Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Empowering Arab Immigrant Women in Chicago

2019; Indiana University Press; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/15525864-7273871

1558-9579

Rasmea Odeh,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Before my deportation from the United States in 2017, I spent the best years of my life working with the Arab Women’s Committee (AWC), a grassroots formation that focuses its activities on Arab American and Arab immigrant women in Chicago and its inner suburbs (henceforth Chicagoland). The activities of the AWC form a significant part of the programming of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), a Chicago-based grassroots organization providing social services, education, youth development, cultural outreach, advocacy, and community-organizing programming to Arab Americans and Arab immigrants. Chicago has hosted Arab communities since the early 1900s, when Lebanese and Syrian immigrants first made it their home. After World War II and especially after the 1967 Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem, Palestinians were the largest, most diverse, and most urban Arab group in Chicagoland, while communities of highly skilled Egyptians, Syrians, and Lebanese gravitated to its outer suburbs. The AAAN was founded in 1995 on Chicago’s South Side by Arab and other Chicago-based activists, organizers, business leaders, and engaged scholars seeking to provide services and empower Arab American communities. The AAAN established the first adult education, domestic violence prevention and intervention, and children and youth after-school program in the Arab community of Chicagoland. When the AAAN was founded, Chicago’s largely Palestinian community lived mostly on the south side of the city; a majority of them later moved to the adjacent southwest suburbs, an area characterized by numerous Palestinian-built institutions, services, and shops and where Arab immigrants and Arab Americans were, and continue to be, the area’s largest communities of color. To meet the needs of this community and newer communities of Yemenis, Iraqis, and Syrians, most of whom are low income and include many refugees, the AAAN has more recently expanded its work to a suburban satellite office.Currently, the AAAN is one of the few Arab organizations in the United States that combines comprehensive social services with base-building community organizing to achieve equity and social change. The AAAN’s main office on Sixty-Third Street is in an area now largely inhabited by Latinx and African Americans. Our mission, organizing vision, and location require that we stay at the forefront of issues affecting all communities of color. The Campaign to End Racial Profiling, launched in 2016, has positioned the AAAN as a leading community-organizing institution in Chicagoland and beyond, as we challenge racial, national, and religious profiling against Arabs and Muslims, and work in solidarity with Black, Latinx, and other oppressed communities on issues ranging from police accountability and immigrant rights to equal access to health and human services and civil liberties.Most AWC members grew up in parts of the Arab world where poverty and conservative social values made it difficult for many of them to complete even a high-school education. A small proportion never learned to read or write in Arabic, let alone English, so they are illiterate in both. Starting in the 1990s, because of the worsening political situation in the Arab world caused by the first US war on Iraq and structural adjustments imposed on Yemen, entire families left their homelands and relocated to places like Chicagoland. This immigration continues today, exacerbated by wars in both Syria and Yemen.Poorly educated, uprooted from their homelands, fleeing unspeakable war and violence, and dealing with extreme poverty, immigrant and refugee women arrive here facing enormous challenges. Most of their husbands work more than seventy hours a week in small shops or as peddlers. Women with limited English skills are left to manage their households and children with little or no support from their husbands. Seeking work outside the home seems impossible (and is sometimes not encouraged by husbands, fathers, and brothers), as does obtaining a driver’s license or passing the US citizenship exam.Some AWC members describe other situations of inequality in the home, where important financial, social, and filial decisions are often made without their input. Social and cultural norms have changed enough over the years that fewer and fewer Arab teenage girls are being pressured into marriage, but it still happens occasionally, and some AWC members report that they do not always have the power in the home to stop it from happening to their daughters. In addition, some AWC members also experience multigenerational sexism and double standards, as their daughters are not afforded the same rights and freedoms inside and outside the home as their sons.AWC members experience much of the same sexism outside the Arab community as well, often exacerbated by racist and Islamophobic attacks at their children’s schools and in the streets. All Arab and Muslim women in Chicagoland, especially those wearing hijab, are confronted by widespread assumptions from their neighbors and others that they are victims of an inherent sexism, an assumption that is not only racist but also sexist.The AWC aims mainly to provide its members with a secure political, social, and cultural environment and to mobilize the largest possible sector of women within our community. It also provides different types of training and workshops to help members play an active role in the decisions that impact their lives and relationships, inside and outside their homes. Women of the AWC identify common issues of concern in monthly membership meetings, where we make plans and take concrete steps to address these issues through community organizing. Our vision is strong Arab immigrant and Arab American families and neighborhoods that participate in social, political, cultural, and economic opportunities that promote equity and social justice.For thirteen years I dedicated every day of my life to these beloved community-organizing efforts, creating the women’s committee from scratch and developing a leadership body that helped the AWC expand to more than eight hundred members. We recruited our members the old-fashioned way—by door knocking, distributing flyers, meeting in small groups, canvassing Arab neighborhoods, and visiting women and their families in their homes. We built the AWC to challenge oppressive social systems like patriarchy, sexism, racism, and xenophobia.To do this, we support the empowerment of AWC members to develop their capacities in the following fields: Personal development. The AWC helps build and develop the self-confidence, self-reliance, and independence of its members by providing them with tools to challenge national, religious, and racial discrimination; gender-based discrimination; parental regimes; discrimination against the elderly; and any other obstacles that might hinder their achievements. These tools include discussions, workshops, and training in the areas of political education and community organizing. In addition, we facilitate lectures delivered by experts in a myriad of fields, and occasionally train members in performing and discussing short theater pieces related to their experiences.Civil liberties. The AWC helps lead Chicagoland’s Committee to Protect People’s Rights, which defends the civil rights and liberties of community members by providing “Know Your Rights” training courses and dialogues as well as participating in the defense campaigns of individuals and institutions under attack from the US government.Immigrant rights and law enforcement accountability. In cooperation and alliance with other communities in the struggle against detention and deportation policies, the AWC has participated in campaigns that have won driver’s licenses for the undocumented in Illinois, supported undocumented students in their endeavors to obtain US residency through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), supported sanctuary and other protections for immigrants, and called for legalization and US citizenship for all. AWC members have also marched and rallied across Chicagoland in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and called for a stop to police killings of Black people and other people of color.To understand the achievements of the AWC, we must understand the status of members before and after they joined the committee and became involved in its activities. For the sake of truthfulness, I will rely on testimonials made by members. It gives me great pleasure that we in the AAAN have not only broken down the barriers of isolation and fear but also helped develop the capabilities and competencies of immigrant women between the ages of eighteen and seventy, from countries across the Arab world, including Yemen, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco, enabling them to overcome many obstacles in their pursuit of a decent, rewarding life. Some of these members, in particular Yemeni and Syrian refugee women, have had little formal education, and their experiences are limited to their parents’ and, later, husbands’ homes. Before they joined the AWC, they had almost no cultural or educational exposure to ideas other than those that say women are meant to serve at home, where men make all the decisions. Um Muhammad, for example, described her status before and after joining the AWC: I have never been to school. I cannot read or write, even in my Arabic mother tongue. I used to use my fingerprint as a signature. I have never left my house alone. I used to have my father with me for everything I do, and when I got married, my husband. Both of them spoke for me. I arrived to the US with my husband twenty-five years ago and we spent twenty years in California. All I did in this period was household tasks. I rarely left my house. I have always lived in fear and panic, and never opened the door for anyone when I was alone.Five years ago, we moved to Illinois. Two years later, I met Rasmea. She encouraged me to participate in the Arab American Action Network’s programs, one of which was learning English. I found a safe environment where we could freely discuss difficulties, contradictions, and challenges we faced here. I learned to read and write in English, which encouraged me to express my feelings and ideas. I also learned how to minimize the gap between us (mothers) and our US-born children. We also had various political discussions around the issues of immigrants and civil liberties, and how to be leaders. Now, I feel like one of them. Rasmea changed my life and the lives of hundreds of women in the committee. She has led me from darkness to light.Even the women who had better chances for education in their home countries had similar feelings of alienation. They felt as if they were plants that were uprooted from their soil and mistakenly planted in an inappropriate environment. Everything was strange in all of its details: people, language, streets, buildings, systems, and culture! They saw little that was familiar. There was also the racism against Arabs and Muslims, especially women wearing the Islamic hijab, the hatred resulting from such attitudes, and the crimes committed against Arabs and Muslims because of it. These stories doubled their fears and fostered an imagination where they saw the new society as a monster that would devour them and that eventually caused them to isolate themselves in their homes. Um Mahfouz described such feelings: We arrived in Chicago as immigrants. I wished I could have been a bird to fly back home. From the moment I arrived here, feelings of alienation have suffocated me. Everything around me is strange, even the water and air. I tried to be patient and learn to forget. I used to spend my time looking through the window and listening to the voices of kids going to and from school. I used to talk to myself, cry, or pray until my husband was back from work. My husband worked from 5 a.m. till 8 p.m. and I spent all that time alone.In light of this situation, the AWC assumed responsibility for breaking the barriers of fear and hesitation that forestalled women’s participation in political and social activities. Step by step we brought these women out of their isolation by getting them involved in our programs and activities, which then built self-confidence and helped them make courageous decisions. Women realized the importance of their roles in improving their lives and family relations, which eventually had a positive impact on the whole community.We formed a leading team of fifteen to twenty women who had gained leadership skills to work with other members and encourage them to participate in activities related to civic engagement, civil liberties, antiracism, and immigrant rights. The results were very encouraging. Women participated in protests and events targeting the FBI. Other activities required traveling to Springfield, Illinois, with immigrant rights allies to meet state legislators and educate them on pro-immigrant policies.These activities also helped us develop a strategy for building a popular base through political education and the development of leadership skills. Um Mustafa expressed this idea: Before we were introduced to the Arab American Action Network, we used to talk about our lack of confidence and being unable to express ourselves or participate in public activities, or even make important decisions inside our homes, such as the marriage of our daughters at early ages before they completed their high school or college studies!Men always made the decisions on all matters outside the home. After months of getting involved in the Women’s Committee membership, we were able to break this barrier of fear and express our ideas clearly and bravely before dozens of people. This increased our self-confidence. Now, I am prepared to prevent the family from deciding the fate of my daughters without their approval, and before they complete their college studies. I am participating in demonstrations against the police and security forces. I go to Springfield with our allies to ask officials to support and protect the rights of different communities of immigrant and refugees. There is no retreat. We are prepared and willing to participate in all activities, because our role does matter.Um Hatim also boasts about how she has benefited from AAAN and AWC programs: I participated in the different programs and activities offered by the Arab American Action Network. Before I came to the US, I did not know how to read or write, even in my mother language. I learned English for the first time when I participated in the learning program at the community center. I completed two classes and then applied for US citizenship. The classes helped me pass the naturalization exam without hindrance. I also helped my son in his preparations for the exam. I participated in the majority of the center’s activities as a member, where I learned to understand my rights and duties and be proud of myself. I encourage all women to participate in the AAAN programs because they are so useful to our education.The first group of ten to fifteen women in the AWC launched a writing initiative with an oral history project in 2008. This activity aimed to provide the opportunity and encouragement for Arab immigrant and refugee women to express themselves through creative writing in Arabic, their mother language. We helped them narrate the stories of their lives, including the difficulties, contradictions, and challenges they faced in the United States. Later came the idea of publishing these stories, which necessitated workshops for advanced writing skills, political education, and a variety of subjects related to self-awareness.This experience was unparalleled—unfamiliar to Arabs and most immigrant women as a consequence of etiquette and privacy—as discussing personal issues in public is typically considered taboo; yet it inspired them to share their feelings among trusted friends. Over time, participants realized the importance of self-expression and wrote their pieces in an exciting narrative style that exceeded our expectations. The educational and training program helped them explore their strengths and weaknesses, developing the former and prompting them to work on the latter. It also helped them discover and develop their personal leadership skills, self-expression, and analytic capacity to identify problems related to the individual, community, and society.The project also included a political education component focusing on human, civil, and immigrant rights, as well as law enforcement profiling (racial, national, and religious), especially the impact of the War on Terror on Arabs and Muslims throughout Chicagoland. This training marked the beginning of the formation of a basic leadership group for the AWC, strengthening internal relationships and activating constructive discussions on how such issues impact women’s lives.This initiative eventually encouraged and inspired women to face their difficulties and find solutions to them. In their writings and stories, they documented legal, personal, and legislative abuses, which encouraged them later to defend themselves and their communities and recruit more women to challenge discrimination and racism. The project also nourished strong and effective grassroots organizing and cooperation with other organizations and individuals who believe in change, equality, and human rights.A second cohort was formed in April 2009 and led to the publication of AWC members’ stories (originally written in Arabic) in the AAAN’s first-ever book, Towards the Sun (AAAN 2018). Participants wrote inspiring stories in simple, beautiful language.As most immigrant Arab women have similar experiences of disenfranchisement and loneliness, I believed it was crucial to bind these ideas together in a book, with the hope that it might inspire other women to overcome their challenges. As we compiled their stories and anecdotes, I quickly came to realize that publishing these stories was actionable and imminently possible.I consider Towards the Sun a resilient seed that encompasses the experiences, sentiments, and thoughts of the Arab women who were uprooted from one place and culture and replanted in unwelcoming soil. In spite of the contentiousness of this environment, I took care of this seed from the beginning. I watered its soil with my blood and nurtured it with every beat of my heart, creating better conditions for it. I gave it all my time and energy. I breathed my life into it and pored over it daily, fostering its growth by rooting it deeply into the ground to help it succeed. Readers of Towards the Sun will understand that this project is not just a seed that was planted, that took root, and that spread throughout the community with a new essence—but also one that proves that it is possible to make profound changes in people’s lives. This project catalyzed a revolution in the life of each participant.Nadine Naber, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a specialist in Arab and Arab American feminist studies, and an expert on Arab American women’s struggles, writes: I have never before witnessed a space like the Arab Women’s Committee in the United States, where Arab immigrant and refugee women have the opportunity to not only obtain social services or learn English, but to also build community, connection, and empowerment in the face of displacement, isolation, and racism. At AWC, women engage in dialogues about their life struggles and exchange genuine care and love while building a sense of mutual confidentiality, trust, and safety.The AWC has provided a safe social, political, and cultural space for Arab women who do not normally have a venue in which to discuss their issues and problems with other women who share these challenges. Many of them now boast about the newfound confidence they have in themselves and their families to make a real difference in their own lives and the lives of their communities. The AWC provides political leadership not only for the AAAN but also for the entire Arab community of Chicagoland. No other organized base of Arab women protests police violence with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, travels to the Illinois capital of Springfield to advocate for the protection of immigrants, and joins the Women’s March in downtown Chicago to rally for women’s rights and in opposition to Donald Trump’s racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. The AWC firmly grasps the intersecting oppressions Arab women face and develops newfound power to conquer them.