Making Arab American Heritage Month Meaningful
April is Arab American Heritage month, a time of year aimed at celebrating the history and culture of Americans who claim ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Such recognition was hard won in light of decades of demonization Arab Americans faced after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
But in 2024, when Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza fueled by U.S. weapons, Arab Americans face a dilemma about how to celebrate their heritage. Writing about this in a story for YES! is Stephanie Abraham. She spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about how Arab American Heritage Month offers an opportunity to move beyond performative recognition and demand justice for Gaza.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 TEDx talk of the same name.
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