Bab al-Markaz

Newsletter of the Arab American Action Network


Issue 15      
November 2010
Arab American Action Network
3148 W. 63rd St. Chicago, IL 60629
773-436-6060
773-436-6460
info@aaan.org
In This Issue
Quick Links
 
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Staff

Hatem Abudayyeh
Executive Director

Rasmea Yusef
Associate Director

Samira Ahmad
Lead Case Manager

Gihad Ali
 
 Youth Organizing Program Coordinator

Halima Bahri
Youth Services
 Program Coordinator
 
Muna Hammad

New Americans Initiative/ Citizenship Project
 
Nadia Musa
Childcare

AmeriCorps Members
Nazly Damasio
Aaisha Durr
Tahany Elian
Besan Quran
 Muhammad Sankari
Shira Tevah
Laila Younes

Put Illinois to Work
Amal Abdellatif
Medinah Abdelmuti
Tammy Abughnaim
Kholoud Abusalem
Inas Affaneh
Yasmeen Affaneh

Mahmoud Alshaikh
Nuer Alshaikh
Ramzy Elian
Veronica Garcia
Hanan Ghanayem
Ayah Hassan
Mustafa Hassan
Remal Hindi
Amany Hussein
Widad Hussein
Heba Matari
Rowaida Nofal
Asma Razik
Donia Razik
Arasele Robles
Fatmah Tabally


Board

Lamees Talhami
President 
 
Ali Hussain
Vice President 
 
Louise Cainkar-Mashrah
Treasurer
 
Members
Widad AlBassam
Omar Bishtawi
Laila Farah
Ahlam Jbara
Mona Khalidi
Souzan Naser
Ora Schub


  Helen Thomas

Time is running out! 19 days left.

Purchase tickets.
Become a sponsor.
Place an ad in the program book.


Real News

Watch this The Real News interview with Helen Thomas to learn the real reason she was forced to resign from the White House Press Corps.

Read Paul Jay's "In Defense of Helen Thomas."

Margaret Burroughs: In Memoriam

 

Burroughs
Photo from BlackPast
 
Monday, November 22, 2010

I lost one of my personal links to the lineage of Black Liberation yesterday. Chicago legend Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, co-founder of Chicago's DuSable Museum of African-American History, died at age 95.

A political activist, historian, poet, educator, and artist, Margaret was born in St. Rose, LA, moved to Chicago with her parents as a teenager, and later earned degrees at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although most of the mainstream media reports on her death have ignored her radical political background and history, she attended her very first demonstration-protesting the lynching of blacks in the U.S.-with future Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks in the 30s, and her home later became a meeting place for prominent black leaders of the day, including sociologist and NAACP founder W.E.B DuBois and novelist James Baldwin.

Margaret taught art at Du Sable High School in Bronzeville for over 20 years, and from 1969-79 she was a professor of humanities at Kennedy-King College. While at Du Sable, she was questioned by the Chicago Board of Education about a petition drive she was leading to demand that the U.S. government return the passport and end its harassment of one of the 20th century's greatest U.S. revolutionaries and Renaissance Men, Paul Robeson. At that time, the accomplished athlete and stage and screen actor had been blacklisted by Hollywood and Broadway, and targeted for his political ideology and organizing by McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), respectively. And when Margaret was pressured to give the Board of Education information about other petitioners, she refused to name names.

Soon thereafter, she took a sabbatical from teaching and lived in Mexico for a year, where she met the renowned Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, and learned the printmaking for which she eventually became famous. Some of her beautiful linoleum block prints, with powerful images describing the African-American experience, are hanging on my daughter's bedroom walls today.

Read More.

Upcoming Events


Women's Cultural Event
November 29
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Green Hills Public Library
8611 West 103rd St, Palos Hills, IL
 
Join the Arab Women's Committee in celebrating Arab Heritage Month and the Eid. Fun and games for the family.

Never Silent Cafe
December 18
Doors open at 5:30
Show from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
AAAN Office, 3148 W. 63rd Street, Chicago
 
Join the AAAN youth organizing program for an evening of hip-hop and spoken word. Guest stars include (but are not limited to) King Keith, Fresco Steez, and Gon!
 

 
AAAN Updates
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Cainkar
Cainkar with Helen Thomas and Ralph Nader.
AAAN board member Louise Cainkar received an Outstanding Book Award for Non-Fiction from the Arab American Museum on October 4 for her book Homeland Insecurity: The Arab American and Muslim American Experience After 9/11. "I was thrilled!" she says, "It makes a lifetime of work worthwhile."

Purchase Homeland Insecurity here.


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Grantee Meeting
(from left to right): Nadya Engler (LTG evaluator), Michelle Wilson (LTG evaluator), Gihad Ali, Hatem Abudayyeh, Carter Roeber (LTG evaluator)
 

Youth Organizing Program Coordinator Gihad Ali and Executive Director Hatem Abudayyeh attended a grantee meeting of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "Strengthening What Works" project November 1-2.  The AAAN is one of only eight organizations across the country that received funding for this initiative, which is evaluating, in partnership with LTG Associates, the AAAN's domestic violence prevention work with high school and college aged youth.


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Heritage Celebration

The AAAN held an Arab Heritage Month celebration at Bridgeview library on November 9th, with henna tattoos, tabla and oud playing, and more. 
 

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                   TSJ Fair                    
                    
Cultural Outreach interns led a workshop, along with the Chicago chapter of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), on "Teaching Palestine & the Arab World" at the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair November 20.


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Thank You, Mr. President

Helen Thomas, keynote speaker for AAAN's December 12 fundraiser, answers our questions.


Helen Thomas is one of the most courageous and conscientious journalists this country has ever seen, challenging U.S. Presidents from Eisenhower to Obama, and asking the tough questions that her colleagues often ignored. She worked for the United Press International (UPI) for 57 years, and was an opinion columnist for Hearst Newspapers from 2000 to 2010. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. Thomas has also written hundreds of columns and five books, including her latest, Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do (2009). Forced to retire in June of 2010 because of comments she made about Israel and the Palestinian people, we at the AAAN are calling on all Arabs and our friends in Chicagoland to attend this fundraiser and show our support for an Arab American icon.


Helen ThomasAAAN: What challenges have you faced, being an Arab American woman in a white male-dominated field?

HT: All women faced fierce role discrimination when I was growing up. Women went to college but they were urged to be the teachers and nurses--- not the journalists, lawyers and doctors.

AAAN:
Your supporters across the country and world were devastated when you were recently forced to resign.  Should we expect to see you working in media again anytime soon?

HT: I hope to keep reporting to the end of my days.

AAAN:
Why haven't there been more brave and challenging journalists like you in the White House Press Corps over the years?  Does this say something about the role of the press in the U.S.?  What should the ideal role of the press be?

HT: The ideal journalist seeks to follow the truth wherever it leads her. Accuracy and honesty are the standards and ethics of the profession. The people have the right to know almost everything.

AAAN:
What do you think is special about any of the Presidents you have covered?  What did they have in common, and how have they differed?

HT: It would be great if all the presidents would cherish their credibility. They owe it to us not to lie. Most presidents prevaricate on security matters; all they have to say is "No comment." But they should not lie. Too many lives are at stake.

AAAN: Having attended every Economic Summit since 1975, what can you tell us about where the U.S. and world economy, respectively, is heading?

HT: The U.S. is stuck with impossible unemployment, 9.6 percent and probably much higher. I believe the government should prime the pump and pour millions into the economy for public works projects, schools, roads and into poverty projects; demand that house foreclosures stop; and give loans to the poor people.

AAAN: What will be the topic of your presentation in Chicago on December 12th?

HT: Justice for the Arabs will prevail!


Find Thomas's answers to the following questions here:

Do President Obama's attitudes and policies toward the Arab World differ from previous Presidents?  If so, in what ways?  If not, why?

What role can the Arab community in the U.S. play in promoting a foreign policy that is more fair and friendly toward Arabs in our homelands, especially Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria?

What do the recent Republican wins and House takeover mean for the U.S.?  For the Arab World?

What advice do you have for Arab youth facing discrimination and racism in their schools?
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AAAN LogoThe Arab American Action Network (AAAN) strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area by building its capacity to be an active agent for positive social change. As a grassroots nonprofit, our strategies include community organizing, advocacy, education, providing social services, leadership development, cultural outreach and forging productive relationships with other communities.