Arab American push to expand April Arab Heritage month recognition
Media professional Warren David joins The Arab street Radio and podcast on WNZK AM 690 Radio Friday March 13, 2020 to discuss Arab American Heritage month activities in April, and the politics of Senator Bernie Sanders.
By Ray Hanania
Arab Americans will be pushing to obtain Proclamations from the Governors of all 50 American states under a plan spearheaded by Warren and Amal David and their national Arab American online news organization at ArabAmerica.com.
David was the guest on the Ray Hanania radio show, “The Arab Street” on broadcast through the US Arab Radio Network on WNZK AM 690 radio in Detroit on Friday March 13, 2020, where he detailed the plans to expand the national recognition.
April is designated as Arab American Heritage Month by as many as 24 states, but David said he hopes to expand that to all 50 states in time for celebrations next month.
David noted that the effort has resistance from only one state, Arizona.
“We have one state that sent us a rejection and we are trying to find out why,” David said perplexed.
“We applied in January and everything was done correctly and they we’re sorry we can’t do it and they rejected it. It is the state of Arizona. We hope it is an administrative error, but we’re not sure.”
David noted that the drive has secured a proclamation from the Governor of Hawaii which has far fewer Arab Americans than Arizona.
“The Governor of Hawaii is so excited he is inviting a group of Arab Americans to give them the proclamation personally during asn event in April,” David said.
David explained that ArabAmerica.com has also developed an Educator’s Kit that is 105 pages of digital information for schools and teachers.
“The purpose is to acquaint them with the history, immigration and experience of the Arab American community, the diversity of the religion of Arab Americans and the contributions that Arab Americans have made to the American mosaic. We distributed it to several hundred schools and school district,” David said.
“We already have five libraries around the country where people have set up meetings to make the presentation. Little by little we are building through our grassroots network.”
Last year, ArabAmerica.com collected proclamations and resolutions from more than 150 government bodies and agencies. Illinois adopted a law in January 2019 to identify the month of April as “Arab American Heritage Month” in Illinois and David said an effort is being made to do the same in other states, in addition to the proclamations.
A third generation Lebanese and Syrian American, David spoke about how he pursued communications and journalism as a young person growing up in Rhode Island and later moving to Detroit, Michigan with his wife Amal who he met while in college.
For more information on Arab American Heritage month visit ArabAmerica.com or email [email protected].
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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