James Abourezk

James George Abourezk (/ˈæbərɛsk/ AB-ur-esk; February 24, 1931 – February 24, 2023) was an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party from South Dakota, he served as a United States senator and a United States representative for one term each; he was the first Arab to serve in the United States Senate. In 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) with the goal of counteracting anti-Arab sentiment in the country. He served in the United States Navy during the Korean War, but was also a critic of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly with regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Under his leadership, the ADC became especially active following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf War, during which he became concerned about the rising rate of targeted hate crimes against Arabs and also against people misidentified as Arabs.

Abourezk represented South Dakota in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973 and in the United States Senate from 1973 to 1979. He was the author of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was passed by the United States Congress in 1978 to help preserve the families and culture of Native Americans. As a federal law, it gives Native tribal governments exclusive jurisdiction over children who reside on or are domiciled on a Native reservation; and it gives them concurrent, but presumptive jurisdiction over foster care placement proceedings for children who do not live on a Native reservation.