The Chicago Reporter

Let’s Stand with Afghan Refugee Women

Originally published in The Chicago Reporter here For 20 years, the U.S. proclaimed it went to war in Afghanistan for humanitarian reasons. The U.S. maintained it was “saving women” to secure democracy, advance women’s rights, or ensure the destruction of the Taliban to help women. Yet the talk about “helping Afghan women” was just a means …

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To Honor Desmond Tutu, Illinois should rescind its anti-Palestinian legislation

Originally published in The Chicago Reporter here As we consider the past, many people living in the U.S. believe they would have supported the civil rights movement, even in the face of the white supremacists of the KKK and the Jim Crow stalwarts in Congress. If old enough, many likely believe they would have at …

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Chicagoland Study Shows Why We Need a MENA Category in The U.S. Census

Originally published in The Chicago Reporter here We have major problems in this country in how we think about and get appropriate government assistance to Arab Americans. Social workers, translators, housing and transportation experts, health workers, and community-based funding agencies all face three substantial difficulties. First, the U.S. Census folds Arab Americans into the category …

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The U.S. Has a Torture Problem Too

Originally published by The Chicago Reporter. Living in Chicagoland while originally from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, I am compelled to view police violence in Chicago through a global lens. This past week, the Chicago Alliance against Racist and Police Repression (CAARPR) released its report about the more than 600 individuals incarcerated …

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The Racism of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, Then and Now

Originally published by The Chicago Reporter The Chicago Reporter—Twenty years to the month after the US Congress passed the Patriot Act, Arab Americans continue to feel its devastating impact. The Patriot Act, and its successor, the USA Freedom Act, are backronyms that are Orwellian in their spin. The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate …

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20 Years After 09/11, Anti-Arab Imperialist Racism Is Alive And Well

The idea that anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism started after September 11, 2001, is one thing many progressives get wrong.  At least since the late 1970s, the U.S. government has been racially profiling Arab immigrant activists through surveillance and the corporate media has been portraying Arabs assavage misogynists. This racial profiling continued through the Clinton administration …

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