ARAB-AMERICAN GROUP PROTESTS STEREOTYPE IMAGE OF ARABS
Washington, 3 Muharam 1435/6 November 2013 (MINA) – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) protested in letters to the California school district the use of “Arab” as the team name and mascot for the Coachella Valley High School (CVHS), located in Thermal, California, an ADC press release said Wednesday.
The CVHS mascot, the “Arab” depicts a man with a large nose, heavy beard, and wearing a Kaffiay. This imagery is plastered and advertised all over CVHS’s athletic facilities and at sporting events, Palestine’s WAFA reported as quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
At CVHS sporting events, a student dressed as the “Arab” is present. During half-time shows at sporting events, the “Arab” performs, while a female dressed as a belly dancer entertains the mascot by dancing for him.
“The attendees and participants at these sporting events clearly show orientalist stereotyping of Arabs,” said ADC.
ADC expressed concern with CVHS and the school district permitting and endorsing this imagery about Arabs and Arab Americans.
“The continued use of the ‘Arab’ mascot perpetuates demeaning stereotypes of Arabs and Arab Americans,” said ADC. “CVHS gross ethnic stereotyping cannot be tolerated.”
ADC President Warren David said “the negative image portrayed by the depiction of the Coachella Valley mascot is a disgrace and unacceptable to all who respect an accurate image of Arabs.”
ADC has launched a petition asking the school district to consider changing the team name and mascot.
Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States have been presented in various forms by the mass media in the American culture. Stereotypical representations of Arabs are often manifested in a society’s media, literature, theaterand other creative expressions. These representations, which have been historically and predominantly negative, often have adverse repercussions for Arab Americans and Muslims in daily interactions and in current events.
In American textbooks, which theoretically should be less-creative expressions, similar negative and inaccurate stereotypes are also found for Arabs and Muslims. Rudolph Valentino‘s roles in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926) set the stage for the exploration and negative portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood films. Both The Sheik and The Son of the Sheikrepresented Arab characters as thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes.
A report titled “100 Years of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim stereotyping” by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, director of media relations for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, specifies what some in the Arab American community call “the three B syndrome”: “Arabs in TV and movies are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires” in reference to Arab men being portrayed as terrorist or as wealthy oilmen and Arab women being portrayed as sex objects.
The report mentioned that even cartoons have been insulting to Arab and Muslims and how the people who live in the US and interact with its community are the most affected by these stereotypes because they will be treated differently at many points. The report also explains that these stereotypes don’t only cause psychological harm (culture, insult) but also helps feed into actions that are physically harmful by dehumanizing a group first before attacking it.(T/P04/P03)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
