Arab Americans

Arab Americans on the Move

Creating Family in a Smaller World

By Tyler Partridge
Posted on Tuesday September 19, 2006

An Interview with Dr. Yahya Basha

After growing up in Syria, Yahya Basha has become familiar with ethnic diversity. While working with his father to register neighbors for elections in Damascus, Basha, a Muslim, was surrounded in a melting pot of religious and ethnic backgrounds.

“It wasn’t like there was any big conflict between Muslims and Christians, or Arabs and Armenians,” said Basha, now a doctor practicing in West Bloomfield, MI. “We were all one family there.”

It was these deep-seated memories, coupled with a love for his adopted country, that persuaded Basha to participate in the State Department’s recent journey to Europe. Basha, along with three other Muslim and Arab American “civilian ambassadors,” traveled to the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, as part of Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes’ efforts to improve and clarify the U.S.’ image abroad.

Reaching Out

For Dr. Basha, the goal for the trip was to provide a forum for Muslim and Arab Americans to exchange ideas with members of a comparable background in Europe. In providing this forum, the State Department hoped to present the notion that the United States is a nation that, like Dr. Basha’s neighborhood, is open to all, and free of prejudicial conflict.

“The State Department worked very hard to make the trip successful,” Basha said. “In addition, the population there received us and listened to us and opened their hearts, as we were sincere in talking to them.”

The trip provided an opportunity for members of the immigrant community in Europe to hear from those who underwent similar experiences in the United States. After rioting in France, the cartoon crisis, and fits of unrest in the Netherlands over mounting ethnic conflict, these changes come at a critical time.

Lessons Learned

“The community there is not participating…they feel they are still an extension from their native countries,” Basha said. “They don’t learn the language and they don’t participate in the educational system.”

Though disengagement in European society does exist, the socio-economic status of Arab European immigrants is comparably high, according to some.

“We found out, for example, that immigrants in Europe have a bigger role in government than they do here in the United States,” said Mehdi Alhassani, another civilian ambassador on the trip.

“In all of the countries we visited, Muslim Europeans played a legislative role in the government, whereas we don’t really have that here in the US,” Alhassani said.

On the trip, Alhassani and Basha held a number of dialogues with the immigrant community. In Germany, for example, the US embassy hosted a symposium with predominantly Turkish students to discuss youth empowerment. In the Netherlands, a Town Hall meeting was held with Muslim community leaders on how to better integrate minorities into the government. Finally, in Denmark, meetings were held with the local chamber of commerce on establishing internships for students with Danish-based American companies.

“After seeing how excited people were about the goals of our trip, and what we were hoping to accomplish,” Alhassani said, “it was clear just how necessary the trip was in the first place.

“These types of things are going to be extremely beneficial for everyone involved,” he said. “Hopefully, through follow-up, the program will be allowed to persist.”

Breaking Stereotypes

One of the key outcomes of the trip, aside from the establishment of relationships between the two communities, was the elimination of stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States.

“When I told people I was Arab American, people think I’m treated rather poorly,” Alhassani said, “and we have to work to debunk that.”

Aside from perceptions of Arab Americans, the civilian ambassadors also worked to contradict perceptions Europeans had about America in general.

“I asked a student,” Alhassani said, “‘What’s your image of the average American,’ and he said he gets most of his ideas from television shows like Beverly Hills 90210.”

“These are the types of things that we need to correct,” he said.

Hopes for the Future

With increasing innovation in telecommunications and the internet, the world is becoming increasingly small. As technology improves, as different cultures begin to overlap, as national boundaries become obsolete, the glaring utility of constructive, international dialogue is apparent.

“We communicate so much with phones, with television, with satellites, all of these things make the world so small,” said Dr. Basha. “As a result, it is incumbent upon us in the Muslim and Arab American community to communicate about our differences.”

In an effort to continue the exchange of these differences, Undersecretary Hughes’ office has planned three additional trips for her Civic Outreach program. Additional teams will travel to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the South Pacific, attempting to repeat the success of the European trip.

It is hoped that these efforts will not only improve American image abroad, but also will help foster the same sort of “family” environment enjoyed by a young Yahya Basha, growing up in Syria.

“There are many things that must be worked on to make things in our communities better,” Basha said. “The only way to do this is through communication.”