Muslims have no love or respect for 4th of July patriotic celebrations.
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Home » Celebrating the Fourth of July – An Arab-Muslim-American’s Journey to Discovering their American-ness
Celebrating the Fourth of July – An Arab-Muslim-American’s Journey to Discovering their American-ness
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director.
This opinion appeared at the ING blog.
As an American of Arab ancestry and Muslim background, I’ve always felt slightly disingenuous about becoming emotionally involved in the 4th of July holiday. I was never quite sure about my American-ness, despite my citizenship, nor did I feel that my fellow Americans, particularly those of European descent, viewed me as authentically American. I’ve always wondered how other groups, like African Americans reconciled their difficult history in America with celebrations of the American nation, which is reflected in Independence Day. Growing up in the United States, after having emigrated here from Egypt with my parents at the age of 7, we never celebrated the 4th of July holiday, because it wasn’t “our holiday,” as my mother would tell us. Like many children of immigrant parents, I grew up neither being authentically American nor identifying with mine or my parents country of origin. It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s, free from my parent’s control, that I declared my identity as an American, although I still hadn’t fully understood what this meant. I knew what it was not – it only took a year living in Egypt to convince me that I was not Egyptian, and while both my siblings married Egyptians and visited Egypt at every opportunity they had, I didn’t return to Egypt again for two decades. So, embracing my newly found identify as an American, I began a conscious journey in my early 20’s to discovering exactly what being American meant for me.