escambia county, alabama. slavery reconstruction, jim crow, the civil rights movement, this is my family's story of struggling and fighting for humanity and freedom and a context and a culture that was saturated with injustice and dehumanization. now, what's so amazing about this narrative, this story, is that not only does my family know where the plantation is, and escambia county, we now own it. and there are members of my family currently living on it as free people who have property rights to it, codified in

protected by the rule of law. now, how many countries in the world is impossible to have a group of people who were once slaves on a piece of property a few generations later actually own the property? that they were living on. that they are being on. so this makes this place absolutely amazing. yes, of course we noticed that progress in our country by having a black family in the oval office. there are not too many countries around the world where you would see some dominant cultures rise to that, that level, that status, in just a few generations after movements like the civil rights movement. so it's amazing to me, and i

personally am delighted to think about what is it about this country, what is it about our founding principles that allow someone like myself to be a descendent of slaves, to be standing in front of a group of people having earned a ph.d, standing in front of this heritage foundation backdrop speaking to you about my second book? to me, it's just an amazing narrative about the potential of freedom and liberty and economic empowerment that this country actually offers to those, who have an opportunity to take advantage of it. so i name my book "black and tired" on purpose. one, because i am black, as you can tell, and so i want to remain connected to history of my own family, the story of rising to success, in spite of

incredibly dramatic and wounding and painful experiences in this country. because the hopes and dreams and aspirations, virtues, institutions, values, principles that created the conditions that put me here today are being sabotaged and it really by those who have good intentions but often do not think to the consequences of public policy decisions because they have different views on the human person and human dignity, than those actually structured our government in the first place. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> and now yvonne haddad, author of "becoming american?: the forging of arab and muslim identity in pluralist america," she said that with booktv talk about her book and her work at georgetown university. this is about 20 minutes.

>> and now joining us on booktv is professor yvonne haddad, and she is the author of this book, "becoming american?: the forging of arab and muslim identity in pluralist america." this is published by baylor university press. professor haddad, when did muslims start coming to the u.s.? >> it depends. some people think they were here before columbus. some people think that at least one of them came with columbus, but major, concentrated group started coming in the 1870s. >> why? >> most from lebanon because there was famine, and the young people were looking for work. they were in lebanon engaged in

raising silkworms for the silk industry, and there was a blight and the mulberry trees died, and so they couldn't raise any more silkworms. but the other thing that happened is that japanese silk begin to compete. and so the industry fell apart. so they started coming. >> what was the reaction in 1870s when arabs and muslims for started coming to the u.s.? >> well, they came as peddlers. they weren't really part of the sort of main trade and industry. but they began to sort of pedal little trinkets to farmers. you know, we have documents that showed the when, for example, into connecticut, in springfield, and there was this woman who ran away from lebanon to avoid being married to an 80 year-old man, so she opened a store and they would come.

than you know arabic. they would have her name, enter address. and it would depend on the jacket and someone would put them on the train from new york and they would end up in springfield, and she would set them up with a peddling thing, and it would go out. sears roebuck began to deliver to the rural areas, and, therefore, that business sort of came to an end. so they started opening stores and begin to sell. >> with a strong muslims at that time? >> well -- >> or more of a secular? >> they were mostly rural people. to me, the first arabs to come for christians. and then 10 years later muslims begin to come because basically some these arab christians would go back, they would have money, they would build these houses with red tiled roads and able to see they made money in america. so they were reluctant at first coming.

we know of one record, one guy was getting on the ship and he asked if there were mosques in america and they said no, so he got out. so the others came and they were basically migrant labor. they came in to make money and go back to they didn't come to settle. >> went with the other times in u.s. history when waves of muslims came to the state's? >> well, some came after world war i, there's a short period of time, but by 1924 the united states, only 100 people from the middle east could come to the united states per year. and they had to be relatives of people who were already here. so between 1924 and the second world war we have a period in which very few muslims came. after the second world war, you have muslims in east europe coming because, especially from bosnia, and other places where

the united states had recruited them from labor accounts. actually, they trained him with the idea of sending them to russia to fight, but then they did know what to do with them so they brought him to the united states. then the united states recruited people from muslim world after 1952, because that's when the united states went into the business of trying to block the spread of communism in muslim countries. so we have a lot of propaganda based on the come and they recruited students to come and study for their master's degree or ph.d degree in the united states. and some of these people did not go back. and then after 1965, we had major immigration when the united states abolished the ac added exclusion act, and then we begin to have people from asia coming in, like pakistanis and

more iranians. so we have different ways. >> professor haddad, how many muslims am or how many arabs are in the u.s. at this time? >> there is a contestable, nobody knows. in everett they say god knows best, because nobody has counted them. the mosques estimated that there are about somewhere between seven and 11 million. some of the surveys, like you, -- like pew say there may be about 2 million. the arab christians say that there are 3 million arab christians in the united states, and, of course, their number is increasing now with the influx of iraqi christians and

displaced people from palestinian christians. and so as the middle east is emptying out of christians, because we have over a million coptic christians from egypt who have emigrated. that not all come to united states, canada, australia, europe, but there is a process of emptying of christians out of the middle is. [inaudible] spent because of the situation, political situation in the middle east. and so as a result, nina, there are questions whether christianity can survive in the middle east. because syria now has some problems and people are worried about the christian population in syria. so after arab spring in egypt, what you have is fear among copts, so anyone, any other western countries, just try to get out of egypt.

and, of course, in iraq as a consequence of our liberation of iraq, what you have is attacks on some christians, so they have emigrated. >> professor haddad, is there such a thing as a muslim identity in the u.s.? >> i think there are several muzzle identities. if you come to my class you will see it is there. i have saudi students who have the identity. i have an iranian student who would have a shiite identity. i have a palestinian student who is more secular, but unicom he is muslim secular, if you can think of that. >> what do you mean? >> to him it means he can feel comfortable living in america, at the same time maintain his beliefs, can separate between the two. there are other muslims who believe that your primary identity should be muslims we have address and think in a

different way, pray five times a day. some muslims believe they are fully muslim, they don't pray five times a day. they might not agree with each other out what the definition of a muslim is spent just like christianity? >> absolutely. no difference. >> what is a moderate muslim? >> that's something that george bush was looking for. because of george bush divided them into good muslims and bad muslims. >> was that there? >> i don't know what's fair. basically a good muslim, according to the bush administration, was somebody who followed our policies, somebody who did our bidding, and who did not confess what he did it and what happened is there's a backlash on muslim community, and i think that a lot of them are very apprehensive about the

presence of muslims among us. what we call the islamophobia, that is sort of reining in the moment in american society but and i think people are afraid if they seek muslims praying, they think it is bad because it is too serious. he takes his faith too serious a, so potentially he is a terrorist. and i think that american society can because of what we have, which is an islamophobia, people who make a living out of demonizing islam. there are quite a few of them. >> such as? >> well, you have daniel pipes. you have joe maurer -- gilmer. there's a whole list, there's a study recently that showed that they got some things like $40 million. there are also muslims who make money out of demonizing islam.

they become the native informers. they go around coming in, a whole list of them. and they go around saying i'm muslim, i know they hate you. they give them money. so people make a living out of it. so what is a good muslim, i don't know. i think someone who demonizes islam. is a someone who takes his religion seriously, according to some muslims, you have to follow the faith. is if somebody who renounces the common unit, what our current group of people running for office and the republican party want. newt gingrich wants to ban the sharia, which is very interesting. sharia in the koran that says you have to pray five times. that makes it sharia. so if somebody has to renounce the sharia, they have to

renounce islam. >> after 9/11, to the attitude towards muslims changed or has that been building? >> i think it was starting to build after the fall of the soviet union because we begin to people protesting about who is the next inning the united states will have come and get somebody like huntington, who talked about the clash of civilization, and he went around the whole middle east talking about it. and it brought a response, for example, iran which talked about the dialogue of civilizations, let's get together, let's work together so it's a better world. but 9/11 sharpened this, and i think it's not so much 9/11 as the propaganda that surrounded the war, which was necessary if you're going to energize the american people to support the war, and to have trillions of dollars poured into a war, and

thousands of american young people killed in the project. you have to justify it somehow. so i'm not saying -- [inaudible] all i'm saying is the height for the war generated a great deal of hostility towards islam, and now it has sort of morphed into an industry. so people are pouring money into it. >> what about the phenomenon of suicide bombers though? >> suicide bombers are very interesting topic. if you look at some of the articles that have been written, they claim that, i saw one about palestinian suicide bombers, that they do this because they can't afford to get married so they do it in order to have sort of instant gratification of. they can have it right away. i think you have to look at it as people who are desperate and

people who don't know how else to cope with what they feel is extreme oppression. i sometimes talk about the samsung model. people don't like to hear. i grew up in the christian church, right? unchristian. and in the sunday school, he was a good guy. and he tells thousands of people. why is it justified in the bible? because he was empowered, he was marked. and the palestinians are in that condition, and they feel like there is nothing they can do. so some of them say give me an abrams tank and then we can have an equal war. but if i can't do anything, what else can i do? i lash out and say, you know, i'm not justifying it because

i'm explaining what it is coming from. it is coming from this great feeling of calm is there anything i can do? to relieve this oppression that i experienced. >> does u.s. policy toward israel play a role in this? >> major role. i think the u.s. policy towards israel is creating enemies for us throughout the muslim world. because what we are sanctioning israel against most of our values as americans. we talk about freedom, christians and muslims do. is real doesn't have freedom. for example, there are 45 laws on the books in israel that discriminate against christians and muslims. precisely because they're christian and muslim, because the state as a jewish state, religious israeli citizens who are jewish.

and so they can't buy houses someplace. i once had a discussion with a rabbi, and i asked him, you know, they ran for office and they had one israeli arab who is serving, but the question i asked him, which he didn't like at all is, with the jewish community in the united states like the same laws that they have an issue imposed on them in the united states, do we declare the united states as a christian country, with a like the same laws? and he got very mad at me. of course, they wouldn't like him. they can buy houses where they want. they build a house, it might be demolished. it might be asked appropriate, but basically because of the distinction between a national and a citizen, and the

privileges are for jewish citizens. >> wants to take away in your book, "becoming american?"? >> i was looking, the take away is that we are trying very hard to become americans. the question is whether american societies acceptance, and on what terms. and i sort is used to look at muslims as being accepted into american society in line with how this catholics and jews really despise in early america, and eventually, you know, if you look at the supreme court we have nine justices. not one is protestant, right? all these people, now tell us what america is about, right? well, i don't know whether someone will be a number of the supreme court but that's not the

question. will the muslims be able to integrate in such a way that nobody will raise a question about their participating in defining what america is? then i realized that we have to look at them in the sort of from the purview of what america does with people that, you know, it wars against. so i looked at how the u.s. treated germans during world war i. they were, you know, chart and feathered. they were executed or some of them were put in interment camps in north carolina. i didn't know that, but in doing research came out with that information. there were mobs that with university of wisconsin from where i graduated. took all the german books and burn them. germans disappeared. there are too many people of german background in the united states but you don't have german americans so they got assembly

completed. will they have that faith? after the second world war we have the japanese. they were interned. now, you know, there was a time that the u.s. in the 1970s that was thinking of putting all iranians and arabs in interment camps in the south, into military bases. they didn't, and they didn't after 9/11. the third way, the third war was against communists. and i think that is more parallel to what has happened to islam, is that it is being looked at as an ideology rather than a religion because even though the u.s. has accepted a large group of religions, islam is still considered to be on the outside. >> what is your background, professor? >> i am from syria.

my mother was born in antioch, my father passionate we were the original christians of the middle east spent and when did you come to the states? where did you go to school? >> i came in 1963, and married to an episcopal priest goes from the diocese of jerusalem spent and you went to school? >> i went to school and boston university school of theology is, harvard seminary. seminary education spend what do you teach at georgetown? >> i teach islamic studies and also about arab christians. arab intellectuals. >> how many books have you written? >> twenty-three. >> all of this topic? >> no. i've written on islamic concept of the resurrection of muslim women, arab ideas spent we've been talking with georgetown

professor yvonne haddad, "becoming american?: the forging of arab and muslim identity in pluralist america" published by baylor university press. >> thank you. >> we would like to hear from you, tweet us your feedback, twitter.com/booktv. >> since i am a psychoanalyst and not a political analyst i will not predict who is going to win 2012, but i will say that what makes bipartisan obsessive bipartisan this order a disorder is, i'm preempting the discussion of th the book in a , but what makes this disorder is that it becomes the driving factor in everything he thinks and does. so he ends up, obama ends up negotiating with himself before he even negotiates. that's one reason it is a

problem. and the second reason is that he thinks, and will get into this a little bit later today, he thinks that he can reason with people who actually are not interested in reasoning with them. they are actually only interested in defeating them and making them a one-term president. so he has this fantasy that he can in with them, and it just doesn't do right by gives them what they want to be able to get along. and i don't think, and that's what makes it -- the thing about eisenhower reminds me of something said, i wasn't prepared to talk about eisenhower particularly, but in 1956 during the second election, they were talking a lot about segregation and integration -- i don't know if you remember all that, or if you read all that -- and stephenson said, he thought

that integration in the south should take place gradually, and kefauver who say senate democrat said he thought they should take place moderately. and eisenhower proposed to cover lies between those two extremes. [laughter] so that's my view on eisenhower. >> very good. >> i wrote this book really because obama was a man who blazed across the national scene in the 2004. i had heard of him before 2004 because my son was a student at the university of chicago and he called me up once, night, after a speech in 2002 when obama was still a state senator, and he said there was this guy who sounds just like a psychoanalyst, and he talks

about putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing things from their point of view, and he said i don't know his name but he was pretty cool. well, in 2004 he gave a speech, which everybody knows, which is when he talked about, that he doesn't see red states and blue states, he sees the united states, he sees one country. and it really struck a chord with a lot of people who have been dealing one way or another, george bush, feeling very bad about elections and the supreme court, and it was a lot of division in this country. and so people really rallied to him because as anybody knows, but it turned out in retrospect that there were two obama's, not two americas. and after he became president he was very different and candidate obama. now, everybody who is elected is going to be different from how they are when they run for office, but you can keep all your promises.

but in his case, it seemed like he was even more different than that, especially when it came to negotiations, issues about appointments, issues about backing down on guantánamo clothing, et cetera. handles on the people that he hired to work for him in the beginning which were all of a lot of white house -- wall street experts who worked in the clinton administration who were really, the economic disaster that been happening. so i decided i would try to figure out what that's about and where they came from, and so i started reading. and one of the things that happened actually during the primary that i was not thinking about at all, a colleague of mine suggested i read "dreams from my father." and i have to say it's one of the great books. i just adored it. and it was as good a book about the coming of age of an adolescent as i've read ever,

certainly as a nonfiction book. although some people might think it is fiction. and so i decided that the only when i worked by studying obama as a president, his behavior in this pass, i would also try to do more contextual analysis, and i spent a lot of time reading the book, we reading the book, going over different segues from one scene to another, things that i thought were blind spots in the book that were left out. a lot of times i thought something was left out than three pages later there was, and it wasn't left out. and when i decide to do really was look very closely at who he is and who he thinks he is and what his efforts are to understand himself. >> you can watch this and other programs on line at booktv.org. you've been watching