Racism in the Arab world is something that is often ignored within Arab society, and whenever anyone would try to bring the topic of colorism or racism in the Middle East, we would often hear responses that deny the existence of both issues.
Whenever I or my cousins would go in the sun, we would hear our aunties telling us to be careful of staying too long in the sun or else we would turn dark, as if it were something horrid. We would point out that this is a racist thing to say, and they would respond back by telling us that they were just looking out for us, and they are in no way racist, after all, they “have black friends!”. They would create new excuses every time, they would do anything and say anything that would justify their sayings and actions, but they would never admit that the things they say may be racist, colorist, xenophobic, or any of the above.
Because I went to an international school, I ended up having friends of different ethnicities, nationalities, and religions. While my parents did not mind this at all, the rest of my family thought that they are entitled to have an opinoin over who I should befriend, and for some reason they believed that I cared about what they have to say. I don’t. I never did. Regardless, I would still have to listen to them tell me things like “be careful of _*insert race/ethnicity*_” and then proceed to tell me either a stereotype or something new and which they made up.
I would be told that I should be thankful I turned out pale like my mom. What was more shocking about that is that I would hear these things from my dad’s side of the family. Many of my aunties would tell my grandmother that they got their darkness from her since she had brown skin. They would tell her this as if it were an issue that she should fix. I guess some of them have internalized racism and colorism.