How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?
Being Young and Arab in America
by Moustafa Bayoumi
List Price: $15.00
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143115410
Publisher: Penguin
An eye-opening look at how young Arab- and Muslim- Americans are forging lives for themselves in a country that often mistakes them for the enemy
Just over a century ago , W.E.B. Du Bois posed a probing question in his classic The Souls of Black Folk: How does it feel to be a problem? Now, Moustafa Bayoumi asks the same about America’s new “problem” --- Arab- and Muslim-Americans. Bayoumi takes readers into the lives of seven twenty-somethings living in Brooklyn, home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States. He moves beyond stereotypes and clichés to reveal their often unseen struggles, from being subjected to government surveillance to the indignities of workplace discrimination. Through it all, these young men and women persevere through triumphs and setbacks as they help weave the tapestry of a new society that is, at its heart, purely American.
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1. Discuss the similarities between this “problem” and the historical problems of prejudice in this country against African Americans, Native Americans, and Japanese Americans. What about differences? How do you see the future of Arabs and Muslims in America? What’s our next step?
2. What surprised you most reading this book? Were there any misconceptions you personally had about Arabs or Muslims that were addressed?
3. Which of the individuals profiled here did you most identify with? Why?
4. If you’d been on the bus with Yasmin, would you have defended the woman with the baby? How could that situation have been handled better?
5. One way Jews coped with accepted anti-Semitism was to assimilate as much as possible. Similarly, several people in the book mention either passing as Hispanic or another nationality (ethnicity?). In what ways is this a good tactic? In what ways is it destructive?
6. Discuss your impressions of Brooklyn. In what ways do you think the story would have been different if the author had chosen another location?
7. The author discussed the phenomenon of “middlemen minorities” (p. 122). What are some other examples? How do you think you would fare working extremely hard for a specific, and sometimes short-term, payoff?
8. Omar discusses people’s reaction to his working for Al Jazeera. What is your impression of or opinion about that news organization? Have you ever seen their reporting? If not, what is informing your opinions?
9. It is suggested that congress will eventually have to apologize to Arab Americans for the government’s treatment of them post-9/11. Do you foresee that happening? If so, when? Recall that congress did not officially apologize for slavery until July of 2008. If the government did eventually try to make amends, what would be suitable?
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"As Moustafa Bayoumi argues in his provocative investigation, young Arab-Americans are still struggling to define their identities in a hostile environment and to cope with the governments distrust... despite what they have suffered and continue to endure, Bayoumi and his interview subjects still hope that America is a place where they can live in peace—and find justice, fairness, and freedom."
— O Magazine
"In How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Bayoumi... gives twenty-something Arab-Americans the chance to talk about their victories and defeats."
— The Wall Street Journal
"These are great stories about people who might be your neighbors, and Bayoumi delivers them with urgency, compassion, wryness and hints of poetry. You may walk away from the book with a much greater understanding of Arab-American life, but you'll feel that's simply because you've hung out with Bayoumi and friends, snarfing down Dunkin' Donuts or puffing on hookahs, talking about vital issues."
— Salon.com
"Moustafa Bayoumi's How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? has an intimate feel, as the author listens closely to the dreams and realities of seven young Arabs living in post-9/11 America."
— Dallas Morning News
