CHICAGO: The White House has hosted an online briefing for Arab American community organizations and their members to emphasize US President Joe Biden’s commitment to equality, especially noting the inclusion of Arab Americans as part of the administration’s recognition of Arab American Heritage Month.
Of the seven speakers who briefed attendees on their department services, four were Arab American. They included moderator Dana Shubat, White House Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs Reema Dodin, USAID Director of Public Engagement Fayrouz Saad, and Department of Homeland Security Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Brenda Abdelall.
The virtual program on Friday, attended by Arab News and coordinated by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, also featured White House Deputy Director of Racial and Economic Justice Jamie Keene, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights for the Department of Justice Jonathan Smith.
Although there was no opportunity for questions during the 38-minute teleconference, each speaker provided a summary of their duties and stressed the importance of including Arab Americans in addressing issues of diversity, discrimination and equality.
Shubat explained that the session was “all about equity and the work being done in their respective agencies,” with Keene offering a detailed overview of all that is being done.
Speakers in the teleconference stressed the importance of including Arab Americans in addressing issues of diversity, discrimination and equality.
Keene said that on his first day in office, US President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13985 that directed the federal government to advance “equity for underserved communities,” which includes Arab Americans.
“It acknowledged that advancing equities requires an intersectional approach and a focus on communities of color, communities that face religious discrimination, women and girls, LGBTQI-plus people, people of disabilities, and communities across our country who continue to face intolerable levels of persistent poverty and discrimination,” Keene said.
“That approach of course includes a central focus on Arab American communities who we know face persistent barriers to full inclusion and opportunities in our nation.”
Those areas of “Equity Action” in Biden’s executive order cover more than 25 federal government agencies and include: Economic justice, education, environmental justice, civil rights, health, criminal justice, housing justice and community investment, and global equity.
“Our nation has to address the unacceptable costs of systemic racism, and that by advancing equity for all communities including Arab American communities we can build a nation that is more prosperous and more secure for all of us,” Keene said.
Biden directed each agency to evaluate their work to see how their major policies and programs might be perpetuating the historic exclusion of underserved communities and communities of color from full participation, including Arab Americans.
Each department has developed an “Equity Action Plan,” most of which can be read online at a new White House website: WhitHouse.gov/equity.
For example, Keene said, the Department of Homeland Security has announced new steps to mitigate bias and discrimination in the way travelers are treated at the nation’s airports.
“We know this has outsized impact and importance in Arab American communities,” Keene said.
The Equity Action Plans also address domestic violence, rooting out discrimination in unemployment insurance against women of color and other minority groups. Another example is how the Environmental Protection Agency has announced new steps to reinvigorate their civil rights enforcement. Often pollution had a higher burden on low-income and minority communities, Keene said.
Shubat emphasized that one of Biden’s main priorities was to have a “diverse workforce and diverse staff” working for the president in all of the federal agencies and in the White House.
“It is really great to be able share with you that 30 percent of agency appointees are naturalized citizens or children of immigrants,” Shubat said.
“I know there are lots of children of immigrants on this call, myself being one of them.”
Biden has appointed two dozen Arab Americans to mid-level and deputy positions in the White House and at the State Department.
However, with the exception of Hady Amr, whose title is deputy assistant secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the US Department of State, none of the key Arab American appointees have given on-the-record interviews to Arab media publications on major issues. Amr gave the first ever interview on his role at the State Department to Arab News on March 31, 2022.
