Statement of Solidarity: Black Lives Matter

by the RAWI Board of Directors

The Radius of Arab American Writers stands in solidarity with the protests across the United States following the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others at the hands of racist police officers, civilians, and the systems that enable injustice and brutality. Solidarity with Black people has always been important and this moment is no different. We must say Black Lives Matter, but we must also act on this truth.

The imagination and efforts of many resistance movements in Arab countries, from the struggle to free Palestine and beyond, would not be possible without the continued solidarity of Black resistance movements, as well as the labor of Black radical intellectuals who have built and contributed to much of the language underlying our conceptions of resistance. Our work becomes moot without acknowledging this and standing with Black people. Further, our focus as Arab-American writers must include amplifying the voices of Afro-Arabs in our own communities, and keeping Black liberation at the forefront of our work, not just as writers, but community members.

We must interrogate our own relationships to law enforcement and divest from trusting the military force that is U.S. law enforcement; we must challenge the carceral way of thinking into which we are all socialized as a result of growing up in the United States–and any other settler colonial nations. We must be accountable to how to take anti-racist action in the U.S., and how to do so in our countries of origin and their respective diasporas. This means anti-racism begins at home and must synapse into the world around us through our actions as responsible citizens of this planet.

This guide by Rana Abdelhamid and Mafaz Al-Suwaidan is a good resource. Additionally, we encourage our community members to donate to their local bail funds and to organizations doing important work in their communities. Below is a list from which to start. 

– The RAWI Board, June 1st, 2020

Places to donate:

A centralized document listing several bail funds across the nation, as well as legal resources for protesters (supporting & showing up for your local resistance efforts is an important part of standing in solidarity)

Support Minneapolis Black resistance & community groups including Reclaim the Block, Black Visions Collective, Voices for Racial Justice, as well as bailing out folks via the Minnesota Freedom Fund

Donating to the memorial funds of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery

Informational Resources:

Michael Harriot, via The Root, gives an abridged timeline documenting the historical events leading up to this moment

A guide to unpacking anti-Blackness in Arab communities by Rana Abdelhamid and Mafaz Alsuwaidan

On building a police-free future by MPD 150

26 ways to be in the struggle beyond the streets (an important guide, especially for immunocompromised & disabled folks)