Hayan Charara on "Thinking American"

Hayan Charara’s poems “Thinking American” and “Washing My Father” from Inclined to Speak moved me the most this week. My first reaction to his work was an appreciation for his ability to write using plain, everyday language in a deeply personal, captivating manner. In “Washing My Father” Charara writes a quiet poem that is intimate and loving. In “Thinking American” the tone is the opposite; he bitingly highlights difference throughout the poem and a clear lack of belonging or wanting to belong to American culture. In the beginning of the piece Charara immediately locates himself when he says, “Take Detroit,” making place central. He is also explicit that Detroit could be a city anywhere when he says toward the end of the piece,

“Detroit is a shithole, it’s where

you were pulled from the womb

into the streets. Listen,

when I say Detroit, I mean any place....”

Due to his metaphor of being “pulled from the womb into the streets” this makes me think that Detroit could symbolize any city that is not likened to a feeling of community, where one is generally nurtured or feels safe, which could also be a reference to boundaries beyond the U.S. Perhaps where his family’s original home was/is. Many people come to the U.S. from war-torn homes and may not feel anywhere is where they can call home because they do not feel relief in either place of turmoil. A feeling of cultural estrangement may resonate with Charara who was born in the U.S. and is Arab-American, belonging to a group that is often treated in a hostile respect by many Americans.

I remember about four years ago when I worked at a middle school, a student I counseled had been reprimanded by school officials for making racially derogatory comments and I was asked to talk with him about this. It was sad to hear one of my Native youths had made such hurtful comments about Arabs, referring to them as “rag heads” and such. Knowing how powerful and destructive the media and individuals can play in negatively distorting a young person’s development, it was important for me to roll up my sleeves and strategize on human connectedness and social consciousness development. So of course I first tried to ask my student why he was saying such things and it turned out he had no personal problem or experience with Arab people. He was seeking negative attention for a void of unhappiness he wanted to fill. Then I had him read an article on an Anti-Arab hate crime that had occurred and we talked about it and the commonality of Native people being attacked by mistake. He still acted nonchalant, so knowing his Salvadorian background I decided to surprise him by asking him about his family history. I had his attention because he knew little about his ethnic and cultural background. Then I shared with him my recent learning at the time, that there are many Palestinians that now live in El Salvador. He didn’t believe me so I had him look up information on his family’s country of origin on the internet and he read it for himself. Then I told him, “See you may be part Middle Eastern and you don’t know it and you could be making fun of yourself!” He yelled and laughed at this and seemed genuinely embarrassed for his behavior. After our long conversation, I never heard any complaints of him making racial epitaphs again.

This experience is a great example of how rampant miseducation about various racial groups is taught in the U.S. but that the potential for youth to be untaught such stereotypes and learn acceptance of difference is still high, given we take the time needed for our youth. I also think it is important we “check” our own communities, since it is most likely we will be heard and have an impact. Charara’s poetry does call for change of the current unequal, second class citizenship treatment of Arab Americans. If I had been exposed to his and other poets thought-provoking work earlier, I probably would have used it as an educational tool for my middle school and high school students because poetry can be just as effective as a news article or more so, sometimes. When I teach college classes I will for sure!