Under the veil of racism

Racism is a complex and ugly concept that one usually associates with the trying times of African American slavery in the early 1900s. It comes as a shock to many people, especially to my peers in the United States, when I mention that a certain level of racial discrimantion exists, pretty strongly, in the Arab world. A few have said to me: "but how come? Arabs aren't really white, so they can't really be racist." Oh, but they can. See, they're not black.

I can't put my finger on when it was exactly that I realized my being black made me stand out from amongst my Arab friends through middle and high school. I fondly remember an incident in 1991 living in the harsh winterland of Helsinki, Finland. My family was most definitly a striking difference to the regular Finnish blond haired blue eyed, fair-skinned family. We were riding on the bus heading into town. My father is on the dark end of the "color spectrum" (I say color spectrum, because its significance will be later explained in this post). A little Finnish girl gazed up at this dark man with her bright blue eyes and courageously rubbed my father's arm. She inquisitvely looked at her hand, in pure amazement that the "black" did not rub off.

It wasn't that moment, though.

There was this time, when, in high school, I was sitting with a group of my friends in the hallway. One of the boys, a regular jokester, made a very loud, very funny comment, apparently, saying to me: "Noon, what do YOU know? You're a maid, anyways!" Abda was the word he used. Technically meaning, a slave, referring to Black slaves. The laughter that vibrated across the hallway was strange. It wasn't the attacking, intending to hurt ME. It was that the joke was just sincerely FUNNY to these people. That's where the prejudice is a little different. It's just....accepted.

Speaking purely from my experience in Saudi Arabia, now. I don't care what anybody says. Racism exists. It's stench stretches across the Saudi man's disgusted gaze at "the help" - whether it be a Filipino maid, or an Indian driver; it exists on the words of the young boys driving by my car yelling "ya Asmarani!" (a fond way of saying: Hey black one!); it exists in the thousands of commercials emphasizing the beauty of fair skin; it exists in the obsolteness of a darker skinned Arab singer; and through nonchalant abda jokes.

It's funny because it's not a concept Arabs - whether dark skinned or not - really think about or discuss. Or, perhaps, the more correct thing to say is that it is not KNOWN that the issue is being talked about, given widespread integrated media censorship.


I remember two incidents in Lebanon and Egypt in which, upon passing by some locals, something to the effect of: "oh how pretty she is, too bad she's Black" - was shouted towards me. Now, the strange thing is in some cases, like the above, is that these locals were acutally sincere in their comments, and I know to them, its not a matter of racism. It's a matter of preference. Fair skin in the Arab world is historically a sign of beauty. So, as much as I wanted to shout back at the ignorance of random discriminatory messages, I hold myself back because it's a cultural thing. I told myself not to get upset when, oddly enough, Arabs would enthusiastically say "show us a rap!" or "do that new Janet Jackson move!" My response always upset them, yielding a "what kind of a Black person are you anwaysys?" All I could think to myself was - "the kind that's from Sudan."


If we venture past the Middle East into the Black Continent, or Africa, it is quite ironic that you will also come across a different kind of race issues. Speaking particularly on Sudan, now. Sudan - its root "sood" means "black" - so "land of the Black". One would think the racial pride radiating from the "land of the Black" is widespread. However, that is not quite the case. Society places a lot of emphasis on women's beauty, strongly dependent on the lightness of the skin! It is very common to find a Sudanese woman who uses special creams to bleach her skin or uses enormous amounts of makekup to ligthen their complexion creating a clown-like appearance. Even within families, it is quite common to play favorites among the daugthers of lighter complexion, who usually are awarded for their "beauty" by being a hot commodity for marriage. Now, this is not a trend that is characterized in each family in Sudan and, nowadays with the overarching channels of media and the new generation of globalized youngsters, it is not something that is as apparent as the past. But the concept of the "color spectrum" totally exists. You hear it on the old Sudanese women's random comments rambling that "it's fine she's not THAT dark" or "she's fair-skinned; absolutely beautiful!"


There's a fine line between a preference of race and then the outward disrespect. I turned on my TV during the holy month of Ramadan a couple of months ago (September-ish) and, like many ex-patriats living in the region, was surprised at what I was watching. Recently awareness campaigns have taken a step forward and produced several ads like the following:

Translation: “Put it. Don’t you understand me? Put the rice! DAMNIT! Go, get out of my face.”
“What’s wrong with her, doesn’t she understand?”
“She’s abnormal.”

Translation:


Scene 1: "Rahma! Come here! What's wrong with this ironing? Looks horrible, like your face! Just like your work, horrible!"


Scene 2:"Sir, can I get my salary? I haven't gotten my salary for 2 months."

"You're annoying me! I told you, I have no money. You want me to go steal for you or what? There are some people that haven't received their salary for 3 or 4 months!"


Scene 3: "God damn you! Hurry up! Where the hell did you come from anyway?!"


Scene 4: "Excuse me sir, I would like to get your permission to go visit my daughter and check up on her at the hospital."

"What do you mean you would like to be excused? Work is work. After the shift, you can go check on her. Am I responsible for your family as well?"



Scene 5: (text) Those who do not show mercy


"Oh God, show mercy on me, please. Help me, my Lord, I am weak."

(text) Will not be shown mercy.

These "Rahma" ads or "Mercy" ads have just recently been widely circulated across the Middle East. Incidents like the ones presented in the two advertisements, are largely common within the Arab world and are reflective of how some maids and drivers are treated in households. Whether their message has proven effective is hard to tell, however, I strongly beleive that the initiative in producing such strong public service annoucnements is a great first step. The cultural image of race is something that is quite complex. It is quite embedded within society, I don't know if we need a Martin Luther King Jr. to rile up the masses in order to confront the issue or an Erykah Badu to break the mold, but I think that the first step in uncovering the racism that exists in the Arab world would be in not pretending the veil has nothing to hide. Indeed mentalities are difficult and seemingly impossible to change, however, I am enthusiastic to see how the sands of time that blew through the decades of slavery unveiling an African American president, will blow through the deserts of our history, as well.