Okay, let’s talk about the elephant in the transcontinental region; racism in the Arab world.
Now keep in mind I am an Arab who has lived in more than one diverse Middle Eastern country, and I attended a school with over 74 nationalities, so I have seen it all. I have been targeted with racist comments and have seen Arabs who target with racist comments right back.
Racism is one of the many topics that are considered taboo in the Arab world, and once it is spoken about, the Arabs are always the victims. However, the reality of it is much deeper than this. Undoubtedly, Arabs face racism from the West based on orientalism, but Arabs are almost just as racist in return.
The most common racist Arabs are light-skinned and middle- to upper-classed. They walk around with a dictionary in their minds full of racist slurs and stereotypical thoughts, wherever they are in the world. They think it is okay because of the false mentality that if you face racism, you can’t be racist.
For example, the well-known and beloved Lebanese singer and actress, Haifa Wehbe, published a children’s song under the name “Where is Daddy?” in 2009. The lyrics infamously say “Where is my Nubian monkey?” which, needless to say, aggravated Nubians, who are one of the oldest civilisation in the planet that used to roam Egypt and Sudan but now live on the outskirts of southern Egypt, and other Black Egyptians and in the region. Yet, the song continues to live on and Arab children continue to grow up with the ideology that calling someone a “monkey” based on the colour of their skin is okay. Many young Arab adults think racism does not exist in the Arab world, and this is a prime example why.
Being poor in the Arab region is a severe struggle, and being a lower class dark skinned Arab is one of the ultimate pains that you can only empathise with if you are in their place.
And not only are the previously mentioned Arabs racist to other darker skinned Arabs but to also other nationalities. They equate certain nationalities to racist stereotypes when in reality these countries are ahead of them in aspects such technology and literacy. It is almost as if Arabs take their oppression out in racism, which is still unacceptable.
These double standards in the Arab world regarding racism need to be abolished for the region to forward.
Ultimately, the point of this article is not just a call for Arabs to stop being racist, but a cry for the world. The idea of race and racism is so engraved in our brains that it will be a long process to diminish, but we are taking the first steps there.
