At its annual banquet in 2014, ACCESS (The Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services) honored former congressman and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as its “Arab American of the Year.” The Arab American News, along with many others, criticized this selection. But this year the social services organization made amends by choosing Arab Americans who deserve that award.

During his time in Congress, LaHood cast a number of votes detrimental to Arab and Arab American interests. He favored sanctions on Syria, voted for military action in Iraq and supported moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. In 2006, LaHood also stated that he didn’t fault Israel for invading Lebanon. These stances were in opposition to most Arab American advocacy groups and harmed the Arab American cause.

This year, ACCESS honored Jack Shaheen and Khaled Mattawa at its dinner last Saturday. For these selections, ACCESS should be praised. Both are giants in their fields. 

Mattawa is an accomplished Libyan American poet, writer and academic. He is a leader in the field of translation, specializing in translating Arabic poetry into English. Mattawa was recently elected a chancellor of the American Academy of Poets and is also a professor at the University of Michigan. As “Arab American of the year”, he reflects the intellectual depth of the community.

Shaheen is a living legend. He has catalogued the dehumanization and inaccurate portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in American mass media over the last 100 years in his books “Reel Bad Arabs”, “The TV Arab” and “Arab and Muslim Stereotyping in American Popular Culture.” He has documented how the agenda of misrepresentation has coupled with government policy to affect the image of Arab and Muslim Americans as foreign and threatening. 

Shaheen has been a constant advocate for fair representation and inclusion. His unyielding work has been invaluable to every Arab American writer, student, academic, activist and organization.

As it was right to criticize ACCESS a year ago for its misguided honoring of LaHood, it is right to praise them today. Just as we should honestly voice our disapproval when one of our community organizations or leaders engages in conduct that may not be in our collective interests, we should voice our appreciation when they do things that are.  

Shaheen and Mattawa are sources of Arab American pride.  We should all applaud ACCESS for honoring them.