How Does It Feel to Be A Problem: Being Young and Arab in America (2008)

Bayoumi breaks down the current and historic significance of these Arab-American narratives, connecting their stories to Du Bois’s quote, US foreign and domestic policy, and American cultural perception (and representation) of Arabs. He writes, “Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are to blame for the terrorist attacks, but we are responsible for the kind of society we live in” (270), affirming the great disparity between the “anti-terrorist” paranoia toward Arab-Americans and the reality that not one of the intrusive US anti-terrorist policies—including “Special Registration”—“produced a single terrorism conviction” (267). 

The Afterword concludes with a Brooklyn block party, where a wide range of social and ethnic groups interact in harmony. The author offers this block party as an example for America’s potential as a country that can and should embrace its diversity.