Later Life and Embrace of Identity
It would be inaccurate to state that Ms. O'Keefe only began to speak on her experiences as an Arab-American once she became secure in her identity. As a child she was proud to state that her "family came from where Jesus was born," and even if she later avoided identifying as Syrian, she still introduced herself as Lebanese. Rather, Ms. O'Keefe began to speak on her Arab-American identity when she was invited to, in a talk around 2010 on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus in a sense, her embrace of Arab-American issues was facilitated by the greater acceptance of American society. Though not everyone was interested, as she described her Licking County talk as "silent," there was a general public interest in her explanations of Palestinian and by extension Greater Syrian history.
Other international events, such as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War mentioned previously, helped raise the national consciousness of Arab-American immigrants, though not immediately. While in the short term many people of Egyptian, Syrian, etc. descent felt sidelined, "by the 1990s, a throughly Arab consciousness existed in Arab immigrants and American-born Arabs," one that allowed for a larger role of Arab political organizations as previously discussed. [8] Thus, even before Ms. O'Keefe felt more emboldened to speak on Arab issues, Arab-Americans in general had begun to organize around their common concerns and goals. Despite the differences in origin for many under the umbrella of Arab-American, "the Palestinian cause could be said to have provided the very foundation for pan-Arab ethnic identity in America." [9]
In many ways, the 9/11 attacks were a vast setback for Arab-Americans. Though they were met with "simultaneously an outpouring of hostility and kindness," it inextricably politicized their identity in a way that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had not. [8] Though Ms. O'Keefe herself avoided much of the hostility due to being an Arab Christian instead of Muslim, many of her family members who were still in New York were negatively affected by the attacks themselves. The changed national mood towards Arab-Americans nevertheless did not deter her from speaking more openly about her identity, as her public speaking began well after the attacks. Thus, while on a national level 9/11 was a watershed moment for Arab-Americans, it was less impactful to Ms. O'Keefe's identity than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.