At the same time, the goals and achievements of the Pen League could no longer be followed, as the increase in anti-Arab racism (in the wake of the Arab-Israeli conflict then unfolding) made the writers' Arab heritage more of a burden to them, giving them a sense of a "dislocated past".[14] Eventually, with the rise of ethnic pride movements in the latter half of the century, Arab American writers realized that Rizk's willingness to criticize his native culture was counter-productive, reinforcing ugly stereotypes and making Arab American readers feel even less free.[3] Rizk thus stands as a testament to his age, to the changing tides of Arab American history and its vacillation between assimilation and diversity.[15]