“Why are you so concerned about the Black Lives Matter Movement? It’s in the US anyway.” Part of a real-life conversation that happened on every other corner down the block. Part of the excuses people made for not posting, speaking up, or raising awareness when the BLM movement struck in early 2020. Part of what many believe is an issue that’s only ongoing in the Western parts of the world, disregarding the disgustingly racist societies we are surrounded by — factoring out the Anti-Black racism that unfortunately continues to happen even in the Arab region.   

     Whilst some Arabs turned a blind eye to the atrocities and cruelty African-Americans faced, others continued to confidently share the news on their Instagram stories and spread the word on Twitter threads, whilst constantly and simultaneously mistreating their Black house helpers, Black drivers, and Black service workers. The hypocrisy shining through is a clear reflection of their intentions of wanting to seem progressive, but eventually resulting as just another part of their performative activism scheme. When referring to Black people, in this case, I’d like to touch on the term “Black,” similarly to how Susan Abulhawa does, in political terms rather than in terms of race or ethnicity, as I found her concept to be quite interesting — to represent the mistreated minorities who only live amongst the privileged, rather than belong, and those who are belittled rather than praised. However, from here onwards, I will only refer to Black people rather than all minorities, to shed light on those who deserve — and need — to be seen, now more than ever. 

     With the rise of social media posts during the BLM movement, dozens of Arab celebrities and influencers attempted to stand in ‘solidarity’ with Black people, but it only resulted in a ton of backlash due to lack of research, efforts, and understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. Bahira Amin’s article touches on a few of these instances through which those with quite large platforms chose to show their ‘acceptance’ of the Black community through their use of Blackface, thus leading to only worsening the situation — which could have easily been avoided had they taken a couple of extra moments to do some research. A few seconds spent on google could have saved them from the embarrassment faced and from the extended hurt exerted on the Black community. Also, if more people actually grew up talking about the issue of racism against Black people in the Arab region, things like Blackface would less likely be used in any circumstance. However, the silence we continue to embody is one that is so harmful to those who are not privileged enough to have their voices echoed, and to those who are muted when raising their concerns of living on a one-sided dystopia.

     Moving forward, those who are ‘old-fashioned’ and aren’t on social media might say that the above are modern problems, or are problems that the newer generations created as a result of being ‘overly sensitive’ and ‘dramatic.’ However, unfortunately, the issue of anti-Blackness amongst Arabs is more common than one might think. Amin mentions how Arabs casually include the word “3abeed” in their conversations, which translates to “slave,” in Arabic. Referring to a Black friend as a “3abeed” has become so normalized that people no longer flinch or turn their heads when hearing the term being thrown around, which brings upon great concern considering how disturbing and disrespectful it is for us to continue to pursue racism so casually. So casually that it teaches our future generations to continue to divide themselves into circles of those who are privileged with light skin and those who are born into a community who are automatically assumed to be of a lower status in this life. 

     With all the horrendous aspects of anti-Blackness in the Arab region, especially, I wonder how and why Black people continue to have the grace and mercy to not only forgive us, but to also accept us. Abulhawa touches on how Africans have every right to look the other way, to not consider us, to hate us, and to blame us for the pain we caused their people. Yet, they don’t, which is a concept of rare kindness and humbleness I have yet to understand, and will probably never truly understand. Apologize. Apologize on the behalf of the majority. Apologize on the behalf of the rest of the Arabs who hurt our Black brothers and sisters, and continue to educate those around you to take one step closer to becoming better, to creating peace, and to healing the unlivable world we live in. The world that is designed only for the whites to succeed in.