The Middle Eastern American refers to immigrants and their off springs that are native-born and mark out their background to the Middle East and North Africa countries. This group of the Middle Eastern American can be either white, Asian or black. There have been considerable experiences of this racial group in the history of United States. This group of Americans is highly educated, has proficient skills in the language of English. Thus through these qualities and character they have been able to amalgamate in the American society. They have largely contributed to the growth of the American society and as well as the economy of the nation due to their entrepreneurial traits. They have begun to face some challenges in the United State soil since the 1970s after the oil crisis saga. The Middle Easterners have become the targets of the community backlashes. The September 11 attacks made the situation worse for Middle Eastern in America and have since been used as the scapegoats for terrorist attacks in the U.S (Helen, 2001).
Politically, the middle easterners are viewed as a political threat due to their link to all the terrors attack from the Muslim communities to the United States. As a result, the Arabs, Iranians, and other Muslims have been used as scapegoats for attacks that target the country. This has reached a level whereby the government of the United States has profiled this group to be considerable suspects of terrorism. Socially, this group being made of Muslims has faced several concerns, this is due to the fact the bigger part of the people occupying America are Christians. In addition, the government of the U.S has denied this group official recognition as a separate ethnic group. The cultural concern of this group is largely attributed by their origin and their religion. Some of the cultures of the middle easterners are not recognized leave alone being respected (Michael, 1999).
The National Origins Act of 1924 was a legislation law that was enacted on the middle easterners and was meant to limit this group race. This law benefited the immigrants who were from the northern Europe but largely affected the immigrants from the Middle East countries. This law entailed an admission of quotas and was made to restrict immigration of people from the Middle Eastern countries and allow ones form the northern Europe. This less privileged group was not allowed to be official citizens of the United States. The Middle Eastern Americans and some Human rights activist tabled down arguments concerning this act reacted negatively. However, it took almost four decades before this law was revised (Lodge, 1969).
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was enacted after the National Origins Act of 1924 was abolished. This new law was meant to alleviate the racial prejudice laws on the Middle Eastern Americans. After the enacting of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, a new wave of immigrants from the Middle East countries was witnessed. This new law highlighted on family reunification issues and the need of job skills in the U.S. The push and pull factors such as the populist- socialist and the nationalist strategies largely promoted this new law as Middle Eastern immigrants were informed back in their mother countries (Robert, 1976).
References
The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act)". U.S Department of State Office of the Historian. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
Helen, E. (2001). U.S. Immigration Policy and the Undocumented. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Lodge, H. (1969). "The Restriction of Immigration". London: University of Wisconsin.
Michael, R. (1999). U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press.
Robert, K. (1976). The 103rd Ballot: Democrats and the Disaster in Madison Square Garden. New York: Harper & Row.
Zolberg, A. (2006). A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
