NEW YORK – In a special Ramadan event, Muslim women joined women from an array of backgrounds at SUNY Empire State College for the Minority Students in Action Women of Color Seminar late last week.
Held on Saturday, June 3, the seminar’s primary focus was to increase the appreciation for the unique socio-cultural experiences of Women of Color and to open discussions about forming strong lines of solidarity in the quest for justice and equity.
Solidarity Panel
One important session during the seminar was the Solidarity Panel, which comprised of Women of Color (WoC) from varying experiences, including African American, Afro-Arab, and South Asian American Muslim women.
African American activist Donna Auston expressed the importance of solidarity among WoC to make progress in attaining justice and equity.
“Solidarity is essential, and any type of social justice movement is not going to survive without it,” explained Auston.
“We all need to realize that strategically there is strength in numbers. The forces that are aligned against different populations, against the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, are formidable; the resources that are behind policies negatively impacting various populations are considerable. If we don’t come together, we really don’t stand much of a chance of making any headway.”
South Asian American attorney Bina Ahmad explained to the audience that structures which marginalized people of varying backgrounds resist intersect with a primary purpose of keeping everyone apart.
“These systems work very well to keep us in line. We have a white supremacist capitalist system; in order to have that, you have to have a deliberately oppressed pool of people, who are easily dominated, to exploit their labor for the higher ups.”
“When people have really sharp and good solidarity, you are able to see how these systems intersect [and] how we can intersect with each other to support each other.”
Afro-Arab American activist Azza Altiraifi encouraged the audience to also consider smaller-scale oppressions that are equally significant to systemic subjugation.
“Structural oppression isn’t the only thing we are dealing with; there is interpersonal oppression, and there is also internalized oppression.” Altiraifi explained that we all learn negative messaging about other groups that we internalize, which can hinder forming strong lines of solidarity.
“Until you are able to unpack those things that you’ve learned and been conditioned to accept, you can’t really engage in meaningful solidarity work with other communities that are experiencing oppression from interconnected systems designed to keep people like us unable to access the things that we need in order to thrive.”
Know Your Rights
Bina Ahmad presented a workshop to help WoC become better informed on ways to productively interact with law enforcement.
During her “Know Your Rights” session, Ahmad explained numerous and often subtle ways in which people can unknowingly relinquish their rights while talking with police. Muslims Women of Color embody multiple layers of vulnerability of abuse from law enforcement.
“Law enforcement has power, but rights belong to the people, and it is important that we learn how to effectively safeguard them.”
For the security of the presenter and participants, the workshop was not recorded.
Ahmad told AboutIslam why she gave the workshop. “I give Know Your Rights trainings to give legal knowledge and power back to the community, particularly those communities most heavily targeted by the state.”
“I hope my Know Your rights trainings empowers Sisters of Color to protect their rights and the rights of their communities.”
Disability Justice
Azza Altiraifi presented a session on disability justice, wherein she explained how people with disabilities often encounter ableism in social justice spaces.
“The social justice spaces that I have been in have been incredibly ableist, which is a problem. If your radical space is not accessible to everybody, it’s not radical, it’s not revolutionary.”
Altiraifi discussed consistent issues and current changes in the country’s healthcare system and how they negatively impact people with disabilities.
“Our entire [healthcare] system is set up with a very particular image of what a healthy person looks like, and everyone either needs to fit that or they’ve deviated in a bad way, so they don’t deserve access.”
“Our current administration is working on the systems we already have, and they are trying to move it along on the path that this country has been on since its inception.”
The seminar provided opportunities for Muslim women panelists, presenters, and participants to discuss the racial, gender, and religious issues impacting their lives and network with other Women of Color to create stronger lines of solidarity.