Arab American foundation panels explore Arab empowerment

Arab News spotlights Arab American politicians and cultural leaders participating in the Arab America Foundation’s Connect Empowerment Summit, five evenings of panel discussions with leaders of the Arab American community. Click to read some of the stories on the event

By Ray Hanania

A panel of Arab-American elected officials on Monday said discrimination before and after the 9/11 attacks pushed them to want to change American society from the inside, winning public office by accepting who they are and building community coalitions.

They were speaking at a summit organized by the Arab America Foundation and attended by Arab News.

Panelists included Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib; Yonkers, New York City Council President Mike Khader; Paterson, New Jersey Mayor Andre Sayegh; Michigan State Legislator Abraham Aiyash; Virginia State Representative Sam Rasoul and Michigan state appointee Fayrouz Saad.

A second panel of Arab-American leaders from the cultural and academic professions acknowledged on Tuesday that despite being in the US for more than 150 years, their community remains marginalized.

Beshara Doumani courtesy Brown University

“We’re still excluded from America,” Akram Khater, director of the Moises A. Khayrallah Center at North Carolina State University, said during the panel discussion that was organized by the Arab America Foundation and attended by Arab News.

Panelists included: Akram Khater the Director of the Moises A. Khayrallah Center at North Carolina State University; Diana Abouali, Director, Arab American National Museum in Dearborn; Beshara Doumani, the Mahmoud Darwish Chair of Palestinian Studies at Brown University; Sally Howell, Director of the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan at Dearborn; Kate Seelye, VP of Arts & Culture at the Middle East Institute; and, moderator and journalist Malika Bilal.

A third panel on Wednesday discussed Arab American business leaders and their secrets for success including Manal Saab, Farouk Shami, Aneesa Muthana, Rami Kashou, and Samy Kobrosly.

The struggles of being an immigrant has helped many successful Arab-American entrepreneurs, a panel of business leaders said on Wednesday during an online panel discussion hosted by the Arab America Foundation.

Participants included business leaders who have appeared on many popular American TV programs including “Shark Tank”, “The Apprentice”, “The Kardashians”, and “Operation Runway.”

The panel also hosted several high-flying businesswomen who said they had overcome gender imbalances.

A fourth panel included some of the #ArabAmerican community’s leading #socialmediainfluencers shared the strategies they use to build millions of followers during a panel discussion hosted Thursday by the #ArabAmericaFoundation.

The fifth panel featured Arab-American stand-up comedian @AhmedAhmed #BlancheShaheen, #MayRihani #EmadBatayeh #Abir.

You can read all three stories published in the Arab News Newspaper this week and keep up with events around the world.

Here are the links to the five stories, with more to follow.

Panel 1 on Arab American political activism. Click here to read that story.

Panel 2 on Arab American cultural activism. Click here to read that story.

Panel 3 on Arab American business entrepreneurs. Click here to read that story.

Panel 4 on Arab American social media influencers. Click here to read that story.

Panel 5 on Arab American entertainers. Click here to read that story.

For more news and information visit the Arab News Newspaper, the Arab World’s leading English language newspaper with bureaus in Riyadh, Dubai, London, Japan, France, Pakistan and in the United States.

(Ray Hanania is the U.S. Special Correspondent for the Arab News. Email him at [email protected].)

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Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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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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