The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization

259 Pages·2008·1.19 MB·English

by  Rinku Sen

THE ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN
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THE
ACC I D E N TA L
A M E R I CA N
Immigration and Citizenship
in the Age of Globalization
RINKU SEN
with
FEKKAK MAMDOUH
Berrett–Koehler Publishers, Inc.
San Francisco
a BK Currents book
The Accidental American
Copyright © 2008 by Rinku Sen and Fekkak Mamdouh
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or trans-
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First Edition
Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-438-2
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-57675-892-2
2008-1
Project management, design, and composition by Steven Hiatt / Hiatt & Dragon, San
Francisco. Copyediting: Steven Hiatt Proofreading: Tom Hassett.
Dedicated to the memories of
Bouchaib Mamdouh and Arun Kumar Sen,
and to migrant workers everywhere
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CONTENTS
Introduction: Coming to Citizenship in a Near-Global Age 1
1 Leaving Home 13
2 Us and Them After 9/11 33
3 Crimmigration 49
4 Learning to Organize 69
5 Building a Cooperative Restaurant 95
6 Scaling Up Throughout the Industry 121
7 Framing the Immigration Debate 139
8 Growing a Movement 163
9 Dreaming Globally 183
10 Everybody Means Everybody 203
Notes 223
Acknowledgments 233
Index 237
About the Authors 247
vii
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Introduction
COMING TO CITIZENSHIP
IN A NEAR-GLOBAL AGE
At 8 a.m. on September 11, forty-year-old Fekkak Mamdouh was asleep, hav-
ing worked the previous night’s late shift from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. His wife,
Fatima, lay beside him; she had dropped off their daughter at kindergarten
four blocks away and then climbed back into bed. For six years, Mamdouh,
whom everyone knew by his surname, had been a waiter at Windows on the
World, the luxury restaurant on the 107th fl oor of the World Trade Center’s
North Tower. He had started working there in 1996 when Windows reopened
aft er the 1993 terrorist bombing in the building’s basement. Mamdouh’s wide
brown eyes and the round apples of his cheeks gave him a disarming look of
innocence. Th ese mellow features hid the scrappiness that had made him a
beloved, though sometimes controversial, union leader.
Th e fi rst call came from Mamdouh’s sister Saida, who lived in Italy. She told
him to turn on the TV. Th e second call was from his brother Hassan, who
lived down the street. “Listen, brother, there was a plane that just crashed
through the Twin Towers,” Hassan said. “Guess what? You’re not going to
have a job for a couple of months while they fi x the place.”
Mamdouh and Fatima turned on the TV thinking of terrible accidents
when the third call came—their neighbor telling Fatima to get their girl
out of school. Fatima hurried to retrieve her daughter Iman. When she got
back, Mamdouh was still transfi xed by what was fl ashing across the television
screen. He said, “You watch. Th ey’re going to say it’s Muslims.”
Fatima asked him why he thought so.
1