Six months after her legendary journalism career ended when she said that the Jews should leave Israel and “go home” — comments she later apologized for — Helen Thomas will give the keynote address at a workshop hosted by Arab Detroit. The event is called “Images and Perceptions of Arab Americans: The New America: Mom, Apple Pie, and Arab Bashing.”
The all-day event, Arab Detroit’s eighth annual workshop, takes place December 2 in Dearborn, Michigan. Activities include a session on Arab-American history, another on media images of Arabs and one hosted by journalist and comedian Ray Hanania on “Activism, Writing and Comedy in Confronting Stereotypes.”
The event’s program brochure states:
It has been a banner year for racism directed towards Arabs and Muslims; from a political candidate’s racist anti-Arab ad campaign, to former White House bureau chief Helen Thomas’ political execution, to the Ground Zero Mosque fight–the image of Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. was denigrated to unprecedented levels. This educational workshop will help participants to understand Arab Americans, their issues, and their rich heritage and culture.
Thomas, whose parents emigrated from Tripoli in what is now Lebanon, was born in Kentucky in 1920, and grew up in Detroit, where she attended Wayne State University.
