When was how does it feel to be a problem published

The young Christian man Bayoumi interviews is also atypical of the Arab Christian experience: he feels compelled to join the military and serves during the Iraq war, he grows up knowing little of his Arab heritage, and he only recently has begun to feel connected to the Arab culture and to immerse himself in the political questions that tend to define the Arab and Arab-American experience.

One of the most appealing aspects of the book is the trend of young Arabs drawing strength in these troubling times from Islam; these include Yasmin, who takes on the prejudiced policies of her high school — and wins — and Rami, who seeks to be a role model for young Muslims. These portraits offer a picture of Islam as a faith that affirms life, dignity, and love — in contrast to its maligned representation of Islam and Muslims in popular American thought. Omar gave up his dreams for a media job, but landed other full-time work with the City of New York.

He had a big, splashy wedding last summer. And Yasmin, as promised, is now in law school. She has also started her own Facebook group: Yasmin for President in ! Each person presented different kinds of challenges. But if I had to pick one, it would be Rasha, whose story was clearly the most traumatic of the seven. Whenever we talked about her ordeal, I always made sure to have a friend of hers nearby to make her comfortable.

She told me her story with steely determination, staring straight ahead the entire time and meeting my eyes only to emphasize a point, while each time her friend would be in tears. It was quite intense. One fascinating part of your book is your frank assessment of the Iraqi sanctions.

It is a story that has not been reported as often as it should. What do you think would have been a better solution? Sanctions that deny civilian populations basic food and medicine are clearly immoral. If you are going to sanction Iraq, then sanction the regime and not the people. Freeze overseas bank accounts of the leaders. Ban their travel outside their country. Outlaw military procurements.

In all honesty, however, we must recognize that sanctions against autocratic regimes never work. Look at Iran today. In these situations, the pain sanctions inflict is passed on to the people, and the regime is able to entrench its rule through patronage and by diverting the anger of the people onto an external foe.

Sanctions are most effective against nations with thriving civil societies who feel the international isolation. This is what happened in South Africa.

More fundamentally, I never would have supported Saddam Hussein in the first place. He was, of course, a darling of the United States for many years, using not just chemical weapons but American-made munitions against his own people. Franklin D. Instead, the United States ought to pursue policies that fulfill the legitimate aspirations of peoples around the world, while protecting essential human rights and preserving the use of force only for when it is absolutely necessary for self-defense.

How would this story have been different if you had gone to Dearborn instead of staying in Brooklyn? Dearborn is about a third Arab American, so setting the book there would have had the effect, I think, of making the book seem more parochial. It would have felt very specific to the uniqueness of Dearborn and its politics, for better or worse, and the issues would probably have played out differently. By contrast, no single ethnic group dominates in Brooklyn, which is one of the wonderful things about the borough.

The whole world is here, and everyone has to learn how to learn how to live in close proximity of the other if we are all to succeed. After all, the Census Bureau estimates say that within a generation, by revised from , the country will be majority minority, that is to say, non-white. I like to say that Brooklyn today is the United States of tomorrow but, thankfully, without a foreign policy! I believe we will come to see this period as being gripped by a similar kind of mass hysteria that fueled the Palmer Raids and Japanese Internment.

Since the book was published, I have been receiving several emails every week from people telling me how moved they were by the book and how important reading it was for them.

From Arab and Muslim Americans, the response is often one of gratitude, thanking me for expressing just what they have been feeling over the last seven years.

They all want to work towards a more equitable society. Naturally, there are haters, too. I am certain that many people do not realize they have preconceived notions where Arabs and Muslims are concerned. What aspect of your book do you think is most eye-opening for readers? You could call it recognition with difference. People discover that the characters in my book are very much like themselves, except for the fact that they have these extra burdens to carry, such as immigration detention, workplace discrimination, and profound questions of identity in a time of war.

The relentless repetition in the popular media that all Muslims and Arabs are potential monsters means that the ordinariness of these young people and their simple human vulnerabilities are actually very meaningful and oddly surprising.

How does the supposition that Barack Obama is Muslim that surfaced during the presidential campaign fit into this story? Do you think his administration might be able to alleviate some of the negative impact on Arab Americans?

The presidential campaign was eye-opening, proving just how pervasive anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment is today. On the one hand, you had the Obama campaign running away as fast as it could from any hint that Obama was anywhere connected to Muslims. The McCain campaign was even worse. The Arizona senator repeatedly talked about the United States not as a multi-faith country, but as a Christian nation.

Neither candidate stepped foot in a mosque during the campaign, though they did visit churches and synagogues. This all goes to show how, more than any other group today, Muslim Americans have become politically radioactive and beating up on Arabs is politically expedient.

I hope that the situation will improve under an Obama administration, and I expect it will to some degree. But we have also arrived at a moment in our history where you cannot separate Arab American issues from Arab issues. Reviews Media Reviews Reader Reviews.

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