God Bless America/Amreeka

So I came across a movie preview for a film called Amreeka the other day. Naturally I was intrigued. Amreeka, pronounced “Umreeka”, for those of you who don’t know, is the brown man’s name for America. This particular film, is about a Palestinian family’s journey to America. Looks cute, check out the trailer below.

My question, though, is about the origin of the word “Amreeka.” According to an interview with Cherian Dabis, director of Amreeka, “Amreeka is the Arabic word for America.”