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Other victims of discrimination didn't move to the United States. They were born here. Still, they feel alienated. And they wonder: At what point will they be accepted as an American?
Range of complaints
Before September 11, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's office in Dearborn received a few complaints a week from local residents who felt they were discriminated against. It now receives up to 10 a week. The group has expanded its staff from two workers to five.
Local residents have complained about businesses that refuse service, workers who have been fired, threats of bodily harm by strangers and apartment landlords who have evicted them.
Brandon Al-Sandouk believes he was fired from his job as a receiving clerk at Bombardier Aerospace in Taylor because he is an Iraqi-American. He said his boss referred to his lunch as "camel food" and told him to ride a forklift "like a camel."
The company declined to discuss the case, which is under investigation by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.
"I thought I was going some place with the company," said Al-Sandouk, 25. "I thought I was starting my career. How could they do this to me?"
Among pending lawsuits involving Metro Detroiters are an Iraqi owner of a Lincoln Park pizzeria who said he was cussed and harassed by a magazine salesman for refusing to buy an ad and a Jordanian who was fired from a private school in Troy.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has settled 11 cases in which Arab-Americans allege discrimination in the aftermath of September 11; another 66 investigations remain open.
'Flying While Brown'
The most inhospitable place, local Arabs and Muslims say, is the airport.
Many tell stories of being stopped and searched several times before getting onto a plane. Some have been searched once they were aboard. One resident said his identification and boarding pass were requested four times before reaching his flight, twice the number for most passengers.
Arab-Americans have a name for the offense they seem to be punished for: Flying While Brown.
"My guys are law-abiding citizens who support their family," said Michael Cafferty, an attorney representing two local Arab-Americans who have filed a civil rights lawsuit. "To be treated this way is appalling."
Last year, five Arab-American men filed civil rights lawsuits against four air carriers, among them Northwest Airlines, charging that they were taken off flights because of their nationality. The lawsuits were filed in New Jersey, California and Maryland.
A spokeswoman for Northwest said the pilots had received conflicting information on whether the passenger was judged a security risk by authorities.
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