Friday, June 01, 2012
Arab-American entrepreneurs should enjoy the same assistance from the federal government as American Indians and Hasidic Jews, according to a civil rights group.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee recently asked the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency to grant disadvantaged minority status to Arab-Americans so they can receive help with their businesses.
In their petition, the committee remarked that Arab-Americans are subject to social and economic conditions “amounting to prejudice in American society and resulting in conditions under which Arab-American individuals have been unable to compete in a business world.”
If the group succeeds, Arab-Americans would gain access to the agency’s business centers that provide assistance with writing business plans, marketing, management, financial planning and technical assistance.
The centers currently help African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Eskimos and Aleuts, Hasidic Jews and Asian Pacific Americans, among others.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
To Learn More:
Arab-Americans Request Disadvantaged Status (by Travis Sanford, Courthouse News Service)
Petition for Inclusion of the Arab-American Community in the Groups Eligible for MBDA Services (Department of Commerce)
2003-2007 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute) (pdf)
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