•HRES 353 IH 
Whereas Arab Americans have brought with them to the 
United States their resilient family values, strong work 
ethic, dedication to education, and diversity in faith and 
creed that have added strength to our democracy; 
Whereas for over a century, Arab Americans have been mak-
ing valuable contributions to every aspect of American so-
ciety—in medicine, law, business, technology, civic en-
gagement, government, and culture; 
Whereas the Arbeelys of Damascus, Syria, who were immi-
grants to New York in 1878 and the first recorded Arab 
family to come to the United States with the intention 
of becoming citizens, demonstrate the roots of the Arab- 
American community’s contributions to our country’s 
unique diversity, including through Dr. Joseph Arbeely’s 
two sons Najeeb and Ibrahim, who went on to establish 
the first Arabic language newspaper in the United States 
(Kawkwab America); 
Whereas world fairs were one of many ways that some Ameri-
cans of Arab descent came to visit the United States 
from the Arab world and helped grow this country by cre-
ating businesses; 
Whereas writer Ameen Rihani’s 1911 masterpiece, ‘‘The 
Book of Khalid’’, the first Arab-American novel, is an im-
portant record of Arab immigration to ‘‘Little Syria’’, the 
first major Arab-American community which boasted doz-
ens of restaurants and grocery stores, newspapers in both 
Arabic and English, houses of worship, as well as numer-
ous manufacturers, importers, and purveyors of women’s 
clothing; 
Whereas Joseph Howar, a Palestinian-American born in 1879 
as Mohammad Issa Abu Al Hawa who worked in the 
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•HRES 353 IH 
United States as a peddler before becoming a real estate 
developer whose contributions include the Islamic Center 
of Washington, DC, the first mosque in the city, dem-
onstrates the transformational quality of Arab-American 
contributions to American society; 
Whereas Arab-American poet Kahlil Gibran’s 1923 master-
piece, ‘‘The Prophet’’, was a transformative piece of lit-
erature which discusses topics of the human condition in 
the most eloquent of ways by highlighting inclusion and 
understanding of all peoples, and which was translated 
into over 100 languages, making it one of the most trans-
lated books in history; 
Whereas in 1959 Mohamed Atalla, an Egyptian-American en-
gineer who was an important pioneer and contributor to 
the early field of modern electronics, invented the metal- 
oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), 
which is the most frequently manufactured device in his-
tory, the basis of the contemporary 4th Industrial Revo-
lution, and hailed by the US Patent and Trademark Of-
fice as one of the most important inventions in elec-
tronics; 
Whereas the Lebanese-American woman Helen Thomas cov-
ered every United States President from John F. Ken-
nedy to Barack Obama served as White House cor-
respondent for United Press International, later serving 
as the White House Bureau Chief and Dean of the White 
House Press Corps, and recognized by the World Alma-
nac as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in America; 
Whereas the Federal Government has overstepped its con-
stitutional boundaries in regard to surveillance and sus-
picion of the Arab-American community as far back as 
the 1960s, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
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•HRES 353 IH 
(FBI) included Arabs as targets of its Counterintel-
ligence Program (COINTELPRO); 
Whereas, in 1972, the Cabinet Committee to Combat Ter-
rorism directed the State Department, FBI, and Immi-
gration and Nationality Service (INS) to enact ‘‘special 
measures’’ to monitor both non-citizen residents of Arab 
origin and Arab Americans who were United States citi-
zens, including unconstitutional interrogation of Arab 
students’ political views, often leading to deeper FBI in-
vestigation, and close scrutinization of visa status, often 
leading to enforced penalties such as deportation; 
Whereas media representations of Arab Americans in the 
post-9/11 era reinforces longstanding racial stereotypes 
about Arabs which contributes to anti-Arab hate crimes 
and obscures the actual character and complexity of com-
munity members; 
Whereas Raza v. City of New York demonstrates the persist-
ence of anti-Arab bias in Federal, State, and local law 
enforcement programs as well as the contributions to 
community safety of Arab-American community organiza-
tions like the Arab American Association of New York; 
Whereas systemic and structural anti-Arab discrimination 
have impacted the health outcomes, socioeconomic condi-
tions, and life chances of Arab Americans in ways not 
captured by the Federal data on racial and ethnic minori-
ties, leading to the persistence of racist disparities; 
Whereas socioeconomic and health disparities between Arab 
Americans and the general population are obscured by 
Federal data collection and reporting standards, which do 
not disaggregate between Arab Americans and White 
people on the United States Census, nor in the Office of 
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•HRES 353 IH 
Management and Budget’s Federal Statistical Policy Di-
rectives; 
Whereas the establishment of a Middle Eastern and North 
African identifier within the United States Census and 
the Federal Government’s data collection and reporting 
standards would allow for the collection and reporting of 
disaggregated data between White people and ‘‘Middle 
Eastern and North African’’ people and demonstrate the 
unique impact of systemic anti-Arab racism on Arab 
Americans’ socioeconomic conditions, health outcomes, 
and life chances; 
Whereas there is a need for public education, awareness, and 
policies that are culturally competent when describing, 
discussing, and addressing the impacts of being Arab 
American in all aspects of American society; 
Whereas the Arab American Institute estimates that there 
are roughly 3,700,000 Arab Americans living in the 
United States; 
Whereas according to Census Bureau data, Arabic is one of 
the fastest growing languages in the United States; and 
Whereas the incredible contributions and heritage of Arab 
Americans have helped us build a better Nation: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the designation of Arab American 
Heritage Month; 
(2) esteems the integral role of Arab Americans 
in the economy, culture, and identity of the United 
States; and 
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•HRES 353 IH 
(3) urges the people of the United States to ob-
serve Arab American Heritage Month with appro-
priate programs and activities that celebrate the 
contributions of Arab Americans to the United 
States. 
Æ 
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