tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2678168401515945448.post4680293557950589151..comments2024-03-27T12:00:48.922+02:00Comments on Beirutista: Quashing the Destructive Evils of DiscriminationBeirutistahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17044182445447487566noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2678168401515945448.post-75241222549855913012020-06-15T09:41:28.174+03:002020-06-15T09:41:28.174+03:00Thanks for reading, Samir. I love hearing your sag...Thanks for reading, Samir. I love hearing your sagacious input.<br /><br />You're 100% correct. We will never start to fathom or even get a whiff of what life can be like for victims of racism. How they are targeted. How they learn to cope or retreat from or avoid unsettling encounters. How they achieve success in spite of setbacks and challenges absent to non-black people. I boiled at the thought of your colleague beckoned to refill someone's cup, or being stopped in a ritzy neighborhood simply because wealth is usually linked to white people, and they didn't fit the bill. Reprehensible. Makes my blood curl. <br /><br />I recently watched "Hidden Figures," a true story based in 1960s Virginia about three black female engineers and scientists who worked at NASA and the hurdles they faced day in and day out in performing their jobs. A normal person would throw in the towel. They, however, resisted with poise and dignity and determination. You gotta watch it.<br /><br />The bane of folks in Lebanon is not merely ignorance of outside cultures but that of themselves! They thrive in their comfort zones and rarely venture outside of them. I remember being appalled when a colleague, born and raised in Achrafieh, admitted to never having visited Saida! How could that be, when the entire country hardly sums up to 10,000 sq.km.?! Before I permanently settled in Lebanon, I'd already scaled the country during summer vacations. My parents made a point of exposing me to every region, and thus the hodgepodge of Lebanese with their various religious sects, creeds, and colors. I grew up Christian, but my parents' social network happily included Druze, Shiite, and Sunni friends, and we were taught to respect everyone and their unique customs equally. [P.S. we would visit Tripoli at least three times every summer. Do you remember Big Bite? ;)]<br /><br />I hope the Lebanese can learn from the war on racism and discrimination being waged on American soil. We are hardly in a position to judge or point fingers, for we are riddled with our own deficiencies.Beirutistahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17044182445447487566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2678168401515945448.post-36898378465169978152020-06-11T12:47:10.849+03:002020-06-11T12:47:10.849+03:00Nice to hear from you, Danielle! We miss hearing f...Nice to hear from you, Danielle! We miss hearing from you. But at the same time, we want you to have all the sleep you need. <br /><br /><br /><br />Keeping quiet about your roots and summertime in Lebanon may have redounded to your benefit, but I am glad your heart had eventually won over your brain. I don’t know if it’s any consolation, but the price you paid was worth it: You’d showed that xenophobic professor that someone of Lebanese descent can write better than the rest who came from approved places with accepted ancestry. Undoubtedly, you had stirred some conflict and pierced a big hole in her faulty way of judging. (That is if she had half a brain.)<br /><br /> <br /><br />As you’ve alluded to, when it comes to nationality, discrimination shows its same ugly face all over the world, not just in America. Not just in nationality but also in religion. Here in Lebanon, many people from Mount Lebanon, purportedly Christian, are often surprised when they encounter someone from Tripoli, purportedly a Muslim, with a high level of education and decorum. These people have never set foot in Tripoli, and all they know about its people is what they see or hear in the media.<br /><br /> <br /><br />But racism is different. Racism goes beyond ignorance and even xenophobia. Being black carries a much stiffer liability than being a “white” college student who, because of her national origin, is denied a chance to win an important prize—as crushing and hurtful an experience as it may feel. Being black, (i.e. SIMPLY BECAUSE THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN IS BLACK), you are exposed to all kinds of small indignities starting from the time you leave your home. Then you have the larger indignities from systemic racism in areas like housing, health care, education, job opportunities, etc. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Even during the chaotic 9/11 period, one of the darkest hours in America, not once did I experience discrimination, stereotypes, or hateful rhetoric in my daily interpersonal communications. On the other hand, my black American colleague, because of the color of his skin, during a medical conference he and I were attending, was asked (mistakenly) by a guest to refill his wine glass. That was one small indignity. On his way home from the conference, he experienced a larger indignity: He was stopped by the white Beverly Hills police. Why? They wanted to know what he was doing in the area. When he calmly asserted his rights and asked for the supervisor, he was arrested. <br /><br /> <br /><br />I left the same parking lot and drove off on the same street. I wonder what my chances of being stopped (and arrested) would have been.samirhafzablogblogbloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18119757559602226234noreply@blogger.com