One Of The Bad Guys?

AS A CHILD IN THE 1960S, I THOUGHT MY RELATIVES were famous. It seemed like they were in many Hollywoodmovies, often playing similar roles. OK. They weren't the headliners, but they did appear alongside stars like Paul Newman (""Exodus''), Sophia Loren (""Judith'') and Kirk Douglas (""Cast a Giant Shadow''). My ""relatives'' always played the ""terrorists.''

As I grew older, though, I realized that those actors were not my relatives, at all. They just looked like them. They have that ""terrorist'' look, and so do I. I can safely assure you, though, I don't have the mannerisms. I'm tired of seeing my likeness wielding an AK-47, murdering innocent women and children, getting stomped by Arnold Schwarzenegger (""True Lies''), or Harrison Ford (""Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''), or Kurt Russell (""Executive Decision''), and now Bruce Willis (""The Siege'').

I'm Arab-American. And for some reason, Hollywood seems to think it's OK to portray all Arabs--and all Muslims, for that matter--as the bad guys. I don't mean just bad. I mean really bad. It makes me so angry I want to get in my half-track with my 50-caliber howitzer that's parked in my two-Hummer garage, drive to the center of town and start shooting! I mean, isn't that what you've come to expect Arabs to do?

After I was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1975, the FBI opened a file on me. It began with the ominous suggestion that I might be involved in ""suspected'' terrorist organizations, but the investigation concluded two years and 23 pages later that I was concerned only about improving the condition of my community. The investigation seemed based on the assumption that because I was an Arab, I must also be a potential terrorist. Most of the juicy text was blocked out with heavy, black Magic Markered lines, so it's hard to know for sure.

Hollywood movies are founded on the same assumption, that the Arab is the terrorist. I once thought movies were just entertainment, but they're much more. It's at the movies that the public learns about people like me. And it's also where I compare myself to the characters on the screen and wonder if there really is something wrong with me. How did my look suddenly become something so sinister? My eyes become even darker and more deep set? My accent heavier? I begin to question myself. Why is this person who looks like me so angry he wants to murder and harm innocent people? What is it that makes him wreak havoc and wanton suffering upon an innocent world?

Occasionally, there is an upside to being pegged as a terrorist. Once at Miami International Airport, a gaggle of people all wearing the same light gray jackets were following me around the terminal. Finally, introducing themselves as airport security, they directed me to a room where they rifled through my bags and grilled me about my travel history. They held up the embarrassing evidence of my terrorism. Wood carved heads. Goofy-looking hats. And dirty clothes.