Political and cultural circles within American circles of Arab origins have expressed their satisfaction and happiness after declaring this April the month of “Arab heritage” in the United States, according to CNN.

“The US State Department is proud to recognize April as a month devoted to Arab American heritage,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said earlier.

“The United States is home to more than 3.5 million Arab Americans who represent a diverse range of cultures and traditions,” he said.

And he added, “Americans of Arab descent are an integral part of the fabric of this nation, and they have contributed in all fields and professions, and many of them, in fact, serve here at the State Department.”

According to Arab circles, this is the first time that the State Department has designated a specific month for “Arab American heritage”, while some states celebrated it in recent years, such as Arkansas, Hawaii, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and Virginia.

Maya Perry, Executive Director of the Arab American Institute, believes that this honor is “a high-level opportunity to celebrate Arab-American life in a visible and clear way,” explaining that “it is wonderful that the wonderful honor comes from the State Department. This month is about sharing our story with our brothers.” The Americans. ”

As for Samer Khalaf, head of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in the Arab Committee to Combat Discrimination, he explained that the Foreign Ministry’s recognition of this event is “a breath of fresh air that will give society a sense of pride and will be an opportunity to show what society is about, to educate people and dispel stereotypes.”

Arab immigrants have contributed to enriching the country’s culture, as a large number of them are interested in art, culture and literature, in addition to politics and economics.

Among these Americans of Arab descent are the poet Gibran Khalil Gibran, the American actor Tony Shalhoub, the first professor of women’s studies at the Harvard School of Theology, Leila Ahmed, Dalia Mujahid, the CEO of the Gallup Foundation, and Ahmed Zewail, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.

Arab Americans also occupied leadership positions in the US government, including former US Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahoud, and the head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, Professor Charles Al-Ashi.

The Arab Cultural Center mainly organizes the Arab American Heritage Month celebrations, with the participation of local community organizations.

According to Arab writers and journalists, the Arab community suffers from being viewed as strangers, despite their long presence and great contributions in the United States, so that American history has been associated with the names of many Arab celebrities, including one of the independence figures, the soldier Nathan Badeen, who was killed in the battles against The British Army in the Civil War