I would like to begin by stating this is a personal piece and one that is very explicit in where I stand. I am not responsible for how you choose to register my words.
For the past couple of days now, mama and I have been watching the BBC News series on The History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi. A documentary I highly recommend, and one that leaves you with many emotions. Badawi travels coast to coast, covering historic sites, religious and cultural practices, political and colonial impact, and so much more. She recaptures OUR history, and all from an African perspective.
We watched episode 12 on Coast and Conquest, where she traveled to modern-day Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. All of which are East African coastal regions impacted by the Indian Ocean slave trade. To give some historical context, I will further explain.
When we speak of slavery, we often think of the transatlantic slave trade that took place between Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean, although slavery predated long before this.
As Muslims, we are taught by our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him), “an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab”. This was greatly a problem in the Arab world and spanned all across the Middle East. To the point where our Prophet and the Qur’an itself had to heavily mention and disrupt issues of racism, power, and ego.
The Indian Ocean slave trade preceded the transatlantic slave trade by centuries, and the movement of African slaves was substantially present in the 8th to 17th centuries. The slave trade took place between Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and the people of these regions were involved as captors and captives. After the Omani sultanate and Swahili traders took control of the Swahili coast (Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique), the mass exploitation of Africans between foreigners and African chiefs was continuous.
So when we come to look at history and the people who, to this day fuel the oppression of Black bodies and who cause Black bodies to even transgress against their own, nothing has changed. It has always been for the purpose of economic gain. Anti-Blackness and slavery are engraved in our society’s history and are engraved in our community’s history. Both Muslim and non-Muslim, it does not matter.
So when we see the silence of our fellow non-white Muslims, the oppression and blood of Black bodies were already on their hands. Mind you, I say “Muslim” and not “Islam” because nationality and nationalism were far greater than religion. And even so, we see that in our communities today.
There is so much confusion about what will be. I look at mama, as she constantly sighs, and I see the constant sighs and cries of Black mothers all over the world. What did we do to deserve this? What did having dark skin do to the world to bring us so much hate? What did Black men do to deserve to have their body and soul ruthlessly stolen? Why do Black women always have to be strong, why can’t we also be tired, frustrated, scared, and overwhelmed?
I watched the news but looked away at the sight of them taking away your body. George Floyd, and too many others before you. My body feels numb, but not the kind of numbness they made you feel. Must the world come to a complete end, just to see the peace given to Black bodies?
My father is a Black man, my cousins, uncles, brothers in faith and humanity, and if I bore a son, I’d have a Black son.
How do white people claim to fear Black bodies, when they are the biggest terrorists? The fear they instill in us brings death upon us. But that is only to say the least. As for my sisters and brothers I claim in faith, where has your dignity gone to be no different. Even after you’ve been given the message.
My parents came back from Ethiopia in early March, amid the coronavirus quickly escalating. I never felt the kind of fear for them as I did when they were scheduled to return to the U.S. What were we supposed to expect? This virus was already becoming a weapon of its own. It was during this time when some French doctors also decided to shamelessly propose to test the Covid-19 treatment on Africans. Again. Black bodies and dehumanization. And till this day, 14 African countries that were previously French colonies continue to pay a French tax to France. This is how whiteness continues to hinder our lands and people.
I’ve lived in China for almost 2 years now. The anti-Blackness is no different. I watched the news as they showed the same hate the world gives us, as they kicked Black bodies out of their homes, restaurants, hotels, and onto the streets. The coronavirus somehow created anti-Black rhetoric. Of Black bodies carrying sickness and disease, but was it not Europeans who lacked basic hygiene and brought diseases to Africa. China claims to have “excellent” relations with Africa, but the only relation I see is the exploitation of resources. The resources the world wants to milk Africa of and Black bodies their bodies.
Why is the world against us? And I continue to ask: what did having dark skin do to the world to bring us so much hate?
But I also ask….
What do you do when East Africans shamelessly try to identify themselves as Arabs, just because some of them have a hue that looks a little light? Proximity to whiteness will not liberate you nor erase your Blackness. What do you do when Arabs see nothing but an abeed? What do you do when Southeast Asians, South Asians, East Asians, and Central Asians disassociate and only see their own. When our Muslim community only sees their own and only cries for their own. When you are only here because Black and Native bodies sacrificed their God-given bodies, so you could arrive at the so-called land of the free. You thought you left corruption back home, but corruption never ended when you reached this land. You just thought it wasn’t related to you, but little did you know. When being Muslim and Black means you are not Muslim enough.
When white people continue to ravage our bodies mercilessly. Will the world ever learn to take this as their own problem, and not just ours? And I also ask, when will our existence stop being disembodied by the world? All I want to do is live peacefully, without hearing the words, “I can’t breath”. Part of me escaped because I hated the politics of home, only to realize some pain can’t be escaped. But I knew my body felt safer away from the white man’s hands and his guns.
I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where fear didn’t surround the lives of our people. Of Black bodies living in peace, of children playing out in the sun fearing not the sun showing their skin some love. Black bodies walking without the torment of being followed. Of white men and women not being a menace to our spine and our lives. To have our lives entrusted with love and respect by our community. One can only hope and pray.
I’m tired, and my people are tired. We’ve been tired. My ancestors were tired. And generations after us will continue to be tired. Why does having a rest from all this truly mean death, because that’s what it looks like? All we ask is that you stop killing us. But in the end, only God will ever recognize such pain.
Teodros said it best, “I’m proud to be black, I’m proud to be a Negro”.
m.a
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