Photo © Faruk Kaymak, Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Esfahan, Iran, unsplash
“AND AMONG HIS SIGNS ARE THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS A N D T H E E A R T H, A N D T H E D I V E R S I T Y O F Y O U R T O N G U E S A N D C O L O R S. S U R E L Y I N T H I S T H E R E A R E S I G N S F O R A L L M A N K I N D.”
— T H E R O M A N S, Q U R A N, 30:22
Dismantling Racism BY SERENA ABDALLAH
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s the daughter of Lebanese Muslim immigrants growing up in post-September 11th Virginia, I have experienced my own share of prejudice from people who did not understand my background or faith. Though I have now grown into better understanding my identity, both within and separately from American politics, I never questioned marking “white” on government forms or standardized tests as a child, because that is what I was told to do. I did not then understand the history that led to this choice of identification, or the fact that it did not fully extend its sup1 posed protections to Middle Eastern and Muslim people. People could usually tell that my family was “something,” but they could not always pinpoint that we are Middle Eastern. Most of my classmates had never heard of Lebanon and had never heard the Arabic language. Furthermore, my family and I did not wear religious dress, we did not go to mosque, and we celebrated Christmas and Easter. We would also attend festivals honoring the Virgin Mary while visiting family in Lebanon, and I have always found comfort in incense my mother gifted me 1
I use this term generally for the sake of easily following along in this article, though the identifier of “Middle Eastern” is a colonial term that does not properly reflect the various ethnicities in West Asia.
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from the shrine of a Maronite saint. I endlessly confused my white classmates and their families who did not understand the overlap between Islam and Christianity, especially in Lebanon where Muslims and Christians have lived together for centuries. Though I felt isolated by my peers and was occasionally on the receiving end of racist and Islamophobic remarks, overall my family and I were able to move through life without fear that who we are would bring us harm. I feel this is in great part due to an Arab and Middle Eastern alignment with whiteness. Not just because there are many of us who are white-passing, but because of a cognizant choice that Syrian and Lebanese immigrants made decades ago to align with whiteness, and what whiteness means for quality of life in the United States. My father was a man who embodied what I understood to be the American dream; he came to the United States with nothing and built a life for himself and his family with my mother. While my parents always emphasized the importance of our Lebanese culture and Muslim faith, my father was also tirelessly interested in and knowledgeable about American politics 2
Editor’s Note: Both Muslims and Catholics share a devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus A M AT T E R O F S P I R IT
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and this country’s influence and position stand on the same platform as white on countless issues. He taught me to see Americans so as to not be kicked off of what is hidden and to listen for what is “WHEN GOD HIMSELF that pedestal. It is troubling that many only whispered in this country. As I have PROCLAIMED THAT OUR Arab migrants felt such immense presgotten older, I have delved into the hisDIVERSITY IS A SIGN sure upon coming to the United States tories of Middle Eastern migration to the FROM HIM ALONGSIDE that they turned their backs on Asian United States, how Western influence THE CREATION OF THE and Black Americans in this country in sowed racism amongst Middle Eastern HEAVENS AND THE an attempt to be accepted. Racism and people and other minorities, and how our E A R T H, W H O A R E W E T O prejudice continue to run rampant in mifaiths have been weaponized to divide us. R E J E C T T H A T G I F T, T O nority communities, and Arab Americans When people from Greater Syria— DETERMINE THAT WE around the country no longer identify now modern-day Syria and Lebanon— K N O W B E T T E R.” as “white” as it has become clearer and first migrated to the United States, we clearer that we do not have the same privcould not become naturalized citizens ileges as white Americans of European because we were from continental Asia. At this time, Asians descent. Muslim Arab Americans are falling victim to prejudice could not become citizens, and migration from Asia was limited and discrimination and becoming further ostracized as foreignby law. This developed into a fight to be recognized as white, ers, regardless of our shared culture and ethnicity with our Arab which included comparing ourselves to Europeans, subclassify- Christian neighbors. As the country still finds itself divided after ing ourselves as “Arabs” due to a shared linguistic identity with Trump’s America, do we continue this trickling down of preju3 Arab people under the Arabic language, and emphasizing the dice amongst minorities, or do we come together and fully reshared practice of Christianity with other white Americans, as alize that we are all of common standing? When God himself the earliest Arab migrants were mostly Christians. This was all proclaimed that our diversity is a sign from Him alongside the done to distance ourselves from racism against Asians to have a creation of the heavens and the earth, who are we to reject that chance at building a life in America. While we were eventually gift, to determine that we know better? recognized as legally white, prejudice towards us still existed, People who use God and faith as a justification for hateful which caused many migrants to abandon their backgrounds speech and behavior have lost their way, but this does not mean and change their names upon coming to the United States. that they cannot find it again. Though fear and self-preservation These migrants, as well as others who retained an Arab identi- are a natural part of being human, we have been gifted with the ty, worked fiercely to show their devotion to the United States ability to right our wrongs in the actions that we choose to take and to create businesses that would become staples to their moving forward. I cannot begin to stress the importance of recommunities. Christian and Muslim Arabs alike flocked to the alizing that aligning ourselves with the American perception of Republican party as they falsely believed it would preserve their whiteness will not protect us from racism, and failing to be allies hard-earned success, faith, and family values. to those who need us is counter to what is taught by both Islam As the civil rights movement took off, many people did not and Christianity. While the traumas caused by systemic racism want to lose what they felt to be the place they had rightfully in America, primarily to Black and Indigenous people, cannot earned in this country. This cemented stereotypes and prejudic- be erased, there are thousands of people working desperately es amongst minority groups that still exist today. Islam spread to bring us together across cultures, languages, and religions to as a message of redemption and freedom throughout many ensure that we are all equal, as we were intended to be in creBlack American communities and created tension against the ation. Systems of politics and immigration have influenced our faith. Today, many Arab and non-Black Muslims feel the need native cultures by taking advantage of fear of poverty, failure, to point out that “their” Islam is different than the Islam prac- and ostracizing as a means of dividing minorities for decades; ticed by Black Muslim Americans. Black Arabs who migrate we can surpass this not just through practice, but by embodyto the United States to this day experience racism from Arab ing basic principles taught to us by our various faiths, including American communities, as “white” Arabs have gotten comfort- loving your neighbor, being charitable, practicing patience, and able in the privilege allotted to us by being white-passing people remembering that we are only here for a moment. of color. I had been taught that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and to hear people with whom I share faith and heritage “TO GOD WE BELONG use divisive language while claiming to follow His teachings has A N D T O G O D W E R E T U R N.” been a difficult thing to address. — Q U R A N, 2:156 Many of us ignore the trials that we have been through to 3
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I will use the umbrella term “Arab” to refer to people from Arabicspeaking nations throughout the remainder of this article. W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 • N O. 13 3
Serena Abdallah is a writer and illustrator with a background in cultural anthropology. She lives in Los Angeles.