Press Room

AAI in the News

Leaders Urge Arabs to Exercise Civil Rights

By Tania DeLuzuriaga
Orlando Sentinel
Posted on Monday March 24, 2003

LAKE BUENA VISTA—A prominent Arab-American leader warned Saturday that the U.S. government is using distrust of Arab-Americans as a vehicle to undermine fundamental constitutional freedoms.

“I have seen our community become the weak link in the civil-liberties chain,” said James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute in Washington, D.C. “Once the core protections are eroded, the whole thing can unravel.”

Zogby was the keynote speaker at the Orlando Arab-American Community Center inauguration dinner at the Hotel Royal Plaza. He urged all Americans to reassert their core values of democracy and civil rights.

“Americans are most secure when they’re true to their values,” he said. “We need to protect the Constitution and honor the liberties set forth in our Bill of Rights.”

For example, Zogby said, the federal government has used terrorism to justify the use of secret evidence in trials. Now, federal prosecutors are trying to use such evidence in other criminal trials not related to terrorism.

“It started with Arabs and terrorism,” he said. “Now we’re in danger of losing those values.”

Earlier in the day, about 75 Orlando-area Arab-Americans attended a four-hour civic-education workshop at the hotel. State, local and national experts talked about discrimination laws and civic participation, suggesting paths for fighting prejudice and increasing political awareness.

“We want to let the community know there are resources available,” said Abdallah Al-zuabi, a national field organizer for the Arab-American Institute. The institute organized the event in cooperation with the Arab-American community center, which has about 500 member families.

Although the event was planned more than six months ago, it tookon increased significance for many after the United States invaded Iraq last week, Al-zuabi said.

“This is the climate for another round of people acting on hate,” he said.

With another war in the Middle East and increased media attention on the region, area Arab-Americans need to know how to react to both innocent questions and acts of hate, said Randa Maali, co-chair of the community center’s youth committee.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions,” said Maali, a Rollins College senior. “People don’t know how to respond.”

Hate crimes toward Arab-Americans have increased since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Al-zuabi said.

Other speakers, including Roger Mills of the U.S. Department of Education and Manuel Zurita of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, addressed the legality of such acts.

“You don’t have to put up with it,” Mills said. “The federal government has a responsibility to make sure their civil-rights laws are enforced.”

The workshop was the beginning of what organizers hope will bring the Arab-American community the same political empowerment as the black and Jewish communities.

“Fifty years ago, the Jewish community had almost no political power in the United States,” said Richard Fawal, a field organizer for the Arab-American Institute. “I think you’d all agree that they have more than a little political power in the United States today.”

However, Fawal warned that the change doesn’t happen in months or even a few years. He encouraged attendees to join political parties and start getting involved at a local level.

“We have to get the parties to respond to our issues by being active with those parties,” he said.

The Central Florida workshop was the last in a series of six around the nation. Organizers said it was a precursor to a nationwide political-empowerment campaign they plan to startin the fall.

“It’s a domino effect,” Al-zuabi said. “This is the first step of many.”