As we approach the end of Black History Month, we reaffirm our appreciation of the African American experience.

African Americans have driven the evolution of civil rights in this nation, edging the United States closer to its promise of freedom and justice for all. They paved the way for fellow people of color and other ethnic groups to reach their full potential.

American history owes African Americans for their suffering and enormous sacrifices, for their creativity as artists, courage as soldiers and resilience as civil rights leaders.

In the Arab American community, some people have been unfair to African Americans. Alarming voices stigmatize and marginalize Blacks. Some Arab Americans share White supremacists’ attitudes toward African Americans — the rhetoric of the same people who promote Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiments.

Judging by social media comments, many community members’ anti-Black racism is manifesting itself in attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Words like “thugs” and “filthy” were used to describe protesters who came to exercise their Constitutional right of free speech at a Dearborn City Council meeting last week. One Facebook user even called on Dearborn residents to assist the police against demonstrators. The protesters were demanding answers for the killing of two unarmed African Americans by the Dearborn Police.

“Go home and fix your community before you come to ours causing trouble,” wrote a supposed Arab American Facebook user.

Those exact words are often used by right wingers against Arab and Muslim refugees, noted local artist Sami Salameh.

Leading Islamophobes, including Pamela Geller and Debbie Schlussel, are outspoken opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last month, The Arab American News published an editorial calling for solidarity in the face of divisions. We denounced racists in our community and faced criticism for it.

When the newspaper calls out that flaw in our community, it doesn’t mean all Arab Americans are racist. It simply means we have a problem that we must confront. It also does not mean that there is no bigotry in the Black community against Arabs. But as an Arab American newspaper, we are most equipped to address our community’s side of the problem.

We call on African American leaders to tackle their end of the issue.

While we should identify with African Americans’ struggle, we cannot compare and contrast the bigotry both communities face. It is not a victimization contest.

Many Arabs boast about personal success, comparing their experience to African Americans who are struggling economically in Detroit. The truth is that Arab Americans, including immigrants, have a better access to social mobility than Blacks in Detroit. Newcomers from the Middle East are embraced by an established, somewhat affluent, community. By contrast, African Americans in inner city neighborhoods suffer from harsh social realities, fewer job opportunities and a broken education system.

In a 2014 interview, the newspaper asked Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch NAACP, about the civil rights challenges facing Arab Americans, including abrupt bank account closures.

He said banks may close the accounts of Arab Americans for no reason, but they won’t even do business with some African Americans.

“I know in the Arab American community, you’re concerned about the banks and what they’ve done,” he said. “We’re concerned about the banks and what they don’t do. They don’t provide loans. We need those. The administration gave loans to bail out the banks. The banks took the money and they’re sitting on it. They’re not putting the money back into the economy.”

Black and Arab histories are intertwined. The first Muslims in this nation were Africans brought across the Atlantic into slavery against their will. From Somalia to Sudan to Southern Egypt, millions of Arabs are Black. The first person to recite the Islamic call for prayer was Bilal, a Black companion of the Prophet Mohamad. Today, African American artists and intellectuals are major allies in calling for freedom in Palestine.

In Montgomery, Alabama, the cradle of the civil rights movement, there is a memorial to commemorate the struggle. The quest of Palestinians for independence and Arab and Muslim Americans’ yearning for tolerance are featured in the monument. 

Black History Month is an opportunity for all Arab Americans to reassess their views on African Americans’ struggle.