Washington, July 15: Iraqi Americans Wasan Al Qaisi and Sumer Majid made a Fourth of July family picnic of kebab served on hamburger buns with slices of American cheese.
Celebrating Independence Day in the US capital, the two Muslim women were doing what generations of Americans have done before them: blending their faith and lifestyle with a US national identity.
Eight years after militants carried out the September 11 attacks, Muslim Americans are raising their profile, encouraged by the election of Barack Obama, a US president proud of his Kenyan father’s Muslim heritage.
The president, who is a Christian, used his middle name, Hussain, at his inauguration. He called for new dialogue with Islamic nations and named a special envoy for the Middle East on his second full day in office.
“We are more optimistic about the future for us here,” said Al Qaisi, an accountant.
“They changed the way they communicate with the Muslim countries. We feel like we have more value here now. We hope that will continue in the future.”
Like other immigrant groups in a country of immigrants, Muslims were drawn to the United States seeking opportunity and relief from poverty in their home countries. Arabs went to industrial centres, south Asian Muslims to the West Coast. Some arrived to study in universities; some arrived as slaves.
A 2007 Pew Research Centre study says 21 per cent of Muslim Americans arrived from abroad during the 1990s.
The September 11 attacks put a magnifying glass on what until then had been a largely invisible Muslim American community, prompting many to organise. The Patriot Act limited civil liberties. Many felt they were being profiled. The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, said more than 60,000 people were subject to new government actions such as interrogations, detentions, raids and the closure of charities.
CAIR reported a 64 per cent increase in the number of civil rights complaints in the year after September 11, 2001. The greater scrutiny prompted Muslims to engage more with one another and politically, said US Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim member of Congress.
“The Muslim community has learned the lesson that if you want things to change for you in America, you have to be involved in the process,” he said. “Political engagement of the Muslim community is higher than I have ever seen it.”
In the last two years, two Muslims have been elected to Congress, five have won seats in state legislatures and many more have been elected on more local levels, Ellison said.
“Obama moved very fast in transforming US policy towards the Muslim world into a more favourable orientation,” said US academic and political commentator Ali Mazroui.
American Muslims worry nonetheless.
“There’s still anxiety to whether he is doing enough to improve their position. His domestic policies leave a lot to be desired because they seem to be a continuation of the Bush administration,” said Mazroui.
He referred to the continued enforcement of the Patriot Act, border detentions, immigration issues, scrutiny of charitable giving and the FBI’s use of informants in mosques.
-Agencies