Arab in America by Toufic El Rassi

It seems that often in today's world, the term "Arab" is synonymous with "terrorist." And post 9/11, being an Arab in America has become an even more precarious situation.

These are some of the issues that Toufic El Rassi grapples with in his graphic novel, Arab in America. Functioning as part autobiography and part history, this novel portrays Toufic's own personal experiences as an Arab growing up in America, along with stories of others who have been affected by anti-Arab sentiments or policies and an overview of historical background dealing with the relationship between America and Arab nations.

In 8th grade, Toufic came to the shocking realization that he was not like everyone around him at his white, suburban Chicago school. He grew up ashamed and alienated because of his nationality, Egyptian and Lebanese, and dealt with issues of conflicting national identity and feeling like an outsider in the country he had called home since the age of one. Surrounded by anti-Arab propaganda in the media and pop culture, stereotypes and prejudice, several of Toufic's Muslim and Arab friends either denied their religion and nationality or embraced it even more extremely as a sign of protest. Toufic, however, goes to neither of these extremes, but does become interested in more revolutionary and radical ideas, in part through the band "Rage Against the Machine." Toufic also finds it exceedingly frustrating that people are so ignorant they end up using the wrong racial slurs against him, explaining that "Americans don't even know who they hate."

In addition to Toufic's personal experiences of discrimination and prejudice, he gives several poignant examples of Arabs and Muslims having their rights violated, usually through detainment or deportment, along with giving examples of prejudice against Arabs in popular culture--ranging from song lyrics to quotes from pundits, "experts," and government officials to movies...even Star Wars! In his discussion of history, Toufic outlines information about Arabs and Muslims, effects of the creation of Lebanon and Israel, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the aftermath of backlash against Muslims and Arabs (and whoever looked like them), along with America's history of relations with the Middle East, including the war with Afghanistan and both Gulf wars.

Arab in America would be a useful tool in the classroom to help illustrate the current treatment of Arabs and Muslims in America and America's involvement in the Middle East, but I would recommend it only for 11th and 12th grade students and in conjunction with a history class or interdisciplinary English/history class. Though Toufic does well explaining most of the history he discusses in the book, there is definitely a need for a good historical background since he only touches on several very complicated situations. Many students that lack this background knowledge would most likely find those parts of the story hard to grasp and therefore may be turned off to reading the novel. Even with background knowledge, I feel like I learned quite a bit.

Other downfalls to using this book would include the brief instances of female nudity and its lack of a clear story line or focus. The book seemed to jump around a lot from one issue to the next and from one historical event to the next without a clear organization. So, if I used this novel in the classroom, it would probably be in excerpt form and either relating to the history involved, to conflicts surrounding nationality and identity (like in American Born Chinese), or to issues of discrimination and prejudice.