Faresi Alfaresi | Stop invoking the stereotype of the “violent, angry Arab”

I’m an international student from Kuwait – but many assume I’m American upon first meeting. I have an American accent, tattoos, piercings and no particular, explicit indication of my identity as an Arab man; I don’t wear an Arabic necklace and I have never worn Arabic cultural attire on campus. So why am I constantly having an opinion imposed on me regarding campus protests and Israel-Palestine as a whole?

Make no mistake that I’m complaining selfishly or that I don’t want to engage in political discourse. I bring this to light to show that even I, as relatively non-Arab as I am, have not been spared from the blatant and upsetting racial profiling of the Penn community. I have lost count of the number of people – ranging from my peers to distant acquaintances to strangers – that I have met who have assumed my position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or that I was even Muslim since escalation of October 7.

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Of course, it is probably normal for an individual to make harmless assumptions based on observations. But the problem arises when these assumptions, as is often the case at Penn, become the basis for stereotypical and hateful rhetoric. I study Hebrew at Penn, and other students have always asked me if I feel “angry” or “upset” in class when a discussion centering on Israel or Zionism comes up. And therein lies one of the problems: Arab students like me are not asked for their position or given the benefit of the doubt. We are immediately thrown into a position of aggressive anger and discontent that we never even communicated or chose ourselves. The notion of the “angry Arab” is rooted in imperialist and colonialist mentality, and perhaps more striking is the distortion of the words and intentions of the Arab students – a concept reminiscent of the West’s initial misinterpretation of the writings by Edward Said.

I also found minimal and dwindling support from the Hebrew department during my studies, with my only alternative for completing my major requirements – besides a language course that cannot fit into my schedule – being a course focused on Israeli culture. I can’t help but think of the outrage in the Penn community if I had been a white and/or Jewish student unsupported in my Arabic studies and forced to take a course on Palestinian culture. To be very clear, I would not tolerate what happens to a Jewish student, nor the alleged forced presence of Jewish students at the Palestine Literature Festival written for their class. A university as well-endowed and progressive as Penn can and should provide considerable support and resources to both communities; otherwise it would be a grave injustice. But while the Jewish students expressing their fears have gotten the deserved and necessary support from the university, and even testified to Congress, I here expressly express my concerns for my safety and that of other Arab students in another column in due to the shameful lack of support.

Despite all these concerns, including those expressed in my previous column and the survey data I collected, Penn fails to shed light on the concerns and fears of the Arab community. The Jewish community created a task force on anti-Semitism as early as November, and the Arab community received the remains of a widespread “commission against hate”; I implore all of us, regardless of our political views and associations, to ask ourselves why anti-Semitism can be associated with the word “task force” while anti-Arab hatred and Islamophobia are not given the same explicit word ? Isn’t there a clear inequality on the part of the administration? And this is not a question of semantics, because the explicit nature of the working group on anti-Semitism conveys its importance – legitimate and valid – while the generalized “commission against hatred” does not even include the word “Arab ” and/or “Muslim”, let alone convey the same sense of urgency and action.

The failure to create an equal task force, both in terms of speed of implementation and title, is not the only thing further dividing struggling communities at Penn. Acting President Larry Jameson and the Penn administration’s utter disregard for Ramadan and Eid is appalling and indescribably discriminatory; Failing to recognize these major religious holidays for a community already underrepresented and discriminated against in these difficult times means one thing: that Arab and Muslim students do not matter.

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This is only illustrated by the fact that less than a week after Eid, an email was sent mentioning Passover and the safety of Jewish students in light of the encampments. This does not help support or heal Jewish or Arab students, but rather continues to widen the chasm that our previous president left behind. Don’t Arab and Muslim students also deserve to be protected from the potential collateral damage caused by the protests? Do Arab and Muslim holidays deserve no mention? In fact, as early as May 1, students suffered a chemical attack while security waited to respond, and the administration failed to recognize this matter with the urgency with which the encampment was treated. Comments circulated on the Daily Pennsylvanian’s Instagram cover, mocking the individuals and trivializing the attack by claiming the officer was “fart spray”, and that a counter-protester was caught with two knives and is left with only a quote.

Even more virulent and direct hate speech, weaponizing “terrorist” rhetoric, was enacted by alleged members of the Penn community against Arab students on May 5; protesters at the encampment were awakened by a mockery of the Muslim call to prayer and were directly called “terrorists”, a blatant Islamophobic and anti-Arab notion that harms community members not involved in the encampment and events. None of the topics mentioned above were addressed by Jameson in his volley of emails, further proving Penn’s lack of support for Muslim and Arab students. Again, I can’t help but think of the outrage in the Penn community if this had happened to any of the pro-Israel counterprotesters who were also exercising their First Amendment rights.

I have heard the concerns and fears of my Jewish peers, and I am hurt by the idea that students from the traditional Jewish community should feel fear, regardless of the reason or tangible validity. I have attended various Passover seders, co-facilitated dialogues to foster understanding, and will continue to do so and develop my understanding and empathy. But I was mostly asked whether my friends and I – as Arab individuals – feared daily life on campus, by Arab professors and by friends abroad, rarely by other groups of individuals . So, in conclusion, I implore all readers to check in with and comfort your Arab peers – and when their fears and sorrow turn to anger and action, consider all they have endured and the absolute lack of support before qualifying their anger and anger. emotionality as “irrational, “frightening” and “violent”.

FARESI ALFARESI is a junior studying political science and modern Middle Eastern studies in Kuwait. His email is [email protected].