A year of living nervously

摘要

At the end of last month, around 50 Arab-American leaders gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, to meet Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic candidate for governor. The meeting was meant to be a show of strength: there was plenty of talk about Arab-Americans being a crucial swing-group in the state. But this confidence was belied both by events (the previous day, a grand jury had indicted four alleged supporters of al-Qaeda in Detroit) and by the complaints about increased scrutiny from the government. One businessman referred to George Bush's attorney-general as "Ayatollah Ashcroft". With emotions ranging from anguish to fear, anger and ethnic pride, Arab-Americans are still reeling from last year's terrorist attacks. This tumult has been complicated by an identity crisis. To the extent that they have ever thought of themselves as "Arab-Americans", most see themselves as middle-class Christians (most Muslims in America are black or Asian). But immigration is making the group poorer and more Muslim-thus bringing them a little closer to the stereotypes that many of them dislike.