An Arab-American Marine hid his ethnicity throughout training out of fear

Evidence

From his time in basic training to Camp Lejeune and then to job school at Twentynine Palms, Sami told no one that he was Arab-American. And until he got to Kuwait, he had never mentioned that he spoke Arabic. He was blessed with a relatively ambiguous-sounding name and dark good looks. Everywhere he went, Dan was with him, and they had bunked together as well. Everyone simply thought he was Hispanic. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 214

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s earlier pattern of Arab-Americans concealing identity, and to ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ in the library where the protagonist similarly navigates post-9/11 identity concealment and assumptions.
• SEED: An essay angle: the passport of ambiguity — how ‘ambiguous’ looks grant passing privilege to marginalized people, and what that passing costs.