The name “Sharon Brannigan” means absolutely nothing to most people, and likely would not have been known beyond this small corridor of Palos Township in Southwest Suburban Chicago. Sharon Brannigan is a flower shop owner turned small-time politician. She had been elected uncontested to the position of Trustee in 2013, as Chairman of Public Services […]
A Palestinian Christian Condemning Evangelism
In Palestine, 16-year-old girls are arrested, terrorized, and abused. Women are compelled to wrestle soldiers to free their screaming, pleading sons. Parents are forced into burying their children who have been killed by the Israeli military. Yet, for as egregious as these acts are, we don’t hear Christians knocking on any doors to raise awareness […]
Taking Hummus Back
In case you haven’t noticed, the Israeli PR machine has this rabid reaction when the rhetoric surrounding Palestine has the slightest twinge of favorability to Palestinian statehood. They’ve been a bit sensitive since 128 countries voted against making their land grab of Jerusalem official. So when James Zogby of the Arab American Institute called Rachel […]
Jerusalem still speaks Arabic
It doesn’t matter where anyone builds their diplomatic palaces. Jerusalem still speaks Arabic. I’ve heard her. Hundreds of restaurants offer falafel, hummus, shawarma, pomegranate juice, and knafeh. Believe me. I’ve tried them all. But there aren’t any delis. No corned beef sandwiches on rye. No bagel shops. No lox. Don’t get me wrong. All those […]
Waxing Moon / Earthshine – A Poem
The first time I hear someone use ‘gay’ as an insult, my body rejects it but my tongue— The acrid taste of the word pricks the inner lining of my cheek and I try, I try, I try to swallow the word whole it spews from my mouth fully formed “Yeah, that’s so gay”. What […]
Viva Las Vegas
I sound like a broken record, a chorus stopping and staring from apathy to tired tears. DJed by a neglected needle of a dusty player that hasn’t turned off since 9/11. The lights in Vegas will never shine as bright as they did in Viva Las Vegas, or as they did before Stephen Paddock’s domestic terrorism […]
Settlements are far from settling
Each time I hear a commentator say that Israeli “settlements do not impede peace,” I throw up in my mouth a little…for a couple of reasons. First, the land wasn’t “unsettled” like 19th-century western America (which was still kinda “settled”, though, yes, it sounds eerily familiar). These Israeli settlements are developments and neighborhoods, and the word […]
Palestein in my house
So our favorite “smart and funny” Arab, Amer Zahr, gave you a utopian society in which Palestinians and Israelis get rich together, share the same food, and cultivate those olive branches with peace in a land known as “Palestein.” Impossible, right? Well, not in my family. My father told me stories of Palestine before 1948. In that […]
Dancing is Haram
Flashback: I am nine years old and spend the summer listening to hip-hop with my cousins. We play 400 (Arabic card game) and eat Flaming Hot Cheetos while inhaling secondhand hookah smoke. When September hits and Islamic school opens up for the year, I bravely share my summer with our chadored ‘sister’ (teacher) that posed the […]
One state in Palestein
The events of the past couple months circulating around the Palestine/Israel saga have been even more intriguing than usual. From December’s passing (and controversial US abstention) of United Nations Resolution 2334, to the Obama-Bibi breakup, to John Kerry’s 70-minute speech in his last days as Secretary of State, there has been no shortage of drama. And today’s joint press […]
Sam Harris, Bill Maher, and their amateur hour on Islam
It is quite easy to identify the Islamophobia of Donald Trump and many on the right. The “Muslim Ban,” manufactured rage about sharia law, Muslim registries… these things are quite simple to get worked up about. Civil rights organizations, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, rightly point these things out and criticize them roundly. But these things are […]
Secretary Kerry, there could have never been a two-state solution
Though many rejoiced listening to Secretary Kerry’s speech at the end of December, I’ve been walking around rather disenchanted. There’s no denying that his 72-minute diatribe in response to Netanyahu’s discontent with the United Nations Resolution 2334 is a refreshing twist to the traditional Israel-has-a-right-to-defend-itself US policy. For the first time, the United States admitted that […]
A letter to my Trump-voting neighbors
Donald Trump won. I’m not here to tell you that Bernie would have beaten him, or that Hillary won the popular vote, or that voter suppression laws affected things, or anything like that. In our constitutional system, Donald Trump won the presidency. It’s done. I know why you voted for him. Trump tore down the […]
The facade of freedom
On election night, I fell asleep early. I was certain my candidate was not going to win. I knew that the world was not ready to address real national security threats like climate change and perpetual warfare. Yup, I voted for Jill Stein, because other than the Green Party, no one was offering any real […]
Childhood in the Holy Land
The path to school is one of those things that almost everyone can agree needs to be safe. Everyone except for Israel, that is. Palestinian children are terrorized and humiliated on their daily walk to school and home. A study done by the Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove found at the end of the 2007-2008 […]
I’m a Dem, but Hillary is no champion to me
The Democratic convention is over, and my grieving process has began. I became an “unaffiliated” voter. It sort of brought a tear to my eye, as I thought about the Democratic nominee. Not tears of joy or elation for a “female nominee of a major political party,” but those of sadness and grief for all […]
The Arab American Bernie aftermath
As an Arab American surrogate for Bernie Sanders, there’s been a lot to think about since yesterday’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton. I’m a former surrogate now, I guess. Of course, Bernie had said from the beginning that he would support Hillary Clinton if he lost the nomination. So, yesterday was no surprise in the grand […]
Tribute to Alton Sterling: We are the minority
Multiple gunshots penetrated the onlookers’ ears. Blood sprouted and smeared the front of a silver car. One police officer laid on the floor, his gun still aimed at the dying man. That dying man’s name? Alton Sterling. Get used to it. You’re going to be hearing it for a while. And you should be. Sterling’s […]
My grandfather’s name was Muhammad too
I was an Arab-Muslim-Palestinian-Christian-American kid growing up in a quiet, all-white, insulated suburb of Philadelphia. I always knew I was a little different. I had parents and grandparents with weird accents. On weekends, my parents packed us in the car to go see other kids who had parents and grandparents with weird accents. I constantly […]
Hillary and Donald, BFFs forever and ever
According to the Center of American Women in Politics, in 2012, 64% of women and 60% of men voted. Racial demographics according to the Pew Research Center estimate that by November 2016, the voting public will consist of 70% whites, 12% Hispanic, 12% Blacks and 6% Asian. For a racist (a.k.a. Trump), it seems like it […]