Abstract
Sayyid Sadiq was born in northern Lebanon in the area of Batron where family worked in agriculture. He has three brothers and one sister. He owns a gas station in Berea. His grandfather was a brick layer in Cleveland. He came first to the US (Mississippi) in 1977 because of the Civil War in Lebanon. After graduation from the University of Mississippi with a BS degree, he worked for a while in Chicago in steel. Sayyid went back to Lebanon and then to Saudi Arabia. He came back to US in 1989 to Cleveland where he has relatives in Berea. He met his wife, who used to live Detroit, in Cleveland and got married in 1989. They have two sons that graduated from universities and left Cleveland. He thinks that the story of the Arabs in Cleveland a story of success.
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Interviewee
Sadiq, Sayyid (interviewee)
Interviewer
Tayyara, Abedel (interviewer)
Project
Arab Community in Cleveland
Date
8-13-2016
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
46 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Sayyid Sadiq interview, 13 August 2016" (2016). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 345008.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/972
Transcript
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:00:01] Okay. Today is August 13. This is Abedelraman Tayyara. We have today Sayyid Sadiq with us.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:00:15] Thank you.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:00:17] So I would like to start, if you tell us, give me some information about your family yourself.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:00:26] Yeah. I was born in Lebanon region north in a very small village in Batroon area. It’s called Zan. And most family we were working in agriculture. And when we grow up as kids, we moved to Batroon where better school system was. And we live in Batrun area for our life till high school. And every summer we used to go back to Zen, where we spent our summer.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:01:20] So what was your family and your childhood like, if you can share with us?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:01:33] Well, my family work in agriculture. That’s what you want to know, agriculture. Even in upper mountain where lot of rocks, little of what you call it main farmland. So it was hard farming. So we used to grow. We had olives, olive trees. We used to grow tobacco for maybe five. Yeah, five acre, I would say. And we had what they call this Harir silk. Silk. We used to grow silk or cotton. No, silk. Silk. Silk. But. But silk comes from. From warm.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:02:46] Yeah.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:02:47] We used to grow to war the worm. To. To have a silk from them and sell it to the government agent.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:02:58] Oh, interesting. So you had a lot of mulberry trees.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:03:03] Yeah. You call it mulberry? Yeah, yeah, the toot. Yeah. We used to have this. And the agent. It’s government control agents. They’ll buy from us the. The silk, you know. And they have the factory to open up and make the material. Silk material. That’s one of them. And that’s what we had in that country. And I feel after I grow up, and I feel that’s hard farming in a mountain. You know, it’s not like, as easy as when you have flat land with a good topsoil in it. You know, we had some kind of little fruits, which we had good fig trees, good grape trees, which we could make our own. Arrack from grapevine 18. We also dried it out to have it for the next winter. You know, usually every individual food in the winter being prepared during the fall and summer, you know. So how many siblings you have, okay, in the family? Mom and dad and we’re four brother, one sister. I’m the twin brother, middle one. I have older brother and younger brother, and me and my twin, and my sister is the youngest.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:05:22] So all of your siblings living now in Lebanon?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:05:25] Yes, all of them in Lebanon. And my dad passed away. My mom passed away. So one brother, he’s a teacher, he retired like last year. My older brother work in chemical factory as. No, not chemical. It’s oil repackaging factory. I think this what they call it. I’m not sure much about it just in Batroon, because we still have. We own a house in Batroon. And every one of them live in an apartment in Batroon. And this house in Batrum was bought by our grandfather who was Cleveland citizen back in 40, 50 and 60. Yeah, he was. My grandfather was bricklayer in Cleveland. Yeah. But my father, my uncle didn’t come to Cleveland. Only one uncle came here. And he was Cleveland citizen for all his life. Till he moved retirement in Florida.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:07:05] So no one now from your siblings living in Zain, like working?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:07:11] No, they live in Zane. Beside we live in batroon. Every one of them has his apartment in batroom. We have also three houses in Zen, one house where my brothers live with their family. And one house was the biggest house. I bought it from my uncle and I still own it. And it’s gonna be for my kids. This is the way I like my kids to keep heavy string between us and Lebanon.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:07:55] So, like, how frequent do you call your siblings?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:07:59] And almost every week I call my sister and she spreads the news. If there is any different news and normality.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:08:10] Yeah. Now I want to ask you why you decided to come to Cleveland and you are the only one among your siblings to come, I understand.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:08:20] Yeah. War start 72 and was my end of my B’s degree in private college to be like to work as nautical engineer. I finished the degree with four or five people, you know, and my colleague in college. They came to us for more like master degree, whatever, but didn’t have to be aeronautical. So we came to us university. They came ahead of me. And by then, which myself, I’m. I was against the civil war or, you know, or carrying arm back then. So I decided to go away somewhere or go and work as a technician other country or come to us. I decide to come to us to finish my master degree. And if I can have a job or, you know, settle in us, I might bring my parents. Because it was no end of a tunnel in the middle of the war. There were no end. Everybody feels that he’s gonna beat his enemy. But nobody in Lebanon can beat his enemy or nobody can eliminate, you know, any sector in the country. Our country is built on 16 ethnic group. The government, what do they call it in our constitution, you know, the government admit 16 ethnic group in Lebanon from Muslim to Christian, all kind of group to even Jewish. We used to have Jewish and we used to have, what they call it some group, I don’t know about it. Sikh or group. No, we didn’t have official Sikh in Lebanon, but there is some group which I don’t know about it, like Jehovah Witness or Druze. Druze, it’s well known. Druze is the third. Third one in Lebanon, fourth one after, you know, the Catholic, Maronite and Baptist, whatever. Anyway, it’s multi, multi ethnic group in Lebanon and we didn’t see ant for the war. So I decided to come finish my degree and see if I can help my parent through this being here, you know, when I came here, I came 1977, I graduated from Ole Miss University of Mississippi in the south, because my friend were there and they give me the approval for to be approved admission as a student. And I graduate from there and I work one year in Chicago in steel preheated mill in Chicago. Then eighties came over and economy was little bad after, by the end of quarter, you remember. So I was a lowest seniority. And they were talking, taking fire, not firing, laying off people. So I was laid off. So I decided to go back to Lebanon. And from Lebanon I went to Saudi Arabia for seven years work as engineer in prefab houses factory. Yeah, I helped a little bit, my family. Then I decide to come back to us, because back then, even in the eighties, there was a bad civil war going on, I would call it. I decided to come back to us. I came back to us. Us. 1989. Yeah. Within a year, I got married. And here we are. But.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:14:10] But why you decided to come to Cleveland?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:14:12] Okay. I have a relative here, one thing. And I was thinking to go even with my. To my friend, you know, in. In West coast. So I came with my rel. I mean, I brought my relative with me as she’s an old lady. And when I came to Cleveland, I could not go to the west for reasons. The guy, I know, he was leaving and I didn’t have a job. And here in Berea, I had some relatives and they had a little bit of job, you know, and I said, I survived with any kind of job, which I did with them, and they were growing up in their work, so I stayed. I said, why not? By that time I met my wife and we got married here and not in Cleveland. Got married in Detroit. Because she was also immigrant like me. She had her own struggle to stay here. So we got married in Detroit, where she lived, and we live in Detroit for one year. But we. I didn’t like it much. So I came back to Cleveland.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:15:51] So how you met your wife?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:15:56] One guy introduced me to them. She was with a friend by the church, Cleveland church, Maronite Church on Carnegie. We met and I said, okay, we’ll talk about it. She said she accepts the call and talk and phone number, whatever. So I kept calling and talking and got caught.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:16:25] So you met in Cleveland?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:16:27] Yeah, we met in Cleveland first time. Then she was living in Detroit. So I had to go to Detroit and we arranged for our wedding, whatever, you know. Back then I didn’t have even my, my green card. She had her green card. I tried also to join the university because I was on student visa, you know, didn’t work much. I work and I went to university, but I felt I don’t have the guts to go back to the, you know, school. So I decided to come back to Cleveland and work with my relatives. They were in success of their business. Construction and construction actually pay better rate than others, which I like construction too. I used to do construction in Saudi Arabia. So I stay here at work construction for few years. And after a few years I opened a gas station. And I got caught with the gas station. Even I didn’t like it much at retail. So by still now for last 25 years, I still own the gas station. And now I’m working gas station like business went down for individuals. So with a big corporation opening right and left. So my business went down quite bad. So I decided and I got tired of gas station by itself and I could not sell it the way I want. So now I’m working in a, during day as a truck driver with a company with a benefit. Benefit, I mean health insurance benefit, you know, instead of paying arm and leg for health insurance. And it’s okay, I’m still surviving, still want to sell my gas station. My kids graduate this year. That’s what make me happy about everything I did what I did because both of them are college graduate and one of them is already got the job after he went to internship with a good company last two years and now he, he worked for North Carolina and much older one, he got his master degree in political science and he’s no, he got first B’s degree or BA, you know, they call it from Ohio State. He worked for Ohio State in Washington DC. They have office for two years. Then he decided to go for master degree. He quit the job and he went to Boston Tuft University, Tufts University. And he graduated in master degree in political science. And now he’s trying to find decent job for what he work for.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:20:50] I want to ask you about your involvement in the life of the Arab community here in Cleveland. I mean, to what extent you are, you see yourself involved.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:21:01] I tell you the truth, I’m not involved much in, if you’re talking or Arabic community or Lebanese community. I know every country has its own community and there’s involvement for all Arab. Somehow myself, I’m not involved much in it. I feel majority, I’m not saying everybody, but I feel majority are show off people. And I don’t like this one. I mean, sorry to say, but this how it is, involvement in other like Arabic community, it’s very diversified, let’s put it this way. The way I look at it, Palestinians want to be on their own. Lebanese won’t be their own, Syria won’t be their own. And also because we’re all Middle Eastern, okay, there’s a lot of show off. So that’s why I don’t involve, besides that, I work seven days a week in this station, especially for last ten years because, you know, the business for individual being going down, you know, as a gas station. I mean ten years ago you didn’t see giant Eagle perk fuel, gas, right? You didn’t see sheets, right? You didn’t see even speedway with 20 pumps, right? They’re all around us now. So I feel this business is for corporation anymore, not for individual, you know. So I had to work, I would say minimum 16 hours a day every day for last ten years. I don’t like it. Sure. I don’t like it. I like to sell it, sure. I like to sell it yesterday, before today, this part of it that I’m busy. I don’t want to involve in Arabic or Lebanese community, you know, because I’ve seen, as I said, show off. I cannot, I don’t want to go farther, you know, or explain detail about it. But there’s so many people of them, you know, which I don’t know how they think, but. But I feel bad that we don’t have good Arabic organization. You know, it’s always what? Since first year I came to us, I don’t see any kind of, or Arabic organization or Lebanese by itself or Syrian by itself or whatever. Most of them are, you know, fighting each other, whatever, like it happened in Middle east, happened overseas. Believe me, that’s how it is. That’s how it is. So. And I was from beginning against carrying arm as a Christian in Lebanon and be military, maronite or christian militant from day one. Why? Because we had the upper hand in the government, you know, in the constitution of Lebanon, the Christian were the upper hand, and they didn’t know how to, you know, apply this constitution, you know, and live in a free world and democratic world. By end of our war, we lost our powerful stand in Lebanon. That’s the way it looked at me. But people think, oh, they were gonna drive us out, you know, to us, you cannot drive full ethnic from their land to somewhere else. It could be some refugee here and there, but you cannot drive out. Anyway, that’s a politics, which I hear it.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:26:12] So how you make you maintain connection to the Arabic culture here? I’m sure sometimes you have, like, you feel homesick.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:26:23] Yeah, I do. Here, let’s say here in Berea, we had like ten family from my village and next door village, and we used to have our own group, you know, every occasion we used to get together and we had a guy, he succeed in his construction, the one I said before that I work for him, you know, and he became well situated financially, whatever, you know, and he used to have parties and, you know, getting together every now and then, you know, and we used to play cards, you know, whereas just how we maintain, like, smaller group, we related even. I mean, my mom from his family. So I’m talking about Klim’s family here in Berea. And there were a couple more houses from the area, same village, you know, here, which clean family helped them in here, you know, to come in, whatever. And we were working for him, you know, I was working for him and I worked for him sometime in the summer when it’s rush season.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:28:29] So when you feel sometimes homesick, you know what you miss most when you think about Lebanon?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:28:40] I miss most the open air, the smell of the countryside, of Lebanon, tell you the truth. Yeah. If you go here, there’s park. It’s natural nights, three, whatever. It’s not like being in a mountain in Lebanon and, and open up your, your, your chest to the, to the clean air. That’s maybe I miss most. And that’s why now I’m planning if I can retire, go back to Zen, stay in Zen without maybe cell phone, unless I have to call my kids, I’m sure they’re here. And maybe if I watch tv, one, maybe hour a day, not more. And the rest, beer. In the nature of, you know, the Middle east, it’s not because I’m from Lebanon, and Lebanon has nice weather, whatever. Everybody, you know, love where he was born. Everybody, even I hear about stories about India, Pakistanis, Filipino, whatever, okay? Because when I was in Saudi Arabia, I met this labor. They were under my supervision in the factory, and I was in contact with them and see how they feel. Every one of them feel the place he was born from, everyone. And I feel even my kids now, they were born in Berea, right? They will go now wherever they move in us and their job, take them here and there, you know, they’re gonna feel the Berea in Ohio means a lot to them, no matter what.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:31:02] So when, when was the last time that you visited Lebanon?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:31:06] Uh, 19, 2010.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:31:09] With the kids?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:31:11] No, with the kids. Last time visit with them was 2000. I took them both and I stayed for a month and I had time to take months vacation, but their mom was here. Then after a couple years, they went with their mom. Then yearling. No, I’m talking 2020. Your mom, what time you went with your one mom? Zero four and zero seven. Then I went. They went last year by themselves. I could not go because of my work. She went couple time after that, and I like to go. Lebanon built up my house, you know, my house is nice house in Zane and live in Zen.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:32:19] So do, in 2010, when you visited, do you notice, did you notice that.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:32:25] The things changed in that area in Lebanon? Not much. Yeah, the people changed, but not, not the nature, not the lives you, you like to live it, it didn’t change. So how people change, in your opinion, too bad, too. Social media affect everybody anymore. Let’s say in a countryside you used to, we used to call it Hackney Swain. Okay. Was not. This was a social media. How can this win right now? Social media, it’s everybody. Nisuen Ghana, Swain. When Amir comes from five years old up to 60 years old, they want to stay on their phone and see what’s in the media. Social media, you know what I mean? Yeah, give me any ten years old kid, doesn’t know about Facebook, doesn’t know about Twitter, doesn’t know about, you know, all that thing. Besides that, there’s kind of, I think, negative reflection from the war and diversity in the country. Okay. People don’t like each other no more. Not like used to be. Used to be. And I remember, because I’m already 65 years, when I was little kid, I used to remember that in a church on Saturday, if the priest will say tomorrow, we’re gonna have doing like something for, let’s say in old days, it didn’t have concrete. And by that years, when we start doing concrete for houses in the fifties, early sixties, it says they’re gonna do concrete for a house in a village next day. Would be most village. Okay. Getting together to do that big job was what? In one day, you know, and mostly it happened or Sunday or Saturday, but during a week, everybody go to his own job. By the weekend, they will do the, let’s say community work. Community work, it’s a free, you know, and community work, it’s for something somebody cannot do it for on his own or his handicap or. Or he’s sick or, you know, can be done in. But one day, that’s what happened in a village.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:35:48] I want to move to life in Cleveland. In comparison with other immigrants group in Cleveland. Do you think the story of Arab emigrants?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:36:03] Yeah, for sure. Positive. If I look now, look, if you take it now, in every corner there’s Lebanese has a store or gas station or a business factory. Not many in manufacturing, but has succeeded in a restaurant, you know, I would say yes, positive, 90%. I don’t want to say 100%.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:36:47] But would you say that the contribution of Arabs is limited to certain areas or can.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:36:54] What kind of contribution?
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:36:55] Like, you know, for example, for the economy of Cleveland, you talk about, you know, many Arabs here, Japanese, Palestinians, they own their own stores, gas stations and restaurants also. So this is the economic area. But can you tell me more in your opinion, do you think that they.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:37:18] Contribute culture to our culture? Like Arab contribute to the American? For sure. I’ll give you example. This Aladdin. Yeah. This one sham own. If you heard about him, he’s very successful business in restaurant and pizza place places in the whole area. And one time he was interviewed by a plain dealer for his success. Back then he had a pizza. Now he had a ladder restaurant. It’s a chain, you know, and it’s well known in the area. One thing, subway stores, it’s American owned. But in where is they succeed most? In Cleveland area where two Lebanese were in charge of subway stores. So two Lebanese guys were in charge of Lebanese of subway stores, you know, and subway boom up for last 20 years in Cleveland area. That’s one thing. Warehouses. There’s Palestinian warehouses. Now. I don’t know most of them, but I would say like seaway, I think it’s owned by Palestinian. Do you hear about that? I think so. You know, and I know they had couple more warehouses, even Arabic store in the east side, in west side, in the middle, and sovereign whatever. If you count the Arabic store from far east to far west to south, wherever. Okay, let’s make. Make a lot of engagement in the economy of Cleveland. You know, you go to store, just one store. I’m telling you, let’s say 117, maybe you know him. It’s. It’s 117 south of Lorena. Okay. That guy, they have three register. You know him, his brother or whatever relative on a register. He has three register mean his store never empty from customer. And this trade, he’s doing it, okay. It means he’s getting Lebanese. Middle eastern product, right? Palestinian product, Lebanese product, whatever. Jordan product, Syrian product is getting this. And his big store, you know, and I think he sell. He has warehouse too, you see? Yeah. This contribute. If you wanna talk also about what. What else. What kind of Arabic has also post, let’s say employment. There’s so many of them. They’ve been employed with the cities, okay? And they have a good job. That’s the way I look at it, you know? But things change, you know. I always individual think for better or, you know, could be better for us, you know, if we’re in together. But this is how it is.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:41:46] So if you can tell me like about the difficulty. Do you think that they have some difficulties, Arabs in Cleveland?
Sayyid Sadiq [00:41:56] I don’t call it difficulty. We laugh at it. I don’t call it difficulty. Yeah, challenges, yeah. There’s some American, I would call them redneck. I should not say this. Some American. They don’t like foreigners, okay? No matter what you do to them, they don’t like foreigners. No matter what you be nice to them, they don’t like foreigners. As we’re Arab and Middle Eastern, we have a dignity. And sometimes we fight with them with couple words, okay? And sometimes we get away from them. But yeah, that’s. I call it. It’s bothering mean. It bother me. Yeah, bother me when I see somebody doesn’t like some ethnic. And could be his father or his grandfather from Europe. Because you see, he has red hair or whatever, European or Russia, or he could be from Middle east, but maybe white, you know what I mean? So these people, they don’t understand. And I call them uneducated people. That’s why it doesn’t bother me myself. They’re uneducated people completely. That’s all. That’s what bother me. Otherwise, no, it doesn’t bother me. There’s heal in us, there’s rule of law, whatever. Roy, say you’re on the side of it. That’s it.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:43:50] So we can close out to the end of this interview. So I would like to ask you last word that if you want to say anything. So it’s up to you. Like doing this interview with maybe a recommendation or to Arab Emirates, immigrants or. What do you think? Like, maybe 20 years from now, how you would see the Arab, you know, community in Cleveland.
Sayyid Sadiq [00:44:20] I’ll tell you, maybe my last word about it, or my suggestion, everybody likes the community. To be together on my day is not gonna happen. You know, like, I would say middle eastern community, the Arabic community. Okay. It’s not gonna happen soon. On my days, it’s not gonna happen because I was here in 77, and I was my first year, you know, first I came and visit my uncle. He was here always. There’s this kind of problems, you know, and I feel that it’s not going to happen as good, strong organization, good lobbyist organization. You know, if. Unless we’re all together from or Arabic together, I would say Arabic. I’m. I’m mean prejudice for the Arabic, and I’m prejudiced for Lebanon. I’m saying, as I am Arabic Lebanese, we should have good organization to lobby and being strong.
Abedelraman Tayyara [00:46:08] Okay. So I would like to thank you for this interview.
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