‘All-American Muslim’ – Suehaila Amen Reflects on the Show

January 8, 2012 By Dilshad Ali 3,473 Comments

TLC’s “All-American Muslim” is airing its season finale tonight. The episode follows the trajectory of most reality-show season finales — some story lines are satisfactorily wrapped up (hint: Coach Zaban’s Fordson Tractors play a seminal game against their archrivals, Dearborn High), while other cast members near a climax in their personal stories (will Suehaila Amen be leaving her parents and Detroit to pursue her career in Washington, D.C.? Did Nina Bazzy open her club?). Is it enough to leave you wanting more? Will “All-American Muslim” be renewed for a second season? Time will only tell.

Though the show received a huge boost in the media from the Lowes advertising boycott and subsequent battle against bigotry and Islamophobia, the ratings continued to drop over the season due to one perplexing problem: How does a program with the premise that American Muslims are just like everyone else retain viewership without sensationalistic characters and storylines? I am hoping the likeability of the cast members and the realness of their lives will draw viewers in and will bring it another season.

At the end of the day, whether you were not a Muslim or a Muslim — many things were learned from this program. Was this country ready for a show about American Muslims? Cast member Suehaila Amen thought so. I caught up with Suehaila to talk to her about what it was like to film the program, whether she left the nest, what she thought of viewer’s reactions, and whether it was all worth it.

So, the world is wondering — are you still in Dearborn or have you moved to Washington, D.C.?

Suehaila Amen: I’m still in Dearborn, still looking at possible options. [I know it’s unusual that I’m still at home] because the American public doesn’t understand our culture. There’s no need to emancipate yourself from your family because we feel our family is doing the best for us. I don’t feel desperate to leave home, because I don’t feel I have a family who are holding me back,

It’s a part of American culture that people feel at 18, they need to hurry up and go. My parents are like, why do you want to go? They don’t bother me. I [don’t] need to ask anyone’s permission to do anything. For my non-Arab friends, their parents are anxious to get them out of the house because they want to “live their lives.” My parents live their life, and I’m still at house. I don’t place a hindrance on them, and they don’t on me.

Have you been happy with the way the show portrayed you?

SA: I’ve been very content with the way the show has been edited and the way it’s portrayed each of the cast members. I’ve enjoyed watching it. It’s who we are.

Ratings haven’t been strong, and some believe it’s because in portraying “regular,” everyday American Muslims, the show isn’t exciting enough.

SA: It’s important that the show stays true to what it is. It’s a show about family, about the way people embrace their lives in American society, and how they have assimilated and acculturated to live their lives being content as American and Muslim. If it had been anything else, with the disturbing and disgusting behaviors you see in other shows, in my eyes it would’ve been a failure. It’s important to have quality programming, to see the reality of a misunderstood community, and open up the minds of people to see Muslim Americans as we are – a diverse group of people living our lives in our own ways, practicing our faith in our own ways.

How has the feedback been from Muslim viewers?

SA: [The program has] done something very important – it’s created that dialogue. It also created that line of communication for other Muslims to respond to the show. For Muslims, it’s a stepping stone for us. It’s the first opportunity for a major network to create a show about Muslim Americans. So, showing [American Muslims] in any positive light is something that’s positive for the greater Muslim community. I think we should focus on that and be thankful for that instead of trying to dissect [the show].

How has the feedback been from non-Muslim viewers?

SA: The response from non-Muslins has been overwhelming. Many non-Muslims have come to me and said, “It’s really shown me a side of a community that I always misunderstood. Thank you for putting your lives out there.”

There are people, in Middle America, who have never seen a Muslim or an Arab or anyone of any ethnicity. For them, we’ve made that headway in engaging people, showing them that there they have neighbors, who look differently, and who have contributed greatly to society. I think it’s very important for people to realize we are a very diverse nation. We need to take pride in the diversity, to give us that opportunity to be successful. A show like “All-American Muslim” is giving people the chance to have those conversations.

It seems Muslims in American are facing more adversity now than in the immediate years after 9/11. Would you agree?

SA: Absolutely. It’s a very sad fact that we have people running for the presidency who are extremely racist, who continue to spew their own hatred. It’s frightening to hear what they are saying, and oh my God, one of these people could be the next president of America. It’s a continuous struggle for us, just like African Americans struggled and Japanese Americans struggles. Unfortunately, now it’s our turn. Day by day we’re going have to deal with this and engage these people in these conversations.

What were some of the most fun things for you to watch on “All-American Muslims?”

SA: Definitely my sister’s wedding. Watching it unfold on television brought back fun memories of when we were filming. It was the first week of production, and we had told the nail salon that there would be a few cameramen, that there was a documentary being made. At the time, we didn’t know if it would get picked up by TLC, so we had to keep that quiet. And so, to walk in the nail salon and see 18 people there filming was hilarious!

We also had to figure out a way to explain the cameras at the wedding, so I had to tell everyone at the wedding that my parents are creating a video montage to get me married! It was a big inside joke.

Also, watching Nadar and Nawal having their baby – we were anxiously awaiting to see it happen on television, though we had already gone through it. And watching the episode with Shadia and Jeff and Wrigley, we were all crying just watching it, even though we knew Wrigley had come home the very next day!

Is this show an accurate portrayal of Islam in America? Is it even possible for one show to represent all Muslims in America?

SA: People need to understand that our show isn’t representative of the entire Muslim community. The show isn’t about Islam. The show is about American families, and the fact that we are Muslim. There are lots of people who are like Nina, who are like me, who are like Bilal, who are like Shadia. People need to realize that they can’t hold human beings who are imperfect to that standard of what a “good Muslim” should be.

A program about Islam can only be a documentary format, not in this format – as a reality show about Muslim families. People need to understand that at the end of the day, we are fallible in the way we practice our faith — to each their own. That’s the beauty of living in this country.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3,473 Comments

‘All-American Muslim’ – The Power of Thank You

January 6, 2012 By Dilshad Ali 3,074 Comments

This is the third in a series of commentaries regarding TLC’s “All-American Muslim,” written by Rabbi Jack Bemporad, Reverand Dr. James A. Kowalski, Professor Marshall Breger, and Suhail A. Khan.

This Sunday is the last installment of “All-American Muslim,” the reality television series on TLC that was the target of fringe, anti-Muslim hate rhetoric. The show introduced five Muslim-American families to the reality TV audience, two groups who would not, in all likelihood, have otherwise met. As it turns out, these five families are not shills for radical extremists. They are not hiding sinister plots, surreptitiously trying to turn American law into Sharia law, lulling America into a false sense of security by showing a few “good Muslims.”

These families are the real Muslims. They are folks from Dearborn, Michigan, where the show takes place, who struggle to raise their families to the best of their abilities. Some wear headscarves; others wear tattoos. They suffered through 9/11 alongside us, and they decry those who hijack Islam in the name of terrorism. They, it turns out, are just like us, and that is the reality that the fringe groups who called for advertisers to boycott the program, cannot tolerate.

One of the important lessons learned here is not actually about bigotry. Most of us know bigotry is wrong and many of us don’t hesitate to speak out against it. But while we’re busy lambasting the vocal minority who do the wrong thing, we often forget to thank those who stand up and do the right thing.  So thank you TLC, and thank you to the sponsors of the show who did NOT pull their advertising. While some did pull ads, scores of other companies with huge commercial interests — from Campbell’s to McDonald’s — hung in there despite pressure to do otherwise.

We also want to say thank you to media entrepreneur Russell Simmons, who put his money where his mouth is and made up for lost revenue when companies like Lowe’s and Kayak.com did capitulate to pressure from the anti-Muslim fringe groups and pulled their ads from the show. 

We want to say thank you to those five American Muslim families who put their faces and families in full public view. We suspect that they never anticipated being the center of a firestorm that’s been covered in every major U.S. newspaper and many others around the world. They’ve been accused of perpetrating a fraud on the American people just because they were being themselves — American citizens struggling along in daily life, who happen to not be Catholic, Protestant or Jewish.

Last, in an ironic twist, perhaps we owe a thank you to the fringe few who manufactured this storm. Far more people met these five American-Muslim families than would have, had this controversy not occurred. Due to their effort to kill the show, some 80 diverse groups and countless individuals from every faith have come together to speak out against Islamophobia.

Bigotry has no place in American society. Generations of Catholics, Jews, Japanese, women, African Americans and many more have faced it down. They made their way through it to become accepted members of American society. We wish the same for our Muslim brothers and sisters. But just this past weekend, Molotov cocktails exploded outside a Queens, NY mosque and a Muslim-run corner store. Member of Congress Peter King has more hearings scheduled for February. Even the presidential race to the White House will likely include bigoted messaging. It remains important that we continue to speak out for that all-American value:  religious freedom.

We believe someday prejudice against Muslims in America will seem absurd and even shameful. But until then, it is far wiser to speak out now, in support of those who do the right thing and resist efforts to read Islam and Muslims out of the American fabric, rather than to hang our heads in shame later.

So we think a lesson learned here is a pretty valuable one, too often neglected:  we all need to remember the power and influence of “thank you.” We need to thank individuals who are brave enough to face hatred, and do it with dignity; thank businesses who risk controversy to do the right thing and the media companies that are willing to take a chance in a world that demands commercial success above content. None of us should ever underestimate the impact we make for good and no one should go un-thanked for taking action in defense of our American values.

Rabbi Jack Bemporad is at the Center for Interreligious Understanding, New Jersey; The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski is Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City; Professor Marshall Breger is at Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and is the former Reagan White House liaison to the Jewish community; and Suhail A. Khan is at Buxton Initiative, Washington, D.C.

“All-American Muslim” is airing its season finale this Sunday at 10 p.m. EST on TLC. Please check your local listings.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3,074 Comments
« Older Posts