Challenging Shadism and Anti-Black Racism in Muslim Communities: Responding to the Killing of George Floyd - Muslim

WEB - Muslim Link  - Ottawa, 29/05/2020 - Analysis, English
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​Image Source: Muslim Link website

​Summary: Wati Rahmat - “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.”- Ijeomo Oluo, African American anti-racism activist I want to be brutally honest. When a heinous crime like the death of George Floyd happens, we see Muslim community members come up readily in outrage and you see posts crying for justice. This is great and it is what should happen. As I too grieve this senseless loss of life and as George's pleas of "I can't breathe" repeat painfully in my head, I grieve a bigger blight in our Muslim community - the prevalent, deeply entrenched anti-Blackness. No, it's not a leap to link a public lynching to the whitening Instafilters. No, it’s not a stretch to compare all the “Karens” who call on Black bodies for simply existing to you comparing which of your siblings was fairer as a baby. Stop! Anti-Blackness starts with ending adulation of fairness. By valuing fairness, Blackness and shades of darkness are denigrated and looked down upon. It is a slippery slope when you regard someone with a darker skin as inferior or less desirable to tragically de-valuing Black lives. I had to confront my own shade-ism just this weekend. Over Eid, our family had enjoyed a beautiful sunny picnic by the lake. I came home with a darker complexion due to the natural sunlight.
Link to original article: https://muslimlink.ca/news/challenging-shadism-and-anti-black-racism-in-muslim-communities-responding-to-the-killing-of-george-floyd-and-sh