Standing tall for the black community

Words by Maya Baroody

Standing tall for the Black community is also standing tall for our own. While I’d like to think that I’ve always been an ally, it wasn’t until I learned about the ways that black Americans - specifically the Black Panthers - advocated for Arabs and the freedom of Palestine in the 1960’s (when nobody else in the USA cared), that I realised I had to do better. They saw the injustices being committed against our people and used their platform to support us when they had literally nothing to gain but more ridicule. It’s our duty as humans and as non-black POC to understand our joint history and stand tall for the Black community in any way we can. In light of the recent events in Minneapolis, I wanted to share some resources that have helped me understand the multi-layered complexities of racism, how it’s perpetuated systematically, and most of all, who I have the potential to be as an ally. From donating money to signing petitions, protesting on the streets and educating yourself and others in ways that can change how you interact with people on a day to day basis. Change comes from daily action. It’s not some big idealistic thing that will happen all at once at some point in the distant future. I still have to ask myself, what can I do today to make the world a better place? In many ways, I still don’t know.

There are many forces we can’t control (or even see) that are motivated to harm POC / Black bodies, while others deny how serious and often strategic brutality and oppression can be. People still blame the victims for their own brutality. This is frightening and often feels defeating. There are a lot of forces, even in my personal life when I try to push back against deeply rooted racist ideology, I’m met with, “You’re pretentious” or “You’re just infatuated with black culture and music right now, this phase will pass” or “Why do you even care? You’re white-passing so it’s not your issue”. It’s part of the reason I’m so reluctant to speak out on these issues publicly because I’m worried about how it will be received. Expressing my truth as I understand it now in May 2020, is the only way that I can become more involved as an active ally and someone that heals and protects instead of pacifies and ignores. I personally feel like education is the quickest antidote to racism, yet we can’t rely on our education system or mainstream media for this education. We have to actively seek out knowledge that challenges society’s and our own racism that we perpetuate both consciously and unconsciously. We need to learn how to actively advocate for the inclusion and protection of our black counterparts and acquire tools to create change in a cumulative way.

While my personal experiences of racism as an Arab WOC seem muted in comparison, I know what it’s like to have the thing you love most about yourself, the thing that makes you, your family and ancestors special, be the very thing they use to stereotype, shame, and kill. I know what it feels like to feel powerless to help. NOBODY should ever feel this way and NO ONE should have to experience fear of judgment, imprisonment, or execution based on the colour of their skin. That’s not the world we live in today and that’s why WE HAVE TO do better. We must raise our voices. We can’t ever truly have racial harmony and equality if we’re not each putting in the work to at least understand how to achieve it.

As an Arab woman, I am part of a culture that actively perpetuates anti-blackness and the oppression of black people - and that scares me above all. The way my relatives will respond to me in protest of oppressive treatment of black people or houseworkers is often so problematic I feel completely defeated. What’s worse, the racism can be so bad in Middle Eastern countries that I carry shame with me about how I am doing nothing to change it, and don’t go out of my way to broadcast it either for fear that all my ally-motivated actions will immediately be invalidated. But I don’t want to be ashamed to be an Arab woman for any reason at all. I am so proud of where I come from while also being acutely aware that there’s a lot of room for growth

Lastly, please, if you take nothing else from this, don’t tell your Black friends/coworkers or significant others that you understand, that you don’t see colour and do not ask them to break down the complexities of racism in America or ask them how you can be an ally. Just tell them you love them and support them. Read books, use google, use empathy, use your head. Activism looks like connecting with your non-black friends and sharing knowledge with each other, plotting and discussing how you personally and collectively can do better. Please share if this information is helpful. Praying for the families of #TonyMcDade #RegisKorchinskiPaquet #GeorgeFloyd, #AhmaudArbury and all the victims who have lost their lives due to racism. Praying for my friends who are hurting and live with fear every day. We see you, we stand behind you, we protect you, we will never forget and we will never stop fighting for you.