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Middle Eastern Americans 101

The middle Eastern Americans are commonly known as Arab Americans that migrated in to the United States in unrecognizable number during the 1800's We estimate today that there are approximately 3.7 million traces of "Americans" that go back to Arabian roots. More than half of the Arabians live in 10 main states: Michigan, California, New York, Florida, Texas New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virgina. They originate from the 22 countries that from the Arab League and the Non-Arab League. They have endured severe amounts of discrimination in the United States. Unfortunately the United States fails to acknowledge the Middle Eastern Americans as an actual minority group ,however there contributions to the American economy and society should not go unrecognized.

We may encounter different types of Arabs every day because they are such a diverse group of people. Although many stereotypes hint at that the majority of Arabs are native born it is actually false. The majority of the Arabian population here are U.S citizens. 82% to be exact.

Groups

The five Primary groups of Middle Eastern Americans are: Lebanese, Arab/Arabic, Egyptian, Syrian, and Iranian. The Lebanese total population is 440,279 and that are considered the majority in the total number of Middle Eastern Americans.

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The Arabic population is 205,822 and this is the portion of the population that is younger. Considering Arab Americans are usually better educated than the average American which is why a larger percentage of their population arte most likely to attend a University or College.

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The Egyptian population totals 142,832. The majority of this population resides in the north West.

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Iranians total population is 338,266 ,however the majority of them live in the Los Angeles , orange county, San Jose areas of California and the Dallas, Houston areas of Texas. Many refer to Los Angeles as the "Tehrangeles", a reference to the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iranians contribute to the founding and successfulness of many of Americans fortune 500 companies such as GE, Intel, Verizon, Motorola, EBay and AT&T

Armenian/ Syrian/ Afgani The Syrians population is aerogun 142,00 . The Armenians however are almost triple that at 385,00. Afghanis population is 53,709

Values

The Middle Eastern Americans put a strong value on education and family. Family is so Important that the names of those who are of great importance to them have different meanings based of the family. For example a man might be called Ibn, which translates to the son of, Followed by their fathers name. Along with names the size of many Arabians families are significantly larger than that of an American. Their family is extended which means it consists of- cousins, grandparents, second cousins, cousin in laws, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and many more, all under the same roof. As time goes on however you find that the numbers are dwindling because as they begin to migrate to the cities they are required to have only a certain amount of people living in one house and they all must be with their nuclear <Immediate> family.

History

Immigrants began migrating from the Middle East in the late 19th century ,the majority of them being Christians. They were migrating in hoped of achieving equal economic opportunities and use the resources not offered in there area to better their lives. During this time however the majority of them were Illiterate and spoke no English therefore they planned a short trip. They began moving into the cities and began to trade religious items, embroidery, baked goods. They began to see huge differences mainly the fact that women were considered valuable assets in America. Considering the wives were the ones expected to do all of this the Arabian men would then return to their native countries ,marry ,and come back to the United States. The Ottoman empire was the dominant power during this time in the Middle East therefore the majority of the immigrants that came possesd passports and identification papers issued by the Ottoman Empire. By the 1920's the population began to grow and they began partaking in commercial activities ,but some worked in major plants. They were finally become and economically sufficient and successful group In the U.S

Around the time of the Owrld Ware the immigration began to reach a stopping point. ,but around the 1920's is when the United States received their second wave of immigrants. As they began to pour into the cities, the relatives of these immigrants noticed how successful they were becoming and thus began to make their journey to "The Promise Land".

Today

Today Arab Americans are more established and credited than ever before. They are politically active and are no longer afraid to express their opinions or concerns with the American economy.

Marriage

The marriage traditions of Middle Easters are similar to those in the bible. Like God Selected for Eve to marry Adam it goes the same way for Arabs. It is not customary for Middle Eastern Americans to select their own spouse ,it is usually the job of the farther. It is more like a negotiation. There are many terms used in the Arabian culture in the marriage aspects that Americans are unfamiliar with

The go Between

Goes to the farther of the wanted bride and begins to negotiate for the bride

Wedding dowry

The reason fir this is for compensation purposes. With this means is that the parents of the groom pay the parents of the bride because they are stripping them of their maid. Their lack of labor is thus being compensated for allowing their daughter to leave the house and marry.

Wedding ceremony

The bride MUST be covered by a veil and it can only be removed when the husband removes it during marriage

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Education

Middle Easters begin work at a very young age. Boys began to experience apprenticeships around 8 years old in order to become a master at the skill. If this is the path they chose the only formal education they may receive is from a mosque school. The school systems are usually of poor and low quality dues to the lack of basic skills knowledge.

Today however Middle Easterners are beginning to value the education of not only their youth but their elderly population, therefore it is very uncommon for a "americanilized" Middle Eastern family not have everyone attend college.

When it comes to education, less than 40% of people believe that their education has made them ready for the workplace and ready to enter to the real world. The other half of people think pushing their education even higher is the best way to enhance career options. For example, getting better position in the work placement and keep building onto that and therefore getting better pay. There are also many other reasons to why getting an education is good because you are always learning new skills, gives you a better perspective on the world and other people, you get in different kinds of situations where you have to deal with that certain situation. But the middle east needs to understand to address the misalignment of education and employment which means the people enter the job market need skells in demand. 1. Increase investments in training 2. matching curricula and teaching styles with general skills needs of the current workforce 3. Capitalize on development programs 4. Rethink the education model

Law

Modern day Middle East has seemed to have come around to the ideas of women equality more so then they have in the past. The men are the political beings that are usually more educated which allows them the opportunity for higher pay and thus they are the bread winners of the family where as the women are usually the care takers. The feminist organizations are usually small and lack significance therefore the women’s voice are unheard and overlooked

Social Control

Considering that many Middle Easters’ are not as familiar with the aspects of freedom of speech, they express the majority of their opinions through Social media, specifically through Facebook. Like most contries Television remains one of the most important and acceptable forms of news in communication in the middle East.

References

http://www.aaiusa.org/demographics http://www.mearo.org/lesson1.php https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245762, http://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Papers/arabmarriage.HTML