American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee This Committee

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

This committee is involved with ensuring that the American people and the Arab people build tolerance with one another and do not discriminate against one another based on where they come from and their ethnicity (ADC, 2006). The committee is a 'grassroots' organization, is non-profit, and is designed to ensure civil rights (American, 2006). Senator James Abourezk started the organization in Washington, DC, in 1980, and the committee now claims to be the largest of its kind when it comes to Arab-American organizations (American, 2006). A court case was argued in 1999, Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, where individuals that were not legally in this country stated that they were being discriminated against based on deportation because they were Arabs, but the court ruled that the fact that they were here illegally was enough, and that they were not being discriminated against because of their ethnicity (Reno, 1999).

Despite that court case, however, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is a peaceful organization that promotes understanding and tolerance between Americans and Arabs (ADC, 1996). There are many chapters in different states, and they were not all created at the time that the Committee was first started. For example, the New Jersey chapter was started in 1996, and elected its first board in 2003, indicating that it had grown large enough to do that (ADC, 1996). There are many branches all throughout the U.S. today, which shows that tolerance for Arab individuals is growing, at least in some areas. By encouraging tolerance and also helping Arabs and Arab-Americans promote their cultural heritage, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is working toward a better, stronger, and more tolerant society where people are not judged by where they come from (Arabland, 2004). This will be important to Americans and Arabs across the country, especially with the current problems in Iraq.