“Snuffing out prejudice in our African and Arab American communities is not only ethically necessary, it is in our self interest.”

“You camel jockey motherf****ers,” yelled an African American man at a crowd of Arab Americans at a Dearborn gas station after a traffic dispute this week. As the confrontation escalated, the angry driver kept shouting anti-Arab racial slurs from his car. 

This was not an isolated incident.

In the Arab American community, anti-Black bigotry is also rampant. The word “abeed” (Arabic for slaves) is often casually dropped by local Arabs to describe African Americans. 

At the peak of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, many Arab Americans appallingly sided with police brutality against African Americans, using racial undertones to justify the murders of Mike Brown and Eric Garner.

On the other hand, I have witnessed and endured several incidents where African Americans have been deliberately disrespectful and prejudiced against Arabs. I have been called a camel jockey and told to “go back home” and “learn English” by local Black individuals. 

This mutual bigotry is tragic given the rise of White supremacy, which targets both African and Arab Americans. Both groups are victims of social and institutional racism that questions their claims to Americanism. 

While African Americans combat police brutality, Arabs and Muslims are suffering mass surveillance by federal agencies. Judicial bias in convicting and sentencing is a problem for both communities. Arab Americans have been subjected to unjustified bank account closures, and African Americans in Detroit can hardly ever secure loans for their mortgages.

Hate crime is on the rise and Arab and African Americans are often the victims. The terrorist attacks of Chapel Hill and Charleston are the product of the same White supremacist sentiments. 

One would think that the common struggle would unite us. Instead, too many members of our communities have adopted the evil notion of racial supremacy and found in their Arab or Black counterparts a group to which they can feel superior.

Racial supremacy is a disease; it spreads to the victims and victims of victims. But we must fight it. 

Malcolm X described African Americans who cozy up to White supremacists as “house Negroes.” During the days of slavery, house Negroes loved the master and looked up to him. They enjoyed better conditions than those working in the fields. But despite their affection for their abusers, the masters never thought of them as equals.

“The house Negro always identified himself in the same sense that his master identified himself,” Malcolm X said.

In the Middle Eastern communities, “house Negroes” are plenty. From Arab Americans who use the word “abeed” and reject interracial marriages to Chaldeans who opposed the mosque in Sterling Heights, many people are embracing the same kind of bigotry that victimizes them. 

Snuffing out prejudice in our African and Arab American communities is not only ethically necessary, it is in our self interest. When we join forces, we become stronger.

We need to empower the individuals advocating for political solidarity between both communities.

During the war on Gaza last summer, African American activists throughout the country joined demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people. Local Arab activists took buses to participate in anti-police brutality protests in St. Louis last year. Black leaders and intellectuals, including Cornell West and Angela Davis, have spoken in support of Arab causes, from condemning the occupation in the West Bank to backing Rasmea Odeh in Chicago.

Locally, activists like Dawud Walid of CAIR-MI and comedian Amer Zahr have been waging intellectual wars against the word “abeed.”

The seed for solidarity is already planted. We need to grow it to marginalize bigots in our communities.