Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1998, Page 55

Northeast News

A Mayflower Arab Fights for Justice

By David P. Johnson Jr.

After the American Indians, Mayflower descendents are considered the first American immigrants, while Arab Americans are among the most recent. However, the twain do meet in Boston-area historian, writer and Middle East peace activist Carol Rae Bradford, who is both a second generation Syrian-American and a direct descendent of Mayflower leader William Bradford.

Bradford, the first governor of Plymouth Colony, was a believer in individual rights and human dignity. As his descendent, Carol Bradford has not let him down.

Although she also writes on Pilgrim history, fighting anti-Arab discrimination has turned into her leading cause. Bradford believes that each and every objectionable manifestation or outbreak should be protested.

"I've had a fair number of letters published on stereotyping in the newspapers," Bradford said. "I send all copies to ADC [the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee] and I attack the horrible cartoons of Arabs distorting their features to make them all look fierce. I feel very sad that more Arab-Americans do not get active in the Arab American Institute, National Association of Arab Americans, ADC and other organizations, because it is so important."

Bradford has done extensive research on Boston's Arab community at the turn of the century, writing a thesis on the subject (which she is turning into a book) for her master's degree in education from Cambridge College. The 300-page work, Anglos and Arabs, Will They Ever Meet?, includes chapters on music, language, the role of women and stereotyping in the media.

She said that although the two cultures are rooted in very different traditions, and despite widespread prejudice, it is easier today for Arabs to assimilate without denying their heritage. Not only are there more Arabs living in the United States, they are better educated and hold varied jobs.

"Diversity is here to stay," the writer said. "The country as a whole is more mixed, is more varied. It's easier to assimilate and retain your identity. The schools are stressing multicultural education."

It is a far cry from Bradford's own early education at an Episcopalian elementary school during World War II. She recalls being told by a teacher that "I was like the Japanese and that I was sneaky because I was Oriental."

Another non-fiction work she has in progress, Syrian Radio Days, tells the story of the Syrian community in Boston from World War II. Bradford said the title came from the movie of that era called "Radio Days." It includes her research and also draws on her own family's experience.

Bradford also is working on a novel, Mayflower Arab, about a Boston woman of mixed ethnic heritage. While Bradford has gleaned much material from interviews with others of similar background, she admits that some of the book cannot help but be autobiographical.

Her father, the late Russell Dikmak, arrived in Boston at the age of 12 in 1913, during the first sizeable wave of Arab immigrants. A member of the Syrian Orthodox community from Damascus, he became more Americanized than his two older brothers because he attended school in the United States.

Most of the Arabs at that time were clustered in the South End and Roxbury parts of Boston, moving further out to West Roxbury and Roslindale after World War II. The Arab immigrants were proud, clannish and hard-working, Bradford said. "Very few would go on welfare. They didn't want to take. The Arabs liked to be independent. They didn't like to work for anyone else, so they opened groceries or they became peddlers."

Her father saved his money from various humble jobs and eventually opened his own grocery store in the mixed Roxbury neighborhood.

Bradford said that assimilation was no easier for the Orthodox Christians than it was for the Muslim Arabs. "The Christians looked different from other Americans," she said. "They had their own churches. They were very insular. They stayed in the clan. Their food was different and their language difference was very strong."

Referring to David Lamb's book The Arabs, Bradford said, "The Arabic language is an almost metaphysical force. Arabs have more in common with each other than with non-Arab Christians."

For several years the Dikmaks ran their store in diverse Roxbury, dealing with the Yankees, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Blacks and others who lived in the area. One day, Bradford's father waited on an attractive young woman named Betty Phinney, who lived in the area, but whose family came from Plympton, a town near Plymouth. A true Yankee, she was a New England Congregationalist, as well as a descendent of Governor Bradford and of the Phinney family who came to Massachusetts in the 1630s.

The pair fell in love and married, much to the dismay of the Dikmak family. "They didn't approve," Bradford said. "It took years for them to love her."

If not thrilled, the Phinneys were more open-minded, Bradford said. "They accepted that she would be happy and that the couple were madly in love."

Two Cultures, Two Cuisines

Although baptized in the Syrian Orthodox Church, Bradford and her siblings often attended the Congregational Church with their mother. After their mother's death, however, they spent more time with Arab relatives and went to the Orthodox Church, thus planting their feet firmly in both cultures. "I'm steeped in both. I cook both," she explained.

When not busy writing and with ADC, Bradford is publicity director for the Gov. William Bradford Compact, which promotes Mayflower scholarship. Her husband, Paul Bradford, a retired commercial artist, retains his interest in art and is an avid golfer. They have two daughters, Paula, who supervises the art department at an advertising agency, and Lorraine, an administrative assistant.

Carol Bradford invites anyone who comes from a similar mixed background and who would like to recount his or her experiences, or who can recommend an agent or publisher willing to handle pro-Arab material, to contact her at 7 Stephanie Circle, Woburn, MA 01801-2717.