With the U.S. engaged in two wars in Muslim countries, one of the biggest political and cultural quagmires facing America is how to better understand Middle Eastern and Muslim communities. In her new book “A Country Called Amreeka,” Syrian-American civil rights lawyer Alia Malek examines how Arab-Americans have experienced American history.  Weaving together vignettes of Arabs from across the country, she pays tribute to the oft-neglected diversity of their experiences. They are straight and gay, poor and wealthy, shopkeepers, politicians, soldiers. Their stories are harrowing, triumphant, enlightening and devastating. Exploring their place in the American mosaic, Malek dissects a group that has become largely sidelined in our national narrative and argues how -- and why -- the conversation must move forward. In a recent phone interview, Malek discussed how she is doing so.

Q. Why was it so important for you to explore Arab roots in the context of American stories?

A. Post 9/11, the Arab-American community experienced negative hyper-visibility. And we still do. One of the reasons I wrote this book was because Arab-Americans -- as Americans -- are absent and invisible from the American imagination. No humanized or nuanced portrayals exist; they are foreigners and terrorists. After 9/11, there was this rush to check in with Arab communities in an effort to ask them to account for the 9/11 hijackers or to be a voice of condemnation. This is the way the rhetoric has evolved over Major Nidal Malik Hasan, too. We only check in with the Arab-American community when something in America goes “BOOM.”

Q. Has the conversation after the murders at Ft. Hood changed or evolved from that following the 9/11 attacks?

A. Well, the conversation shows that the visibility of Arab-Americans hasn’t yet come into sharp focus but it is a turning point. Our nation has grown. Eight years after the attacks, we’re seeing many Americans – non-Arabs or Muslims in the press, law enforcement, and citizens alike all of a sudden sensitized to a potential backlash. In that way, we’re moving forward.

Q. So, the million-dollar questions becomes, how can we move the conversation forward?

A. We need more stories in the mainstream. For example, Arab-American contribution has been significant in the U.S. armed forces. We need to hear more about people like Navy SEAL Mike Monsoor who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq in 2006. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Or Lance Corporal Abraham al-Thaibani who enlisted with the marines after 9/11. His brother followed in his footsteps and served in Fallujah. He won the Purple Heart for his service.

Q. How have Arab-Americans, as you argue, been shut out of the national narrative? Why do you think there exists such a vacuum about their stories?

A. When we talk about the “huddled masses,” we envision Irish, Italian, Greek, and Jewish folks. We don’t see Arabs in that recollection for a couple reasons. From the early 1770s to until the 1950s, to become a naturalized citizen, you’d have to prove you were a free white male. During this time, the U.S. government – almost in every case involving someone from the Arabic speaking world – objected to naturalizing on grounds they were not white. This sent out a strong message to people that something was problematic with Arabs. So problematic, they weren’t found white and consequently American.

Also, there’s definitely been a huge identification with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Pro-Israeli advocates have been really good with humanizing the Israeli experience in America’s eyes. There hasn’t been the same level of humanization on the other side. It kind of perpetuates the idea that Arabs must be foreign…that they can’t be American. They’re kind of a unicorn, in a sense --- this mythical creature.

Q. Do you see Arab-Americans mobilizing to carve out a space in the narrative?

A. I would like to see Arab-Americans focused not specifically on foreign policy and have more active voices on the domestic policy side. We need a social justice, civil-rights based platform to organize around. This would mean getting more active on health-care and defendants' rights issues.  You build allies and become more ingrained in society when you take on a larger platform - one that's not just pro-Arab for Arab’s sake.

Q. You talk about the “New America” of people with hyphenated-identities who saw themselves in Obama. In what was largely seen as an unprecedented overture to the Muslim, specifically Arab, world, Obama spoke in Cairo this summer about building a new era based on mutual respect and cooperation. Is he living up to this expectation?

A. At the end of the day, there is one or two issues for the Arab world that they want to see realized.  They want to see a just resolution to the Palestinian situation. And they want some sort of stability and peace for Iraqis. So far, he hasn’t delivered on that. But I don’t think that means people will turn their backs on him. They’re still waiting.

Q. In terms of commonly held misconceotions, tell me why it’s so important to highlight that 75% of Arab Americans are NOT Muslims, and 76% of Muslims in America are not Arab?

A. It’s not about saying that Muslim is bad and Arabs don’t want to identify with the religion. It’s important to note, though, because Islam does not have one racial face. However, specificities of the Arab and Muslim experience fall by the way-side and become conflated. With the Iranian Hostage crisis in 1979 this amorphous racialized representation of the Middle East and Islam emerged. We became one amorphous, scary, swarthy mass of people.

Q. What is on your wish-list of things to achieve with this book?

A. On my wish-list would be a more expansive understanding of history. Arabic-speaking people have been a part of the fabric of American culture just as long as other ethnic groups. Let's start with reflections in pop-culture. How long was "Beverly Hills 90210" on television? And there was never a single Persian character. Have you been to Beverly Hills? (Laughs). Everyone there is Persian. It’s like with "Friends." How were they in New York City, and yet we never saw any black people?

Q. Do you see parallels between the Arab-Americans and that of other ethnic groups?

A. There are commonalities to the marginalized experience in America. It manifests itself in different ways, of course. The Japanese were interned. African Americans were enslaved and targets of segregation. Native Americans were put on reservations. There's a larger dehumanizing element of not being seen by the mainstream. Now, you’re starting to see black commentators on television shows, and they’re not just commenting on "black things." Or black people in commercials selling things white people want to buy. But that took a long time. I look for the day when we see the same evolution for Arab-Americans.

Q. It's safe to say that all hyphenated identities struggle in some way. But what are some challenges unique to the Arab-American community?

A. Right now and for a long time, U.S. foreign policy came down pro-Israel. Since we construct the Israeli interest and Palestinian interest as totally diametric, there’s a constant tension. We don’t have, for instance, a super negative foreign policy toward Japan. Our being so geopolitically involved in the Arab world calls for more self-reflection.

So this is a book I wanted growing up. I used to scan those key chains/mugs kiosks just to find an Alia. I never found anything between Alexandra or Alice -- where it should have been. It made me feel I don’t belong. I want younger Arab-Americans to know: You were here. You are here. You belong here.