Statement of Solidarity: June 1st, 2020

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. 

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)

About RAWI:

Established in 1993, RAWI is a national organization that provides mentoring, community, and support for Arab American writers and those with roots in the Arabic speaking world and the diaspora. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) literary organization dedicated to supporting and disseminating creative writing and scholarly writing by Arab Americans and those from the Arabic speaking world–which often means creating space and highlighting voices and people threatened by erasure.

RAWI is committed to a hospitality that comes from a belief that our bayt is large. We are committed to creating a safe community space that opposes empire, white supremacy, racism, zionism, patriarchy, homophobia, and all repressive ideologies that diminish the great breadth of human and creaturely being. We are committed to nurturing writers to create works that aim for our liberation, resisting the Orientalizing impulses of American and Western political and literary culture.

We put on a conference featuring readings, panels, workshops, and roundtables every other year that emphasize inclusivity. Despite the fact that Arab American voices continue to become more prominent, opportunities for us to share our experiences and insights, as well as to discuss the trajectory of Arab American literature, is limited. Therefore, RAWI’s biennial gathering provides a rare opportunity to bring a large number of Arab -American writers, artists, and scholars (and their readers, allies, and admirers) into the same space so we can engage in various dialogues otherwise unavailable to us.