Government helped diffuse reaction against LV Arab-American businesses

Grace Leong

Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

"Say goodbye to your family and your children. You have to pay for it."

That was typical of the threats Arab-Americans, Muslims and Asians received at their businesses in Las Vegas following last Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

But despite incidents of racial profiling and violence against Arab-Americans nationwide, many Arab-American businesses in the Las Vegas Valley feel the government acted quickly to diffuse some of the local tension that erupted after the attacks.

"Compared to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which most people initially thought was perpetrated by the Arabs and Muslims, until they found out it was Timothy McVeigh; the government, this time around, both locally and nationally, acted fast enough to slow down the backlash," said Osama Haikal, president of the Islamic Foundation of Nevada and a physician who has lived in Las Vegas for 16 years.

He said the Islamic Foundation, which runs Omar Haikal Islamic Academy, a $4 million pre-school in Henderson that opened on the eve of the Sept. 11 attacks, received several threatening phone calls. But he said these calls have stopped since Sept. 12 and he has received support from friends and local government officials.

"After the Oklahoma City bombing, we received phone threats here but it was of a greater magnitude. Muslim women in purdah (Islamic dress) were spat on, given the finger and told to go back where they came from," he said. "This time, the government is faster at intervening and enlightening people. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley called me after media reports of the backlash and promised to do what she can to protect the innocent people."

He estimates there are about 10,000 Muslims in Las Vegas, of whom many run minimarts, gas stations and "mom and pop" stores. Others are physicians, owners of textile factories, small motels and contractors.

Arab-Americans were also concerned about the possibility of being detained or arrested, said Hisham Hito, an orthopedic surgeon who has lived in Las Vegas since 1974.

"Internment was a concern initially. But what helped was the government's open-mindedness and telling people not to punish the innocents or take it out against us. That told us that this situation isn't going to be handled like in the case of the Japanese (in World War II) who were interned. The U.S. has a lot of allies with Middle East, especially after this attack," he said.

Hito, who is of Syrian descent, echoed the sentiments of most Arab-Americans nationwide. "We condemn these terrorist acts. This incident shocked us as much as it shocked the American people."

"Those of us who are doctors feel it the most, I think, because our job is to heal people," he said, adding the Islamic Society of Nevada did its part for the emergency relief effort. "We've made a copy of a list of where the blood centers are in Las Vegas and urged our congregation to go there to donate blood."

Hito said he had heard of incidents of racial profiling and violence in New York and Texas, but said most of his patients and friends were sympathetic towards him in the aftermath of the attacks.

Hito, who said he typically receives 15 patients a day, said he hasn't seen a dramatic change in the volume of patients in the past week, but noted some of his patients were annoyed after they arrived at the clinic on Sept. 11 and found it closed.

"I had given my staff a half-day off to be with their families. But when they left, the lights were on, the coffee pot was on, and some patients came and found no one at the clinic. I guess after what happened, no one was thinking ahead," he said.

Other Las Vegas residents of Pakistani, Iranian and Indian origin said they've received threats at their businesses following the attacks.

Abdul Wahid, a Pakistani cashier at Pak Foods, an ethnic South Indian and Pakistani food grocery store, said he received two threatening phone calls on Thursday. But he said this hasn't affected business so far.

"We got calls telling us to send our family back to Pakistan. The caller also said he would pay us a visit," Wahid said. "We called the police and they stayed for a few hours at the shop."

Reza Salimia, an Iranian owner of Video-Audio Specialist, an electronics retailer, who has lived in Las Vegas for about 27 years, said he received threatening phone calls.

"I got a phone call from someone asking, 'What the hell are you guys doing?' I tried to explain, but he hung up on me," he said. "So far no one has thrown stones at my shop or vandalized it. But for a while, I was expecting it."

An Iranian restaurant owner, who declined to be named, said he had received a couple of life-threatening phone calls after the terrorist attacks.

"That (Tuesday) morning, we got a couple of life-threatening calls because of my name, which sounds Arabic. But I explained I am Iranian, not Arab-American," he said. Since the attacks, Iran has offered to help the United States in its efforts to root out terrorism.

"But I also got supporting phone calls from my friends. My advice is don't jump to conclusions and pinpoint blame on innocent people until the truth is known."

The restaurant owner, who said he has been residing in Las Vegas for the past 30 years, said his business has declined about 50 percent because of the slowdown in the Las Vegas gaming industry and because half of his customers are tourists.

"Since Tuesday's terrorist attacks, my business has dropped because of the slowdown on the Strip. If people are getting laid off or cutting their staff's hours, or are afraid to fly, they can't spend money here."

Khalid Khan, another long-time Las Vegan and owner of Hina Textiles Inc., a sportswear distributor of T-shirts and linens to gift shops and hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, said his business isn't affected by the racial backlash but is impacted by the slowdown in tourism.

"My business is related to the tourism industry. Whenever there's uncertainty, that affects my business," he said. "Typically, we sell about 10,000 t-shirts a day, now we sell only 4,000 to 5,000 t-shirts a day. And it's bad because this is supposed to be a busy time for us since the tourism season runs from April through October."

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