Hello Everyone

0:00 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal, counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. Books, PD, products, science, fashion and glam talk From Bollywood to Hollywood. It's Meet and greet with doctor Afshan Hashmi right here on K FORURHD radio and Talk for TV.

0:44 And here's your host, international speaker, educator, award winning entrepreneur and best selling author, doctor Afshan Hashmi. Hello everyone, this is your loving host and best selling author and radio personality, Doctor Rakshan Hashmi life from her studio in Rockville, Maryland. And today, folks, I will be talking about a movie which I saw on Library of Congress website and that movie is very good and I will see we will see the movie together and then I will give my thoughts on that. But before I start, these are my two books. The first one is The Modern Movele Mentality New Strategies to succeed in India and the global marketplace. And this book is the best seller.

1:33 And also this book was hot number one new release on Amazon. And this one is the Outbreak of a Monstrous Infection and this is Amazon bestseller. And I want a movie to be made. And also I want a movie to be made of these two books. A documentary for this one, and we or web series for this one. And also this show is syndicated worldwide two three hundred million listeners. So please give me a sponsorship because this brings food to the table. And also these sale of these books bring food to the table. And my husband is very sick. He's on ventilator, so please pray for him that he becomes Okay. So now folks, you know now I will be talking about that movie. So Rebel, my sound engineer will play the movie.

2:26 From the Library of Congress in Washington, d C. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the African and Middle East Division of the Library of Congress and to our noontime lecture series. With today's program entitled Classified as White, Historical Insights into the racial classification of Americans of African and Middle East dissent I'm John Wicks, head of the Nearest Section and Turkish specialists on behalf of all my colleagues, in particular doctor Mary Jane Deep, Chief of the Division. I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to everyone, and before we get started, we always like to give you a little overview of the division and the resources and the hopes that you'll come back and use the collections for your research. The Division is comprised of three sections that build and serve the collections to researchers from around the world. We cover seventy five countries and more than two dozen languages. The Africa section includes the countries of all sup Sahara Africa. The hebrewk section is responsible for Judaica and Hebrewka worldwide, and the Near East section covers all of the Arab countries, including North Africa, Turkey, Turkic, Central Asian, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Muslims of Western China, Russia, the Balkans and the peoples of the Caucases, as well as Armenia. After the program, we'd like to invite you to fill in the evaluation forms we're placed in your seats and leave them at

3:58 the invertation desk at the front of the reading room as your exit. Now, I'd like to invite doctor Mohamed Salai, our Arab World specialist, to the podium to introduce our speaker for today's program on it Good. Afternoon, everybody, Thank you all for joining us. Our speaker today. Randa Kayali is a Professorial lecturer in anthropology at George Washington University's Elliott School for International Affair. She received her doctorate from George Mason University and Cultural Studies in twenty thirteen and an MA from American University in Cairo in sociology Anthropology. Doctor Kayali has taught Air World Studies at American University in Washington, DC, and was a post doctoral research fellow at Ali rural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at Georgia Mason University. She published The Arab Americans Greenwood Press two thousand and six, which she received a Book Award for from the Arab American National Museum and was translated into Arabic as Amriqui Juan Lara. She is the author of a chapter on family in the edited volume Daily Life of Arab Americans in the twenty first Century and US Census Classifications of Arab Americans, Contestations and Definitions of Identity markers in the Journal of Ethic and Migration Studies, published in September of twenty thirteen. She currently

5:30 serves on the board and as Treasurer of the Arab American Studies Association and as co chair of the Triannual Convention. So, without further ado, Doctor Ronda Quayet, I'd like. To thank Mohammad and the staff here at the Library of Congress the Africa Middle East Division for their kindness in inviting me and welcoming me to this lecture series. I'd also like to thank the Arab American National Museum and Helen sam Hand for the images that you will see in this PowerPoint. This piece is a work in progress, so I hope and I'm looking forward to the question and answer session. The classification of Middle Easterners and North Africans in the US as white by race stretches back over a century ago. In light of the possibility that there might be a new Middle Eastern and North African box Amina box, and I'll use that acronym throughout my presentation on the twenty twenty census form this historical research has contemporary significance. In today's presentation, we will learn that debates over the mina racial classifications are not novel, and that a deeper examination of history and critique of historical narratives offers the contemporary reader three noteworthy insights. Firstly, the naturalization rulings in US courts that determine the eligibility of early meanings to US citizenship show them that labels of

7:00 the geographic region and the perceptions of people within them determined race. While they were ultimately classified as white and therefore grouped with Europeans, those with Middle Eastern origins were noted as from Asia in terms of continental assignments, but not ultimately Asiatic or Mongolian by race. Secondly, I will show that the judges in these cases drew a Christian Muslim binary and placed the premium on their origins in the Mohammedan world as it was called back then, occasionally noting the Eastern rites of their Christianity and generally grouping Syrian Christians with Islam by culture even if they were not even if they were recognized as Christian. Finally, the history of the US census classifications indicates that meanans have been identified by factors other than race and religion on official forms issued by the US government for over a century, specifically through questions relating to ancestry and language spoken at home.

8:08 In other words, then is now there are additional ways to access ethnic identity within a broad white racial classification. So it's a bit of background. Since nineteen seventy seven, the US government and particularly the opposite Management Budget, has classified white as a person quotes a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa end quote. Although geographic boundaries of the Mina region are undefined, I consider the main ethnic groups Amena to be Iranians, Persians, Turks, and Arabs, but that the region almost includes significant numbers of minority ethnic groups, namely the Amazi, the Kurds, and Armenians, as well as ethno religious groups including Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syriacs, Maronites. The Hutan language is tied to each one of these collectivities. This presentation will focus on how people from all of these groups from the main region came to be classified by the US government.

9:09 And although you word around the globe. Dious Doctor of John harton their. Life work for her radio show at pay four SHB and doc. For TV show. And I just wanted to request you that please give me the sponsorship if you want to. Want this show to fund thee. Having said that, since I will see you in another episode of K four ft radio plus doc for BV show and if you give me a sponsorship, I will give you very. Reasonable price and they'll also you will get a lot of formation as this show is syndlicate bit.

9:50 World right to meet them through fast years and bye bye. So folks, they're talking about the region of Christians and Arabs and how they migrated to United Estates. So let's talk about let's go back to the movie. In official records before World War Two, racially, they were classified as white in two batches of legal cases, the first set by Syrian Christians between nineteen or nine and nineteen fifteen and the second set by Muslim Arabians. These are terms that were used in these cases in nineteen forty two and forty four. Through an examination of immigration categories, census questions, and racial prerequisite cases legal cases, I will strive to highlight how geography, race and religion were in fact intertwined and provide insights into how mainstream American society viewed Mena Americans as between white and non white. So I wanted to ask you, as the audience, if there's ever if there was ever a time you've been mistaken for a member of an ethnic, religious, or national group that you did not belong to, and how did that make you feel. If you felt that it was a compliment and positive mistaken identity, put up your hands, okay, nice three. And if you felt that it was something that hurts you or was negative, put up your hands. Okay.

11:18 So about even We're going to talk a little bit about that today. Sorry, okay. So, in the first sort of phase of immigration you had the Philadelphia there were men from North Africa who traveled or were brought to the US as slaves. The Philadelphia World's Fair of eighteen seventy six brought people and delegations from the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Tunisia to showcase their countries. The Ottoman exhibit heavily featured Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, who were marketed as being from the Bible Land or the Holy Land, with shepherds herding the flocks and images that were called the Arabian Knights of Fables. They sold religious items such as olive wood crucifixes from Bethlehem, rosary beads, and mother of pearl decorative items. This was part of the Ottoman Empire's strategy to show the world that they treated their religious minorities with respect. And yet there are media reports, US media reports of surprise that there were Christians who were Ottoman Turkish subjects, because Arabs and Turks were perceived in the US to be followers of Muhammad. Some of these merchants stayed on, such as Joseph Abim Mader, who was recorded in the eighteen eighty census as living in Philadelphia.

12:37 So usually I'm just going to cite five reasons that are cited for the onset of the first phase of immigration, which began in eighteen eighty or about there. It's not an exact cutoff data, of course, and that these immigrants came from Biladisham or Syria, an Ottoman province that encompassed present day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, and parts of Jordan, and they came to the US. The fair had prompted stories of wealth and success to be had from selling goods to Americans and offered the lure of an adventure. Combined with the economic downturn of the economy due to the collapse of silk factories or Seri culture on Mount Lebanon, the financial incentives of living and earning money in the US for a few years were strong. An argument I find compelling is the influence of the Christian missionaries from the US establishing and teaching schools in the region. Also cited, but in my opinion less likely due to the dates, is the sectarian violence, particularly the Druzemrinite clashes on Mount Lebanon and the riots in Damascus. However, the deterioration of the Ottoman Empire and the conscription of young Christian and Jewish men into the army required in nineteen oh nine by the Ottoman Empire were significant factors in the choice of young men to move continents. So I'm going to come back to the issue of millets. Okay, this is a picture of the Zena family from Damascus, and this

14:10 is when they were still in Damascus. I believe that there are possibly Orthodox room or room Catholic Melkites. From their dress. They were definitely urban and probably elite. A little background, though, I want to give you on the Ottoman Empire. In fifteen sixteen, the Ottoman Empires invaded Biladisham and continue to rule it almost continuously until World War One. The Ottoman Empire gave Sunni Muslims a primary place, as socially and culturally superior to the other communities in the Empire. In the nineteenth century, the States solidified legal and socio political structures for non Muslims. In these millets, which I mentioned on the last slide, Christian and Jewish subjects were permitted to regulate their own communities and given some autonomy in terms of family laws, taxation, and collective representation. The largest Christian millet in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in the Syrian province was the Orthodox Christian or Rum millet.

15:14 You'd write it in English as Rum. According to their own ecclesiastical structures, these Orthodox Christians fell under two patriarchates, the larger Greek dominated Patriarchate or Sea of Constantinople and the smaller Arabic speaking Patriarchate of Antioch that was headquartered in Damascus and had the areas now known as Lebanon and Syria under its jurisdiction. In eighteen forty eight, the Empire gave Greek Catholics called Rum Catholic in Arabic, who were in union with the Roman Catholic Church a millet of their own. These Greek Catholics, which despite the name, were explicitly Arabic speaking in services as well as colloquially, were also known as Melkites or Kingsmen, so named for their loyalty to the Zantine empires. Emperors. Roman Catholics who were not part of the Melchite Church and Protestants were granted extraordinary status as protected foreigners, and Maronites and other Latin Rites were dealt with at the level of the local provincial administrations. This patchwork of treatment gave religious minorities in the Ottoman Empire a degree of religious freedom, but they were also required to submit to Ottoman demands and the Islamic character of the state or empire. This is the backdrop against which many of the immigrants arrived in the US and perceived identity the Ottoman militants and decentralized system.

16:37 In grained identity is defined by religion, broadly Christian, Jewish, Muslim and noted the differences between religious sects for Christians, Roum Catholic, Roman, Catholic, Protestant, and Maronite, for example, and that underlined which areas and sex were answerable to which patriarchs, to which religious figures, to which rabbis, Whether or not the existence of millets created the violence and discrimination against Christians in Mount Lebanon or the riots in the city of Damascus in the late nineteenth century became less important for the immigrants upon their arrival in their new countries in South and North America than the fact that they had come from the Ottoman Empire. So, going back to my question, the migrants from Biladisham were recorded as Ottoman or from Turkey in Asia, and sometimes from Palestine or Syria in official immigration records in the US until the end of the Ottoman Empire officially dissolved in nineteen twenty three.

17:40 Religion was not recorded, and so estimates of religious breakdowns of the Syrian migrants are problematic. But we can assume that many of the non Turkish Ottoman subjects might object to classification as Ottoman because Ottoman was seen as a synonymous with Turkish, which was ethnically in linguistic differentiated from Arabic speakers back home. These immigrants had formally used the term Turk to refer to Muslims, and in the US, Turk and even Syrian connoted an Islamic identification. This popular assumption in the US in the early nineteenth century was well founded. Was well illustrated by a pulp fiction story that appeared in The American Magazine in nineteen twelve that I found nestled in the Nath Archives at the Smithsonian.

18:31 In the story, Emily, a curious young farm girl, asked to self described pedlar from Syria, aren't they Mohammedans your people? And when he explains that his mother belonged to the Greek Church, but that he was Presbyterian, Emily was incredulous. Emily was impressed with how exotic this pedler was different from her family in every way because of his far background in a far off land. Even if he was Christian, he seemed Mohammedan. Today, of course, we've not used the term Muhammadan because Muslims don't worship Muhammad, but back then it was sort of standard practice. The blurring of the East with Islam follows a traditional orientalist binary that pauses the orient as defined in opposition to the occident in Western Christianity. In his critique of Orientalism, Edward Said pointed out that those Orientalist scholars such as Massignol saw Eastern Christians as subsumed within Islam and as part of a monolithic East which had Islam as a superstructure. At a time when the US was increasingly xenophobic, this association with the Islamic other was particularly problematic, especially for immigrants from the East who wanted to gain material and social status in the US. Alix Naff authored a seminal history book called Becoming American The Early Arab Experience, and it was published in nineteen eighty five, and it truly began a deeper interest in the history of the Syrians in particular,

20:05 but Arabs in general. Though her book, in large collection that is housed at the Smithsonian initiated, she initiated a dominant narrative of the early experience that she called it meaning before World War Two. Within Arab American studies, there is a dominant historical narrative of the poor, illiterate farmer from a village in Mount Lebanon or Syria who came to the US, first arriving in New York at Ellis Island and then staying or living for a few days or possibly longer in what was called the Mother Colony, which was the Syrian colony that existed at the tip of Manhattan. And then that traveler would possibly travel by train to meet family members or friends and start peddling with the goods that he bought. Because most of this discourse is for single men with the goods in New York, this photo of a pack peddler is somewhat iconic to that narrative. Naff estimated that as much as ninety five percent of the immigrants from Syria were Christian before World War II, while another historian calculated that nearly ninety percent of all Arabic speaking immigrants arriving in the US before nineteen twenty four were Searing Christians from Mount Lebanon. According to these historians, the Arabic speaking immigrants to the US would have been Christian with a minority of Druze and Sunni Muslims. This is a young fellow. That is an example that the dominant narrative does contain some truths. In my mind, Tofik here was all of those things. He was a single male who immigrated in nineteen fourteen. Was

21:39 a Maronite Christian from the map from a village in Mount Lebanon, Baktuta, east of Beirut. He was a farmer in that village and was unschooled, probably illiterate. Became a laborer and a peddler in the US, where he changed his name by adding Ellis after his father Elias. In nineteen nineteen, he opened a cigar store with his uncle and later produced arak An, aniseed flavored spirit. During prohibition. In nineteen twenty five, Tofik returned to Lebanon to fetch a bride, returning to the US a year later, where he and his wife had his family and lived out the rest of their days. This photo may represent the marginalized narrative of early Arab American history. There's a dearth of information or even ongoing research regarding Egyptian, Iranian, Yemeni and North African immigrants. This photo shows an allegiance to the Ottoman Empire through the fezes, which are the hats that are shaped like a cone and the star and crescent on what looks like to me a water pipe or possibly a decorative silver or brass fat vase. It's at the top of the vase you can see the star.

22:49 These were possibly Egyptians, possibly Muslim and the alternative discourse I believe needs to be further researched. Who were these immigrants, how did they fit in or differ from the narratives on the Syrians? Why did their race never come up in legal cases until the end where you do hear Yameny debates debates on the Yameny However, Syrian identity was recognized in the US census in nineteen hundred, nineteen ten, and nineteen twenty censuses. Syrian were a recognized group within the population statistics of foreign born whites. In the nineteen ten and nineteen twenty censuses, Syria was listed as a separate birthplace, even though it was still officially part of the Ottoman Empire. During World War One nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen, being associated with the Ottoman Empire became more of a political problem rather than just an identification issue, because the US sided with the Allies against the Axis powers, including the Ottoman Empire. This solidified a move away from associations with the Ottoman Empire for the Syrians, a shift in identity support and recognized by the US Census Bureau.

24:02 By nineteen thirty, the census, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, a new country of birth appellations became necessary. The Census Bureau asked its census takers or enumerators to record the country of birth according to present geopolitical locations. In nineteen thirty, this is specifically mentioning, as you can see the list up there. This indicates to the researcher that there were other types of Menans present in the US, and that the Census Bureau was also recognizing. Another way that Syrians were recognized was through language spoken at home, which was recorded and then nineteen ten census asked can the person speak English? If not, what language does the person speak?

24:49 And both Syrian and Turkish were listed as principal foreign languages spoken in the US, but not Arabic. I don't know the reason for that. That's something that's interesting. And yet in nineteen twenty the options on the respond it's mother tongue expanded to include Arabic, and then and again in nineteen thirty the options included Egyptians, so in nineteen thirty they had Syrian, Arabic and Egyptian. However, the Assyrian community was not monolithic, even if we just take it as Syrian. An academic, Philip Corey kouri Hitti, published a study in nineteen twenty four on Syrians in America that found that most were Christian. Most numerous among the Syrians were the Maronites, followed by the Orthodox and Greek Catholics, Melchites, and then Protestants. While these churches indicated a healthy community, the divisions between sects and nations were becoming increasingly prevalent.

25:54 New countries were being established under colonial powers by the nineteen twenties, divided between British and French colonial authorities. Coming back to the US in nineteen ten, the census enumerators were instructed to note down their nativity, and if the respondent said that their parents' nativity was in Turkey, they're asked to note the Asia part. Although the Syrian province is located in Asia, they did not want to be considered Asian due to the prevalent Asian exclusion and restrictions, which were well known until nineteen oh nine. Minans had assumed the privileges of whiteness. They were granted citizenship without much deliberation, They held political offices, and they owned property, even in states where property ownership by aliens was prohibited.

26:45 The naturalization era began with this moving but I'll come back to this topic. The naturalization era began with this seventeen ninety Naturalization Act, which stipulated that only free white persons could become US citizens. The racial designation as white became a prerequisite for naturalization and for full rights as a US citizen. The question then became who qualified to be a free white person, and this decision was determined by the courts, and in particular by judges. Armenians, Mexicans, Indians, and Sikhs all faced racial and others all faced racial prerequisite cases between nineteen oh nine and nineteen twenty three, But one in three racial prerequisite cases heard in the US federal courts were Assyrians. Obviously, this number four exceeds the percentage of Syrians or even meanings in the US population.

27:40 Folks. So this was a little bit about migration and about the Muslims in Arab countries. About that and the rest of the need, I will give the link. So you can see that and do let me know how you like the movie. And this was from Library of Congress. So now, folks, I want to remind you that ZA my two books. The first one is the Modern Local Mentality, New Strategies to Succeed in India and the global marketplace. And this was an Amazon best seller in India and in USA. And I want a documentary to be made, So all those documentary producers please contact me at tough Chant at dr upchanhasme dot com. The second one is The Outbreak of a Monstrous Infection and this movie came.

28:26 This was an Amazon bestseller and in a very creative way, I have told about bio terrorism and bio terrorism is very common these days. And it is a suspense thriller and I want and it was Amazon bestseller and I want. A movie and. I want a movie or a web series made out of it. Having said that, folks, now let me go and ask Rebel to please play the sponsorship movie around them. How I with j ST. Radio and talk for there the friends if Maryland in a country club and just minuted to say that please give corsorship.

29:17 Between our shows to go on afford as wanting to produce. These shows having set the prints, whose. Partnership at chairs and high. So actually there was some glitch Internet was not working or something like that. And and folks, now I want to tell you that this show is syndicated worldwide, two three hundred million listeners and a library of congress. I know they sponsored movies and these kind of radio shows.

29:59 And if they give me sponsorship, it will be great. Having set that, folks, now, let me read a little bit about from this book. People. Let's say a combined example of Jaggard inspired fubal innovation and creative improvisation. And here is the book and it says the latest Bollywood success stories engaged ruler and urban India as well as the international audience to make a successful movie with a low budget. The Peoply Live Movie was released August thirteen, twenty ten, produced by Amir Khan Productions and co produced by Ronnie Scrubala, both very well known producers in India. The movie is a political satire about farmer's suicide in India. Written and directed by Anushai is We and co directed by memmouth Pharoki made Wonders in the box office. The movie is based on several burning issues in the country. India has a huge population and three times as many people live in villages as in the cities. The film has also put the spotlight from the villages across India called people even though it may not have been the producer's intentions. Giving the movie and named synonymous with many villages contributed to its popularity there.

31:20 Peoplay Live was on Netflix and was also shown in movie theaters in the US. The movie when the best first feature film I got at the thirty first Dubin International Film Festival in South Africa. People Live also competed in the sun Dance Film Festival, the first film from India to do so. The movie was packed up by specialty German distribution company Rapid Eye Movies for a special screening at the Berlin International Film Festival. It had its Melbourne premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival with twenty ten so People Live has earned a reputation for itself in the global films as well as movie recovered riscourse even before releasing. The Ruler Indias are going to see this movie by great numbers as well as having fans on urban India. The former Prime Minister of India, doctor Manmohan Singh watched People Live in a private screening with his family and some other POMO PMO Prime Minister's Office officials at his official residents. Amir Khan was also present during the screening of the movie. People Live was India's official intrigue into the eighty third Annual Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category. It was shortlisted from twenty seven films. This is a great example of Jaggard obtaining your objectives by maximizing resources through thinking out outside the box, where a product depicting Ruler India with a low budget

32:52 has become so successful. Amir Khan creatively developed a product that engaged and was appreciated by both Ruler and un India as well as international audience. So if you haven't seen this movie, go and see this movie. Having said that, folks, these are my two books, and all those Hollywood Bollywood film producers please spontact me and documentary producers please spontact me at takshan at Rafshanhashbi dot com. Having said that, folks, now please give me sponsorship. As this show syndicated worldwide to three hundred million listeners, So just imagine if you give me a sponsorship, how your show will be syndicated in your show, or your book or anything, or your book trailer or anything, or your company with three hundred million listeners. Having said that, folks, geers and bye bye.

33:49 You've been listening to me and great with doctor Avshan Hashmi on KPHD Radio and Talk for TV. Tune in live right here every Thursday at six pm Eastern time. Would you have exposure to your business, product or service to over three hundred million potential listeners. Send an email to info at talkforremedia dot com. And remember, if you miss any part of the show or want to hear it again, find our featured show on iHeartRadio or YouTube, where all past episodes are available on demand twenty four to seven. See you next Thursday at six pm Eastern time right here on k four HD and Talk for TV