Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Subscribe to eNewsletter
  • Toggle search form
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, unveils a series of multi language videos to help property tax owners recover overpayments. This one is in Arabic
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments American Arabs
  • Amnesty International ... www.Amnesty.org
    Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster American Arabs
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League American Arabs
  • property tax info event
    Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi hosts property Tax workshop for Arab community Activism
  • US Border Notice. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    AHRC Holds Another “Meet, Greet & Open Conversation” Forum Hosting the US Border Patrol (CBP): Human Rights
  • Ald. Raymond Lopez and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas receive the American Arab Chamber of Commerce 2021 Action Award from Hassan Nijem for their support of the Arab and Muslim American community,
    County Treasurer Maria Pappas celebrates Arab Heritage Month with business and community leaders Activism
  • Congresswoman Debbie Dingell Wikipedia
    Dingell, Tlaib Introduce Resolution Recognizing Eid al-Fitr Christian & Muslim
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  American Arabs
  • Vote Yes campaign button, Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Low Arab early voting turnout in important Orland Park elections American Arabs
  • Aziz Shihab, long time Arab American journalist and author.
    A memorial to a great Arab American Journalist, Aziz Shihab American Arabs
  • Piotr Hofmanski, president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague
    International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin Civil Rights
  • Orand First Responders candidates Matthew G. Rafferty and William Bonnar Jr.
    Arab Democrats endorse Rafferty and Bonnar in Orland Fire District race American Arabs
  • Paul Vallas addressing the Arab American Democratic Club on Feb. 12, 2023
    AADC releases its endorsements for the April 4, 2023 non-partisan elections American Arabs
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC’s Humanitarian Mission to Lebanon American Arabs
Jack Shaheen was one of the celebrities honoring former White House Dean and Journalist Helen Thomas at the 2011 Images and Perception Conferences hosted by activist Siham Awada Jaafar in Dearborn. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

American Arabs mourn passing of author Jack Shaheen

Posted on July 10, 2017 By rayhanania 1 Comment on American Arabs mourn passing of author Jack Shaheen
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Loading

American Arabs mourn passing of author Jack Shaheen

A  former consultant on Middle East Affairs for CBS Network News, Jack G. Shaheen was an accomplished professor of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University who helped shatter stereotypes against Arabs, Muslims and other ethnic groups by exposing the biases of Hollywood and the American media.

By Ray Hanania

Jack G. Shaheen, the Lebanese American authority on mass communications, died Sunday, July 9, 2017. He was 82.

Shaheen was a news consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News and in 1984 published the groundbreaking book that pulled the cover off of Hollywood’s inherent racism against Arabs in movies, film and television.

Born in 1935 in Clairton, Pennsylvania to Lebanese immigrant parents, Shaheen was Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University at the Edwardsville Campus where I met him during my own early days in mainstream journalism.

In 1975, when I launched my first American Arab newspaper, The Middle Eastern Voice, Shaheen wrote to tell me how important it was to publish an American Arab ethnic newspaper in English that spoke not just to Arabs in America but to the American people too.

Cover of Jack Shaheen's 1984 book "The TV Arab"
Cover of Jack Shaheen’s 1984 book “The TV Arab”

“You don’t know how encouraged I was to see your newspaper,” Shaheen told me later. “The stories you write speak to Arabs as being a part of this great country of immigrants and ethnicity.”

As I moved to mainstream journalism in 1976 covering CHicago City Hall for 17 years including for the Chicago Sun-Times, Shaheen would often call or later email thoughts or pose questions about mainstream journalism practices and news coverage.

On Nov. 2, 1998, I wrote a column for Newsweek Magazine’s “My Turn” column called “One of the Bad Guys” that challenged the anti-Arab stereotypes facing all Americans of Arab heritage including those, who like myself, served this country in the military, writing:

In Hollywood’s view, I’m a gun-toting terrorist bent on killing innocent people

As a child in the 1960s, i thought my relatives were famous. It seemed like they were in many Hollywood movies, often playing similar roles. OK. They weren’t the headliners, but they did appear alongside stars like Paul Newman (“Exodus”), Sophia Loren (“Judith”) and Kirk Douglas (“Cast a Giant Shadow”). My “relatives” always played the “terrorists.”

As I grew older, though, I realized that those actors were not my relatives, at all. They just looked like them. They have that “terrorist” look, and so do I. I can safely assure you, though, I don’t have the mannerisms. I’m tired of seeing my likeness wielding an AK-47, murdering innocent women and children, getting stomped by Arnold Schwarzenegger (“True Lies”), or Harrison Ford (“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”), or Kurt Russell (“Executive Decision”), and now Bruce Willis (“The Siege”). …

Shaheen was ecstatic and encouraging, imploring me to write more about the stereotypes facing American Arabs.

Jack Shaheen was one of the celebrities honoring former White House Dean and Journalist Helen Thomas at the 2011 Images and Perception Conferences hosted by activist Siham Awada Jaafar in Dearborn. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
Jack Shaheen (left)was one of the celebrities honoring former White House Dean and Journalist Helen Thomas at the 2011 Images and Perception Conferences hosted by activist Siham Awada Jaafar in Dearborn. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

Jack’s voice challenging stereotypes and racism in the mainstream news media, entertainment and information media will be missed, not just in the American Arab journalism community but in professional journalism as a whole.

Shaheen was a role model for any American Arab who took a detour from the favored Arab career paths of medicine, engineering or operating grocery food stores, and instead pursued journalism.

Shaheen addressed stereotypical images of race and ethnicity and his writings and public speeches helped the public understand how stereotypes injured.

 

Shaheen was deeply involved with the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where he was instrumental in efforts to change the original song lyrics of the children’s animated movie Aladdin. The original lyrics served to characterize the Arab world as alien, exotic, and “other” in the American society.

Shaheen created the “Jack G. Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarship,” which awards annual scholarships to Arab American college students studying journalism and mass communications through ADC.

ADC Officials said his positive impact in the Arab-American community will be felt for generations to come. Among those expressing condolences were ADC Board Chairman Rafa Rifka who said, “The community lost one of its best. We will miss his sharp intellect, his enthusiastic demeanor, and his infectious personality.”

ADC President Samer Khalaf said, “Dr. Shaheen worked passionately and tirelessly to shed light on the common media stereotypes of Arabs in Western film, providing invaluable resources to the academic community at large. His work started a conversation about the representation of Arabs in Hollywood and the need for more nuanced depictions of the community. Dr. Shaheen will be greatly missed.”

Among Shaheen’s awards recognizing his “outstanding contribution towards a better understanding of our global community” are the University of Pennsylvania’s Janet Lee Stevens Award, and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of  “his lifelong commitment to bring a better understanding towards peace for all mankind.”

Shaheen is a recipient of two Fulbright teaching awards. He holds degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. He regularly discusses media stereotypes on national programs and networks such as CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, Nightline, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, and The Today Show. Professor Shaheen has given over 1,000 lectures in nearly all the 50 states and three continents. Oxford, Amherst, Harvard, Kenyon, the University of Southern California, Emory and Northwestern, are among those universities which welcome him, as well as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Shaheen authored three books on Hollywood depictions of Arabs including the ground-breaking expose in 1984, “The TV Arab.” He published “Guilty: Hollywood’s Verdict on Arabs after 9/11” in 2008 and “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People” in 2014.

Shaheen also consulted on several major motion pictures and documentaries including Syriana (2005), Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006) and Mickey Mouse Monopoly (2002).

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

Click here to send Ray Hanania email.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Politics fuels campaign accusing CUNY graduate of “anti-Semitism” - June 5, 2023
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments - May 18, 2023
  • Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster - May 10, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Journalism, mainstream, Movies, News, Obits, Opinion, Ray Hanania, Television Tags:Aladdin, Jack Shaheen, Lebanese American, mass communications, Obituary, The Hollywood Arab, The TV Arab

Post navigation

Previous Post: Activist Issa Amro dragged through Israeli Gulag
Next Post: Le Rapprochement: An American in Paris

Related Posts

  • J.B. Pritzker from his election campaign Facebook Page at UFCW union endorsement.
    Pritzker continues to ignore needs of Arab Americans violating his campaign promises American Arabs
  • Imad Hamad, Executive Director of the American Human Rights Council
    The Breach of the Capitol: An American Wake Up Call   Bloggers
  • The West’s fluid definition of terror Arab World
  • Banner at the Arab American Democratic Club brunch March 19, 2017. Photo courtesy of Steve Neuhaus
    American Arabs deserve respect American Arabs
  • Imad Hamad is the executive director of the American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Executive Director Awarded the TSA Certificate of Appreciation Activism
  • “Fear-Mongering of the Worst Order” from GOP and Some Democrats American Arabs

More Related Articles

Ammar Campa-Najjar candidate in the 50th California Congressional District, Nov. 3, 2020 Ammar Campa-Najjar Appointed to California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) American Arabs
Israeli occupation remains a top concern of Arab Youth Arab World
Jewish Arab American’s horse American Pharoah wins Triple Crown American Arabs
Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor lightfoot for racist store closings American Arabs
10 Days at Amrit Yoga Institute and Missions from God Bloggers
Recipe: Arabian lamb, egg skillet for breakfast American Arabs

Comment (1) on “American Arabs mourn passing of author Jack Shaheen”

  1. Ray Hanania says:
    July 10, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    Jack Shaheen was a great person. Always smiling. Always happy. I don’t recall him ever being mad. He was a reasoned voice in a community filled with tsunamis … he’s going to be greatly missed among many other American Arab pioneers like Palestinian theorist and activist Ibrahim AbuLughod, brilliant author and Palestinian voice, Edward Said, magazine publisher and Ambassador Andrew Ivy Killgore, radio pioneer Casey Kassem, honorary Arab and publisher Tayyibah Taylor, businessman Assad Shorrosh, Orthodox Metropolitan Philip Salib, journalist Aziz Shihab, and pioneering engineer Nick Khoury …

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • City University of New York's (CUNY) 2023 graduation class speaker, Fatima Musa Mohammed on May 12, 2023
    Politics fuels campaign accusing CUNY graduate of “anti-Semitism”
    June 5, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president
    June 1, 2023
  • Hezbollah billboards in Lebanon celebrate Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah and the righteous war against Israeli extremism and fanaticism. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Who will choose the next Lebanese President?
    May 12, 2023
  • The term Arab will be meaningless if we don’t stand behind it and choose “MENA” instead
    April 29, 2023
  • 300x300-ZIYAD02.jpg
  • 300x300-ZIYAD01.jpg
  • NEWS
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, unveils a series of multi language videos to help property tax owners recover overpayments. This one is in Arabic
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments
    May 18, 2023
  • Amnesty International ... www.Amnesty.org
    Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster
    May 10, 2023
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League
    May 10, 2023
  • property tax info event
    Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi hosts property Tax workshop for Arab community
    May 5, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League
    May 10, 2023
  • US Border Notice. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    AHRC Holds Another “Meet, Greet & Open Conversation” Forum Hosting the US Border Patrol (CBP):
    May 2, 2023
  • Ald. Raymond Lopez and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas receive the American Arab Chamber of Commerce 2021 Action Award from Hassan Nijem for their support of the Arab and Muslim American community,
    County Treasurer Maria Pappas celebrates Arab Heritage Month with business and community leaders
    April 27, 2023
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

POPULAR POSTS

  • Who will choose the next Lebanese President? Who will choose the next Lebanese President? By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz Since September of last year the Lebanese parliament has ... posted on May 12, 2023
  • Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz When will Lebanon’s political leaders agree to vote ... posted on June 1, 2023
  • Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Salem Furrha and his eight children @theFurrhaFamily on TikTok and Instagram represent ... posted on February 6, 2021
  • Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman and ... posted on May 10, 2023
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas ... posted on May 18, 2023
  • Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  Ramadan is an important month-long religious observance for Muslims who observe it by fasting ... posted on April 4, 2023

Recent Posts

  • Politics fuels campaign accusing CUNY graduate of “anti-Semitism”
  • Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments
  • Who will choose the next Lebanese President?
  • Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Glory to God int he Lowest by Author Rev. Donald Wagner
    Book Review: Glory to God in the Lowest: journeys to an unholy land
    February 18, 2023
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme