Arab Heritage Month in Illinois "begins" ... and sporadically across the country
November is Arab Heritage Month in Chicago, and unofficially in Illinois.
(I pause now for the mandatory 20 minutes of silence as the tumbleweeds race across the quiet streets and defeaning silence. There ate tumbleweeds in Chicago. We call them Aldermen, but tumbleweeds, nonetheless.)
All clear? Good.
Chicago was one of the first cities to create "Arab Heritage Month," thanks to the efforts of the late Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago's first African American mayor and someone who immediately recognized the enormous potential of "diversity" among voter support. Real diversity, of course, not with any color lines or barriers. He launched many efforts to recognize Arab Americans and other "off-the-radar" groups.
Since then, Mayor Daley has pretty much buried the event, holding a very low-profile event in which very few mainstream media are pushed to attend -- when Daley pushes the media, they usually show up. He's the "Boss-let," you know. And they often serve Arabian snacks and food. At one city sponsored event for Arab Americans, they had piles of "sphee-ha," or spinach pies -- which are tops in Arabian snacks. That same week was news that Spinach was contaminated. (Okay, I'm NOT saying they served bad food, folks. But, for some reason that was a big month for spinach related foods in my community.)
We get food, but we rarely get media coverage at Arab American heritage events. At least, not the kind of coverage given to other communities. Two years ago I and several Arab American journalists in NAAJA's Chicago Chapter lobbied WLS TV, the Chicago ABC affiliate, and they did three stories. This year, they picked up and did at least one that I know of. (Pause for the silence, again.)
Daley then gets up and makes a long winded speech about how he admires Arab Americans, acknowledges their contributions, and cites several in the community, including many who help raise money for his re-election campaigns. Well. We can't call it a "re-election." It's more like a coronation.
But if Daley really cared about Arab Americans, he'd give us more than an "honorary month," a pat on the back, and the same old, same old kind words he always gives. Admittedly, I haven't attended a Daley Dinner -- that's what they call it, "Mayor Daley's Reception" in honor of Arab Heritage Month, for several years. I'm a columnist. The big "C" for cynical. I drip with cynicsim. That's my job. To question the motives of the people who get paid with our tax dollars and make us think they are doing us a favor. This year, it is Nov. 13. And it is "Invitation Only."
Well, Mayor Daley. If you wanted to do us a favor, you would appoint a few Arab Americans as Cabinet Officers. Maybe make an Arab American Commissioner of the Police Department. (That would get President Bush's and Vice President Dick Cheney's undies in a bunch.) How about make an Arab American chairman of the Chicago Board of Education? Maybe appoint one to be an alderman. Although I am not sure that is really much of an honor?
I guess I get jaded a bit when I turn ont he television and radio stations and open newspapers and am inundated in endless streams of copy about African American Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. (We did have an "ArabFest" of sorts this past summer. It was held at Daley Plaza during the lunch hour. I am not sure all the plaza lunchers actually realized they were part of the statistical counting that proclaimed the event an "attendance" success.)
I would just like to be similarly annoyed one day with so many stories about Arab Americans that DON'T have anything to do with Iraq, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, terrorism, methamphetamine, or immigration violations. So annoyed by the "Not another story about Arab Heritage" that I start complaining about that, instead of about this. It's a dream I have. One of many on the pile.
Ray Hanania