ANNOUNCING THE AAAN BLOG!

The Arab American Action Network has started a blog to publish our own news about our programs. Visit www.arabamericanactionnetwork.wordpress.com to read our blog!

Naturalization Success

What did Susan B. Anthony do? What is the rule of law? Name one American Indian Tribe. These are all questions on the test to become a U.S. citizen, and their answers are what the Arab American Action Network's citizenship class students practice and practice until they have them memorized. Muna Hammad has been teaching the citizenship course Friday mornings from 9 to 11 for the last ten years, and almost no one under her tutelage-an estimated 500 students-has been turned down by Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). In the past three months, ten students have all passed their interviews. Around 90% of her students, Hammad says, have passed on their first try. Others have passed on their second attempt, and the one person who failed twice-an elderly woman-then passed her hearing and obtained citizenship.

There are three parts to the citizenship interview: the civics test, the spelling portion, and the section in which the officer asks questions from the application. People spend as much or as little time in the AAAN's class, preparing for all three, as they choose. Souria Adlouni-one of the recent successes-spent two years in the class. She came to the U.S. from Lebanon three years ago, almost immediately began taking AAAN's English Language (EL) classes for a year, and then joined the citizenship class. When she first got to the U.S., Adlouni "didn't know a word," she says. "Everything I know is from the classes with Muna."

Language is the biggest difficulty for Arabs applying for American citizenship, Hammad says, to the extent that some of her students take the test without much knowledge of English. "You would be surprised at some of the people that push through and make it," she says, drawing a mental image of older, traditional people for whom U.S. language and culture are deeply alien. "I always tell them if you put something in your head and you decided to go for it, you will pass. I think it helps motivate them." The language requirement is waived for residents of 17 or more years over age 57, who are allowed to test and interview with an interpreter-often a role that Hammad also fills. Hammad helps students fill out their applications, goes through all the potential questions on the tests and explains them in Arabic, and administers practice rounds.

But the students' success is not always in their own hands. "Sometimes they [immigration officers] ask every single question, and sometimes only one or two." Also, students have reported experiencing anti-Arab or anti-Muslim racism at some point in the citizenship process, like some who have reported feeling that an officer assigned to them was antagonistic because they wear a headscarf.

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