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Public Comment
From:Diane Shammas <dshammas@shammasproperties.com>
Sent:Tuesday, August
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] In defense of the designating Little Arabia
Attachments:In_defense_of_Little_Arabia.docx
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Dear Anaheim Council, please see attached my statement regarding a "Yes vote" for designating Little Arabia.
Best regards,
Diane Shammas, PhD
International/Intercultural Education
Urban Higher Education
Lecturer, Diversity Education,
American Ethnic Studies
Managing Director and Owner
Shammas Properties DTLA
DSS Management Inc.
Auto Center LLC
1929 Auto Center West
DS Holdings 1 and 2 LPs
Cell: (
1
Hello, my name is Diane Shammas. I enthusiastically support the designation of Anaheim’s Little Arabia.
As a scholar in Arab American and Muslim American Studies, a child of Lebanese grandparents that were
among one of the first families to immigrate to the U.S., and settle in Los Angeles, California. In the late
sixties, my family moved to Orange County during my high school years.
My dissertation, and subsequent academic publications are frequently cited by scholars as one of the
largest survey studies on post-9/11 Arab American and Muslim American community college students,
and their successful integration into campus life. Half of my 753-student sample, in community colleges
in North and South Orange Counties, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties,
and the remaining half in Southeastern Michigan. Over the last two decades I spent a great deal of my
time in the Anaheim-Fullerton area, assisting in literacy programs with recent immigrants at Access of
California, eating at the local restaurants that offer a diversity of Arabic cooking (Lebanese, Syrian,
Palestinian, and Iraqi), markets and bakeries with affordable prices, and variety of women’s clothing
stores, bookstores, and home services.
As I have taught American Ethnic Studies, I was deeply shocked by the comments against the
designation of Little Arabia that were recorded on September 21, 2021 at the Anaheim council meeting.
The comments wreaked of both implicit and explicit racial bias against Arab Americans. Worse yet, many
comments were voiced by people of color. The general concern was that the designation of Little Arabia
will foment divide and disunity among the racial and ethnic groups living in the area---and they didn’t
want Anaheim to turn into balkanized communities in L.A. like “Koreatown” or “Little Armenia”. First of
all, having both lived and having family dealerships near Koreatown and Little Armenia, divisiveness has
not occurred with the designations of these neighborhoods, nor will it happen with a designation of
Little Arabia. Like these ethnic neighborhoods, Little Arabia attracts a wide diversity of other ethnic and
racial groups who regularly shop and eat at these Arab American establishments. Non-Arab customers
remark favorably about our well-known hospitality and acceptance. Moreover, non-Arab customers, like
Asians and Latinx frequent these Arab-owned markets like Tayibaat, which offers a broad range of fresh
vegetables, fruits, and meats at affordable prices that also are commonly used in the cuisines of other
ethnic groups.
Discrimination against Arab Americans pre-dated 9/11, starting with the cinematic vilification of Arabs.
Arabs have immigrated to the U.S. since 1896, fleeing from political and economic strife, they, like other
immigrant groups, sacrificed themselves by arduous labor, and forming a welcoming community to
others. We have prospered to make America what it is now. We are not an invisible community, and all
we are asking is to be recognized as such by voting for the designation of Little Arabia.