Arab In America

Arab In America was a 2007 release, but I don't recall ever seeing it available from my main distributor, Diamond Comics, so I just received it from Last Gasp a couple of days ago.

Arab In America is an autobiography written and drawn by Toufic El Rassi. While I'd say that as an illustrator, Rassi doesn't have a style anywhere close to that of other autobio comic artists such as Joe Sacco, Rutu Modan, Alison Bechdel, or Eddie Campbell, the art doesn't distract from Rassi's objective with this graphic novel, which is to show how much prejudice exists in the U.S. towards anyone with an Arab identity. In Arab n America, Rassi also does a good job of chronicling how most people in the U.S. don't even know that Turks, Iranians, and Pakistani people are not Arabs (Rassi was born in Beriut, but grew up in the U.S.).

I will admit that my knowledge of the Middle East situation isn't that great so Arab In America was a good resource for me, specifically where Rassi explains how "Israel has one of the world's most sophisticated militaries and living standards on par with Western Eupope, yet the U.S. gives them about 3 billion dollars a year in military and economic aid, more than any country on earth - more money than the U.S. gives annually to all of Sub Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region." I'd recommend Arab In America just based on how well Toufic Rassi details the hypocrisy that the U.S. has employed in its involvement in the Middle East. If more people were aware of facts such as those presented in Arab In America, they'd understand one of the many reasons the U.S. war in Iraq is such a farce.