Arab-American Affairs magazine,  VOL 35 Issue  No 219   April-May 2007

Assad Jebara Philanthropist and Marketing Legend

Assad Jebara: We have to formulate our goals and earn the respect from this great culture we live in - be a part of the mainstream. We don't want to be abused, be called names in the press and we don't want negative insinuations made about our culture. But nobody is going to just give us respect. We have to earn it.

BY ANTOINE FAISAL

Assad Jebara, a soft spoken gentleman, is the oldest of 5 brothers, the CEO of Zana-di Jeans, and the original founder of Alpha Garments, a $90 million clothing company comprised of a number of subsidiary companies: Pepe Jeans, Zana-di Jeans, Paco Sports, Ozoc Jeans, Request Jeans and now, a new addition - Sound Girl. Alpha Garments is a family business and each of the subsidiary companies is run by one of the brothers (Sound Girl and Request are managed by Assad's children). Elegantly yet simply attired, Assad ushered us into his modest office, whose shelves were lined with family photos and awards recognizing his numerous business accomplishments. He is involved with every aspect of the business, from production to selling to designing to styling and to promotion. Born and raised in Aleppo, Assad spent several years working in his family's wholesale textiles company before his father gave him a choice: stay in Syria and complete his military requirement or go abroad and study medicine. Assad went to France, where he spent 2 1/2 years, met his future wife (American Mary Thomson), and realized that, "I'm not doctor material. I'm a merchant, a salesman." With the goal of completing his Political Science degree and returning to Syria, he came to the United States, but several years and 6 children later, he knew that, "… the United States is home." "I paid my dues like everybody else. I worked in factories, retail stores, peddling in the streets. Then, we opened a small store…" And from that first small store, Assad and his brothers built their clothing empire. "We did it the old fashioned way, the five of us working together, with a lot of hard work.

This is the secret that enabled us to be successful." Assad described working with his family as, "Many bodies, one heart. We have never had an argument. We all work hard, we all mean well. We have different opinions. We discuss them all and decide together on the right course of action to follow. We all have such commitment to this goal of success." Now, he is contemplating retirement within the next two years and he is preparing to enter a new phase of his life - a time when he can commit himself to contributing his time, ability, and talent to improving the conditions facing Arabs and Arab Americans. Listening to Mr. Jebara speak about his dream, we realized that the driving force behind it is the same driving force that made him such a successful businessman: everyone working together to achieve a common goal. Now, the common goal is unifying Arab Americans. If his philosophy of “many bodies, one heart” is half as successful in this endeavor as it has been in his business, then our country's politicians and media will be standing up and taking notice of this community very soon. We thought we would spend an hour speaking with this clothing magnate in recognition of Fashion Week. What we got instead goes far beyond fashion. You're on the Board of Governors of the AAI. You contribute to many Arab and Arab American causes. Often, when Arab Americans "make it", they distance themselves from their community. Not you. Why is that? I'm deeply proud of where I come from. We also contribute to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. They're doing a great job of helping the people of the Middle East. Since we don't have the time to do this work ourselves, we believe it's important to contribute to those charities or agencies that are doing these good works. How can I distance myself? I'm an Arab. I'm a Muslim. I am very proud of who I am. My kids are Catholic, because of my wife. Who cares? The way I look at it, the commitment to God is very specific. It's a very special relationship between you and God. Nobody has the right to interfere with that. With regard to doing good works, I feel very bad. I wish I could do more. I truly would like to be more helpful. I always tell my wife that I am going to retire in two years and, at that time, I will devote all my time and energy and talent and ability to Arab and Muslim causes, here in New York and globally. Somebody has to step up to the plate and explain the common beliefs. There has to be some clarification of our position. It's not that different, it's not that drastic. We all believe in good, we all reject the evil. How will this be done? Education. We have to educate our people as well as the others. We start with our people. The Arab world has been under brutal dictatorships for the last 50 years. It wasn't in their best interests to educate the people. The world has bypassed the Arab world, in the development of civilization and knowledge. We have been locked in this big jar for the past 50 years. The world was developing and learning and gaining the ability to adjust to new thoughts and ideas and our people have been locked in this big jar, suffocating slowly.

Do you think this is why our people, when they come here and break out of that jar, maintain their distance from each other? Certainly, there is that lack of education. When a mass of people come together, they can form a great power, but individuals have no power. We learn in grammar school, when you put a bunch of sticks together, you can't break them but, individually, you can break every one of them. There's a lack of education here and total political fragmentation throughout the Middle East. During the Middle Ages, when Europe was struggling, we were writing poetry. Now, we are going through our Middle Ages and it's been a long time since the Arab world has been sleeping. We have not woken up yet. It's an uphill battle - internally, with bad leadership and externally, with the United States seeing all of us as terrorists. You told me about an idea, that if there was a way to gather the community leaders together, you would be willing to, on your own, take care of all the expenses. Tell us about this dream. I'm fully involved with my business, but at the same time, I have my dream to find a way to unify this community. My time is limited but I can offer financial backing for this event to be successfully facilitated, to make a general meeting with the Arab leadership, the community leadership, to bring positions, dialogue between different groups about how we can unify and create power in this nation. Unless we come together, we won't get respect and here, you must earn respect. We have a lot of successful and financially well to do members of this community. We could make a good bloc. There have been many meetings like this, but no follow up. Will there be a follow up this time? We have learned enough from Western culture to know that, after you meet, you have to take action. You have to hire professional people to run whatever organization you create whose job it is to follow up. If you ask the people who attend the event, they're all going to say the same thing, "I don't have the time," etc. Any undertaking has to be conducted in a business-like manner to be successful. When are you planning to do this? I have to make phone calls to various friends from different Arab countries. They have to make their own phone calls. I've been thinking about doing this for a number of years but it has never materialized. I mean well but I don't have the time and I never hired anybody. Once we take the first steps, perhaps they will be very encouraging and make us feel obligated to follow through. If you want to make the first push, be my guest. I would be more than happy to follow up.

Would you be willing to receive calls from those who will read this? Oh, man, absolutely. I will hire a person to follow up, if it comes to it. I love my business. I love the merchandising aspect of it and this is why I fall behind in the more personal matters but if this comes through, I'll immediately hire someone. I'll give them an office here, if it's legal. I have to consult my lawyer. If it's not, I'll rent a place.

What would be the objective of this coalition? To form a bigger alliance. To earn respect. We should be respected. We should be looked at as part of this great society. We work hard, like everybody else. We paid our dues. We pay our taxes. We have kids who were born here. Most likely, we'll be buried here. This is our country. What happened on September 11th gave us a tremendous setback. In my own travels, I have never been bothered by anybody. Perhaps the fact that I travel wearing a $2,000 suit and carrying a nice briefcase and a first class ticket has something to do with that. But I know that some of our people are being bothered and harassed and spit on and arrested and intimidated and questioned.

We have two organizations: the Arab American Institute and the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee. What would be different about what you are proposing? We would work in conjunction with the existing organizations. I would invite them to be a part of this. Not every Arab is a part of the AAI or the ADC. I don't want to create a third group. I want to strengthen the ones that currently exist. Our role would be consolidation. Our role would be to encourage people to give, to join. But I don't want to take a leadership role. I want to have a supporting role. In our countries back home, we don't give money. The church and the mosque are taken care of by the State, so people don't give money towards upkeep or rent. We've never had an election so we have never contributed to anyone's campaign. Here, when we have fundraisers, and successful doctors or businesspeople are invited… they could be making 1 or 2 million a year, but when they donate, they give a $50.00 check. I would like to take that check back to the guy and say, "C'mon. Give me a break. You can give more than this." In my industry, there are a lot of Jewish people. I have gone to some of their fundraisers. There are a lot of Arab Jews, too. They understand that finances matter. They give without reservation. Our people don't. We have to encourage our people. But, they live in this country, too; they understand how it works. They just need it to be reinforced with gentle intimidation, more shame (laughter), whatever it takes to come together successfully.

Do you think painting them in a corner has to come after the education or is that the education? It's part of the education, part of the whole process. It's a conversation. They will listen to us, we will listen to them. We have to let them speak their minds and tell us what's going on, tell us what they're thinking about, what they think needs to be done. Are they happy with their position? What do they want to do about it? It's a day to day affair. I don't fly with Northwest Airlines. I used to fly with them prior to September 11th and when I heard about how they were harassing Arab Americans and taking them off their airplanes, I said, "I'll walk to Hong Kong before I take another Northwest flight." We have to unify. We have to force ourselves into certain circles or we will be beaten. Look at a lot of the minorities across the land. They proved themselves. Look at the Black community. Without their leadership, they would be spit on and discriminated against far more than what goes on right now.

How much do you think we can learn from the Jewish, Black, and Hispanic communities? There is plenty to learn from all of them. But they were born with a certain mindset, a certain education, preparing them. We never had that. We have a lot of Arab Americans who were born and raised in this great nation. And a lot of us have been here for many years. We have learned plenty. We understand it. And those of us who lack that education, once we know who they are, we will be happy to educate them. Whatever we have to do, we will respond to those needs. You spoke about the media and how they disrespect and dismiss us. Why haven't grants or scholarships been created to invest in the younger generation, to encourage Arab American aspiring journalists? We're not organized. We're not unified. You can find, in one community, Arabs from 10 different countries, but they are so splintered. We can overcome it all with the right leadership. We have our differences and issues, of course, but we also have a lot in common. It takes time, organization, and money. It's doable. I would like to do it, whatever it takes.

Do you think you will have the patience to take this on? People are going to question your motives. I don't need anyone's money, number one. I have proven myself, number two. I raised 6 kids with my wife. I have plenty of patience to deal with the issues, and the nonsense, the good sense, the sickening people, the smart ones, the not so smart ones. In such an undertaking, you truly must have a massive heart - to be forgiving, to be the bigger brother. I think I do. But, again, this is a mission, this is a purpose. You don't do it for luxury. It's a commitment to help my people. I will be helping myself because I am a part of these people. We're in really bad shape. People tell me stories about cab drivers with Muslim or Arabic names. It's sad. What the Federal government says and does are totally contrary to the fundamental elements of this great nation. We have a Constitution that is second to none and they are abusing every single bit of it. The extreme Right and the fundamentalist Christians are poisoning the environment for Arabs and Muslims in general. We need to consolidate all of the existing organizations, so that we have more power and more money and more memberships. We need good leadership; professional people working with the organizations to consolidate the efforts, organize the meetings, etc. Minority group organizations are always run by professionals. Even the AAI and the ADC have paid professionals working there. Unfortunately, the pay is not great. We are fortunate that we have the AAI and the ADC. They're both doing tremendous jobs, but they're short on money. You need money for mailings, rent, overhead, salaries, bills. This is part of what the coalition I want to organize has to address. We have to pass a message to our people: Step up and contribute! Once, someone from AAI told me he was working in Florida for about 5 or 6 months preparing a trip for Dr. Jim Zogby. Finally, they got together about 50 doctors. They raised 10 or 15 thousand dollars. Each one of them could contribute that much on their own. To me, it's a sign of ignorance. We have to formulate our goals. Maybe it's to help those two organizations enroll more members and raise more money. Our role would be to bring the largest number of people together and contribute as much as possible - financially and emotionally - and to earn the respect from this great culture we live in - be a part of the mainstream. We don't want to be abused, we don't want to be called names in the press, and we don't want negative insinuations made about our culture. But nobody is going to just give us respect. We have to earn it.

Antoine Faisal is the publisher-Editor of ARAMICA newspaper, New York