- Clean your ass, next question.
(gentle music) - Hi, my name is Marie,
I'm Lebanese American.
- Hey, I'm Laila,
I'm Lebanese-Palestinian-American.
- Hi, I'm comedian Alyssa Dookhi, I'm from Kuwait.
- My name is Michael Kamel, I'm Palestinian
and today I'm going to be answering
commonly Googled questions about, Arabs.
Is it Arab or is it Arabic?
- Arab? Me, I am Arab.
The language is Arabic. Dance move is arabesque.
A coffee is Arabica.
- Arab is the people. Arabic is the language.
- Arab is a people. Arabic is the language.
I am Arab and my family speaks Arabic.
- It's a language and then the people.
I'm right on that, right? That's right.
Yeah, like yeah.
Is Arab the same as Middle Eastern?
- Arabs are Middle Eastern
but Middle Eastern doesn't equal Arab.
- It's kind of like that thing of, a square is a rectangle
but a... No or whatever it is.
Middle Eastern is a blanket term
for like many different ethnicities.
- You can be Persian. You can be a Syrian.
You can be Kurdish.
A lot of the language around the Middle East
and Arabs is really complicated and loaded
and it comes with a lot of baggage.
- That's one reason why I like to say
Southwest Asia and North Africa.
It connects us all through the things
that keep us similar while focusing more
on a geographical location.
Are Arabs considered white?
- Oh, I knew this question was gonna come up.
- If you ask me, I'm not white.
- I personally do not consider myself white
and people generally
get that I'm from some Middle Eastern area.
There are Arabs who are white or who look white.
So for example, I have people in my extended family
that have blonde hair and blue eyes
and if you didn't know their names,
you would not think they were Arab at all.
- According to the U.S. Census,
Arabs are meant to check the white category.
- When Arabs first came to the U.S. in 1870s,
pushed out of Greater Syria by the Ottomans
and had to prove, because of the Exclusion Act,
that they were not Asians
and could stay in this country.
So those people said, "Look at us, we're from the Holy Land,
we're Christians, we could be white."
- Decades later, the diversity of Arabs in the U.S.
has been much more expanded
and so it's been really problematic
because the U.S. Census doesn't account for who we are.
We're a much larger population
that can't accurately be measured
because the census doesn't have a category for us,
so we get lumped in with those who are white
and so now there is a concerted effort by activists
and advocates all around the country to have designation
for people who identify as being Arab
or more broadly, Middle Eastern.
- [Alyssa] Why do Arabs use bidets?
(Marie gasps) (Marie laughs)
- I have been wanting one, but it doesn't have anything
to do with me being Arab.
- For the Arabs that are Muslim
they do use bidets in order to be clean,
'specially before prayer and for the rest of us
'specially Lebanese, it's cause we bougie A-F.
- Because you have to wash your ass.
(man chuckles) Like...
- Clean your ass. Next question.
- [Laila] Do Arabs eat pork?
- This Arab does. Do not show this video
to my dad but many Arabs do.
Not all Arabs come from religions
that prohibit eating pork.
- Don't worry about what I'm eating (laughs).
- [Michael] What do Arabs wear?
- Arabs We're all sorts of stuff.
These are funny, like (laughs).
- Well today I'm wearing just a black T-shirt
and some shorts that I actually cut up
because these were pants that I didn't really want anymore
but I didn't want them to go to waste.
So that's what this Arab wears.
- Depends on the region.
There's lots of different clothing that is indigenous
to each different place.
I mean, there's a huge part of the planet
covered by Arab countries, so in each different place
people wear all sorts of different things.
And then, don't forget, there are Arabs in the Diaspora
who are wearing whatever it's normal to wear
where they live.
- Is Arab the same as Persian?
No, Arab is not the same as Persian.
- Persians are people that come from Iran.
Iran is in the Middle East, but Iran is not an Arab country.
- I get this question a lot
especially as a Palestinian, people are always like,
" Oh, are you Persian or are you Pakistanian?"
No, no, no.
Persian, Pakistani
and Palestinian are three different ethnicities,
three different locations.
- [Laila] Do all Arab countries speak Arabic?
- I actually don't know this and I'm not gonna claim
to know this, but I'm assuming like yes and...
Most Arab countries speak Arabic,
but often there's like French influence
and often they're educated in English as well.
- All Arab countries speak Arabic,
but in most of Arab countries
especially those who have been occupied
or colonized by other countries in their history,
there's several different languages spoken.
- There's usually another primary language along with it.
Sometimes that's an indigenous language
and a lot of North Africa there are so many cool
different languages.
I highly encourage you to check out
and learn about.
where do Arabs come from?
- Arabs come from a lot of places.
- A magical place.
- When a mommy Arab and a daddy Arab
love each other very much.
- Our mothers wombs (chuckles).
(baby coos)
- They can come from the Gulf, North Africa,
Sudan, the Levant.
- And there's Arabs in America that are born in America.
They're from all over.
- [Michael] What does Arab American mean?
- This means so many things to so many different people.
I'm Arab American because my mom is from America
and my dad is Arab.
- I'm still 'tryna figure that out.
I'm still 'tryna figure out if I am...
If I can call myself Arab American.
- It also is that because I'm an Arab in America.
Some people distinguish between Arab American
and Arabs in America.
- To me, Arab American means somebody
who considers themselves both Arab and American
in whatever capacity makes sense to them.
- Look I wear being Arab on my sleeve
to the point where people probably think
I'm totally obnoxious.
"Like we get it, you're Arab." (chuckles)
- But I get kind of self-conscious feeling
like, "Am I the right one to educate this person on this?"
- In my experience,
these questions have come from a place of curiosity.
I'm glad that they feel safe enough
to ask me those questions and they wanna learn more.
- I would recommend asking people for resources
if they have any, or give it a quick Google.