Dr. James Zogby
Speeches
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2009
Speech to the Department of Justice's 2009 Title VI Conference
(Commemorating the 45th Anniversary of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)
The story of Arab Americans coming of age, as an organized community, is a classic American tale—a story of immigrants seeking opportunity, benefiting from America’s freedoms, but also experiencing, at times, the dark side of exclusion and discrimination that has, for so many, haunted our nation’s history.
Although most Americans of Arab ancestry are descendants of that wave of immigrants who came to America in the pre- and post-World War One era—our development as an organized community is more recent, for several reasons.
To read the full speech, click here.
James Zogby's testimony to the DNC 2008 Platform Committee
I am Arab American. My family came to this great country from Lebanon almost a century ago. They, like hundreds of thousands of other Arab immigrants, came because of the freedom America promised, and the opportunity it provided.
To read the full speech, click here.
James Zogby Audio Recording
- The Stakes Have Never Been Higher: The 2008 Elections and US Middle East Policy
Address to the Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts (ADCMA) Saturday, May 31, 2008.
Audio courtesy of 492 Café, and Jeff Manzelli
Click on titles below to read the entire speech (PDF).
We are all the products of the relationships that shape us and the opportunities we are given. It is around these two realities that I will frame my remarks to you today – what they mean to me and what, I hope, they can mean to you. By relationships, of course, I mean the families that rear us, the mentors who guide us, the communities that sustain us, and those whom we love and who love us, and who ultimately define the persons we will be. I would not be here were it not for the sacrifices and the commitments of others who made me the person I am...
I would like to thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to participate in the very important and, in some ways, historic gathering. Adulnabi and the other members of the preparatory committee, I salute your hard work. Having organized many similar efforts in the United States, I know the difficulties you had to endure. Your steadfastness, your continuing commitment to human rights and to the principle that the voices of the people must be heard is so important...
I thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to participate in this critical conversation. Tragic and terrible terrorist attacks in the past few years have brought to light to the urgency of addressing this issue of how we, in the West, are dealing with issues of integration and assimilation of Arab and Muslim communities in our countries. I speak to you as a practitioner, an activist and a scholar who has studied this issue. I am an Arab American. I know my community’s demographics and have polled the attitudes of both Arab American and American Muslims...
When I spoke here four years ago, I delivered an address entitled "The Mess We're In: How Our Leaders Failed Us in the Middle East." What I noted then was that, despite our decades of engagement in the Middle East, on so many levels—the amount of foreign aid that we send, the weapons that we provide, the troops that we have sent into the region going back to the '50's, even the wars that we've fought, the lives that we've lost, the interests that we have and the friends and relationships that developed—despite all of this, we, as a country, have no understanding of the Middle East, of its history, of its evolution during the last century...
Ever since I can recall, we have tended to describe each election as “this is the most important election in our lifetime.” While not dismissing the importance of past elections, or ignoring the penchant of every age to over-appreciate itself, I think it is fair to say that this one is important. The convergence of issues, both foreign and domestic, makes this year’s contest quite special...
On Building Our Party and Expanding Our Base
Address to Democratic State Party Chairs: May 7, 2007
I want to begin with two stories. I was born a Democrat. My mom worked our precinct and I can remember going door to door with her passing out slate cards, and going to the polls to work on election day.
In 1996 at the age of 89, my mom was interviewed on “Good Morning America” as to why she, a senior citizen and Catholic who went to Mass every day was voting for Bill Clinton.
To read the full address, click here.
Hearing on "Reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act": June 10, 2005
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee, thank you for convening this important hearing and for inviting me to be with you today.
The horrific terrorist attacks of September 11 were a profound and painful tragedy for all Americans. None of us will ever forget that awful day when thousands of innocent lives were lost.
The attacks were a dual tragedy for Arab Americans. We are Americans and it was our country that was attacked. Arab Americans died in the attacks. Arab Americans were also part of the rescue effort. Dozens of New York City Police and rescue workers who bravely toiled at Ground Zero were Arab Americans.
To read the full testimony, click here.
