>From: Fye Samateh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: VS: [Network Africa Sweden] afro iraqis and the racism >Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 16:46:29 +0200 > >Folks. > >Here's another burning issue on racism.I wonder why this is still happening in the >arab world and some parts Africa. > >Fye > > >By Gregory Kane >Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com > >Flapdoodle trumps truth in any war. The current >U.S.-Iraq conflict is no exception. > >For some African Americans, Iraqi leader Saddam >Hussein is our brown, Third World brother fighting >against the forces of racism and white supremacy, >manifested by President Bush and crew. That view >belies the truth: for years, perhaps centuries, Arabs >in the Middle East and Africa have had a white >supremacy agenda of their own. > >Sunni M. Khalid is an African American journalist and >Muslim who's lived in Egypt and traveled extensively >in the Middle East. He's commented on the situation >there and pulls punches about as often as his boxing >hero, Joe Frazier, did - which is to say not at all. > >Seven years ago he found himself on assignment in Iraq >when he noticed that the principal of a Baghdad >elementary school looked just like his aunt back home >in Detroit. After noticing other Iraqis who might be >considered black here in the states, Khalid asked from >whence they hailed. > >Most said they came from Basra, a town in southern >Iraq. Africans got to Basra in pretty much the same >way they arrived in the Americas: on slave ships. > >"Basra was the entrepot for Africans who were enslaved >by the Arabs," Khalid said last week. He estimates >that 10 to 15 percent of Iraq's population is >Afro-Arab, but you'd never know it to look at >Hussein's inner circle of advisors and leaders. Are >there any? The question was put to Khalid. > >"Not at all," he said. Iraqi Afro-Arabs, according to >Khalid, "have been marginalized like all the other >people of African descent in the Arab world. The >treatment that Africans have historically received at >the hands of Arabs is not very good, especially in the >last 30 years." > >Our "brown Third World brothers" in Arab countries >haven't got a thing on Bush and Co. in the white >supremacy department. Khalid remembers living in Cairo >and talking to Muslims from sub-Saharan African >countries. "They told me they were stoned, harassed >and mistreated on the streets of Cairo everyday," >Khalid recalled. "They told me they were Muslims in >spite of the Arabs, not because of the Arabs." > >Khalid's wife is a dark-skinned Somali woman. He >remembers the glares he got from Arab women when he >took his wife to dinner. (Khalid is a caramel-colored >African American who looks Arab in the Middle East.) >One woman even asked how he could shame himself by >being seen with such a woman. > >Similar incidents occurred when his wife went grocery >shopping. Lighter-skinned women would cut ahead of her >in line, a practice Mrs.. Khalid ended quickly. >Khalid's stepfather, a Nubian, was in line at a bank >one day when a light-skinned Arab walked up beside him >and was immediately waited on by the teller. "I've >been going through this my whole life," he told Khalid >afterwards. White Europeans received more deference >and better treatment from Arabs than darker Afro-Arabs >do, Khalid said. > >"A lot of African American Muslims don't want to deal >with that," Khalid said. There is racism in the Arab >world directed against black people." > >It is a racism that closely parallels that practiced >against blacks in this country. Most, if not all, >African Americans have had similar run-ins with >racism, or know someone else who has. While America's >white media are often chided by African Americans for >ignoring stories important to blacks, Khalid noticed >the same thing in the Arab world. > >"You can pick up any newspaper in Egypt and there will >not be one word about the Arab treatment of, and >genocide against, Africans in the Sudan," Khalid said. > >So bash Bush for starting what you may consider an >unjust war if you must, but spare me the notion that >Hussein or any other Arab is a Third World brown >brother. > >The history just doesn't support the notion. > > >"...What has been cast abroad is not a thousandth of Our history, >even if its quality were truth. The people called Our people are >not the hundredth of Our people. But the haze of this fouled >world exists to wipe out knowledge of Our way, The Way. These >mists are here to keep Us lost, the destroyers' easy prey." >-2000 Seasons, Ayi Kwe Armah > >_________________________________________________________________ >Hela veckans väder http://www.msn.se/vader > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > > > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: >[log in to unmask] > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~