HowlRound Theatre Commons: Like many Americans, I recently filled out my questionnaire for the 2020 census. I had been putting the process off, knowing in advance what its contents would remind me about the world I inhabit every day. As I scoured the census page on racial identity for a checkbox that might make me feel seen, I was disappointed to find that, once again, there was no Middle Eastern racial category.
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This is something I have thought about for a long time. My grandmother immigrated to the US with her family from Lebanon when she was young, and while my own Middle Eastern heritage has been mostly unpracticed and lost in my immediate family, I have experienced bits and pieces through second cousins and my mom’s extended family. This has invited me to think about the question, “Why are Middle Eastern people considered white?” The world does not treat them like they treat white people, and this is ESPECIALLY SO in the United States thanks to the xenophobia perpetuated by 9/11. To lump their experiences in with white people of European-descent would be to erase those experiences and the stark contrasts in culture. It also whitewashes a region of the world that has next to no white people other than those who have historically abused it. When we do not count Middle Eastern identity as an American identity, we block the normalization and welcoming of Middle Eastern culture in the United States. This includes in theatre. We have a duty to combat blatant Islamophobia in our art form, and to use theatre to tell stories of Middle Eastern culture and experiences.
This is an article I think every member of the theatre community should really read. It is incredibly well-stated and clearly lays out prominent issues in the inclusion of the members of the community who are Middle Eastern. All of their personal experiences served to highlight the grim realities of both professional and educational industry standards and practices despite the projected air of inclusion and acceptance. This article put into words (in the most clear and simple terms I’ve seen so far) of the affects of the white gate keeper effect, “It is dependent upon our conditional silence, negotiating those moments when speaking up and letting our frustrations and wounds be visible might actually hurt the cause, ultimately discrediting our strength, our resilience, and our ability to be respected”. As a white person with an enormous amount of privilege within the industry I think it is tremendously important to recognize the emotional labor and restraint that members of our community without that privilege must endure everyday just to continue to be in the industry. I know I certainly have to do a lot more work to understand the steps and actions I can take to correct these systemic problems in our industry and I know that we are capable and have to start being better, there is no more time for excuses.
I think it is very important that more middle eastern's get the opportunity and platform to voice their opinions and feelings. This article highlighted the immense struggle that Middle Easter and North African's face when it comes to representation and overall respect. It is crazy that MENASA people are made to check a box declaring that they are white, when that eliminates all the struggles and experiences they have gone through from just being middle eastern. Middle Eastern people face an insane amount of xenophobia within the day to day as they are painted as villains, terrorists, and oppressors. Something that very much stuck out to me in this article was how the author emphasized how this affected his life and many other's lives in the theatre world. The bringing up of the play "Disgraced" confused me at first as I could not understand how one play written by someone representing their own culture could bring so much pain. While researching the play I found to empathize to the writer of this article as the play seemed to hone in on Middle Eastern stereotypes and make them even worse. It was also interesting when the writer of the article brought up the fact that people of color in theatre are treated as interchangeable and whenever there are middle eastern characters they are portrayed by any race, not just people of color. These struggles that MENSA face cannot be addressed or empathized with if MENSA are forced to check a box that does not represent them but rather implies they have inherit privilege from being "white", privileges that they do not have.
This essay is so impactful and does an excellent job of shining a light on a way that white supremacy can be seemingly so innocuous, and yet have such detrimental effects on people of color. As a Latino who checked the White box on the census and is fairly white-passing, this essay speaks truth to the internal conflict of feeling like an impostor in both white and BIPOC circles, and like you’re experience isn’t valid regardless of where you are. This article also goes to show the ways media has done a disservice to Middle Eastern people. As we call for better representation and less white-centric stories in theater, it is important to remember just how wide a nest is cast by terms like BIPOC and that there many people from around the world who are being ignored at best, and vilified at worst, by white supremacy. We need to make sure that all of these people are able to rewrite the narratives that have been told about them and that we as a community listen to what they have to say.
This article was frustrating to read and I’m sure even more frustrating for those with Middle Eastern descent to experience. While filling out the census, I noticed the same issue that the author calls out in the article, and was confused at the lack of distinct Middle Eastern option on the form literally meant to capture the demographics of the country. I’ve also read, separate to this, accounts from Middle Eastern actors frustrated that the only roles really available to them are ‘Terrorist #3’ and other racist stereotypes, while casting directors assume that any POC can stand in for any other POC role. When considering our collective need to promote anti-racist practices both in theatre and in our daily lives, we need to remember just how many people are actively affected by the current racist systems. Lumping the Middle Eastern experience in with white people, both bureaucratically and in thought, negates the struggles of that experience and limits their ability to gain representation.
This is one of the most earnest, genuine and sincere articles i've ever read on howlround. I think one of the most heinous crimes against humanity is erasure and it's been something that's happened and tried throughout history and each time it leaves a stain on history. The Middle Eastern community has not had it easy in the United States, and they continue to fall victim to racism and more importantly, they fall victim to having their grasp on their culture be taken from them. There are very few people left in theater that is actively shining a light on this issue of middle eastern erasure in American culture. As the writer candidly points out, younger Middle Eastern Americans and Muslim Americans are constantly forced to explain why the west shouldn't view them a certain way, and each time that has to happen, their visibility gets smaller and smaller. I worked on a play last summer about the middle eastern experience and it was one of the most captivating pieces of theater I've ever seen- we need to analyze and amplify that.
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