Arab and Muslim Communities Need To Talk About Anti-Blackness

Arab communities are still fighting remnants of anti-Blackness. Last month, a number of Arab celebrities in the Middle East donned blackface in a failed and grotesque attempt to support George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Blackface originated in the U.S., but it is still used as a caricature in Arab film and television. In countries such as Lebanon, an employment framework known as the “kafala” system ties the livelihoods of African, Afro-Arab, Asian and other migrant domestic workers to an Arab sponsor — a system that critics call modern-day slavery. In everyday life, some people still use violent language to label Black people as slaves, and beauty businesses still promote skin-bleaching products.