The immigrant experience is a topic of great discussion and debate. There are several reasons newcomers leave their homelands, including education, poverty, unemployment, natural disasters, war, famine and civil unrest.

Individuals and families choose to immigrate to the United States in hope of a “better life” for not only themselves, but for their children and grandchildren as well.  

When trying to build a home away from home, like many other ethnic minorities, many new Arab and Muslim immigrants face barriers that hinder their ability to become self-sufficient and transition to life in the United States. Within our community, we face a serious barrier, which is isolation, and that prevents a very important aspect of “settling,” which is the importance of immigrants integrating and participating in American civic culture and life.

This doesn’t mean forgetting our roots and practicing our faith and/or culture, but rather it means  having a voice and telling our own stories in this new place we call home.

In southern California, there is an ample amount of culturally-competent social service organizations assisting marginalized and underserved communities such as Hispanics, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. We should respect these communities’ accomplishments in that they were able to come together to establish institutions such as community centers that have led them to not only have a strong voice, but to influence American political arena. As a result, the needs of these communities are well-documented in comparison to the Arab and Muslim communities. The lack of documented statistics about our communities has resulted in a lack of resources and services provided to the Muslim and Arab communities in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. 

Why is there a lack of attention given to our communities?  It could be perhaps that we, as a community, put most of our energy onto the issues that our loved ones face back home rather than focus on many issues our communities are facing in the United States, including the lack of access to resources and information.