mankiller, the first elected female chief of the Cherokee nation; civil rights leader Rosa Parks; former first lady and human rights activist Eleanor Roosevelt and African American...Saudi opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal is irrational
From the streets of Tehran to the White House, everybody was celebrating the initial nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers on April 5—except Israel, Saudi Arabia and Republicans. However, the Saudi opposition to the deal is irrational. Republicans have rejected the deal because of domestic political concerns. It is...
Yemeni Americans should manage their disagreements
April 10th, 20150 The crisis in Yemen has further divided our already divided Arab American community. The violent outcomes of the "Arab Spring", especially the Syrian war, have pitted many community members against each other and fueled the sectarian rhetoric in the Arab world as well as Arab America. And now comes the war in Yemen, which is turning......
Chelsea Manning and the call of America’s conscience
April 10th, 20150 A screenshot from the leaked video video depicting an Apache helicopter killing Iraqi civilians.April 5 marked the five year anniversary of WikiLeaks' publication of the Collateral Murder Video. the footage of a secret U.S. military video depicted an Apache helicopter killing Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters journalists. It...Into the abyss: Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen
Houthi fighters ride a patrol truck outside Sanaa Airport, March 28.Not long before the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, died in 1953, he is purported to have said, “the good or evil for us will come from Yemen.” With the commencement of air strikes on targets in Yemen, it is increasingly likely that the latter part......
Canceling the Arab International Festival was an admission of defeat
April 3rd, 20150 They defeated us. In 2010, bigots came to our city to flaunt their racism at the Arab International Festival and ended up taking $300,000 of our tax money after suing the city for wrongful arrest. Hateful protesters kept coming back in the following two years, which proved to be the last for the festival. The American Arab...The Arab League should cease to exist
We have lived through decades of Arab divisions and infighting. But now Arab League nations have announced forming a joint military force and increasing security coordination, mainly to bomb a fellow Arab country. We prefer division to unity about the wrong cause. The historically incompetent Arab League has become a tool for the......