I’ve blogged about Taraji Mustafa a month ago and gave my opinion on her based on an Arabic article I read. Now after watching a video of the interview she had with Al Arabiya, I have more to say.
After watching the video, one can quite easily notice that Taraji Mustafa was emotionally charged when she was talking. She reminded a little bit of Wafa Sultan. Both were emotional when they spoke and both have the same hair do. The difference however was that Wafa’s criticisms were in the context of religion. Taraji’s are not. She has a clear disliking towards Arabs and Arab attitudes. Being a northern Sudanese she also seems to consider herself as purely African and not Afro-Arab as most northern Sudanese including myself do. At least that’s the impression I had. We northern Sudanese have a serious issue of identity crisis. Bring a group of us, put us together and drop the question “are you Arabs or Africans”. You’ll most probably end up witnessing a huge heated debate but anyways, this topic and the issue of internal racism within Sudan are beyond the scope of this post.
I support Taraji’s overall stance and interview. I believe there’s nothing wrong in establishing a Sudanese-Israeli friendship association. It’s actually a good thing. Let’s see the following:
Interviewer: Do you have any popular or official mandate to establish the Sudanese-Israeli Friendship Association, or is this your own personal initiative?
Taraji Mustafa: First of all, I do not need a mandate to talk about my personal beliefs, or those of some of the Sudanese people. None of the Sudanese friendship associations, like the Sudanese-Indian or the Sudanese-Swedish associations, and many others, needed a popular mandate. Why do I need a mandate to establish a friendship [association] with that part of the Israeli people that believes in friendship?
Exactly! Now, seriously what’s wrong with that statement? Hell, I myself, Drima of The Sudanese Thinker have my hand stretched out in peace and friendship to any Israeli out there who also wants peace and friendship. In fact, here’s a “digital brotherly hug and handshake” to all my Israeli readers who don’t mind living in peace and friendship with me.
I admire Taraji’s bravery and courage. It made me go WOW. The woman certainly has guts. She doesn’t conform to the general negative “bla bla blas” of Sudanese society. She speaks her mind freely and says what she wants confidently. I like that.
There are some glaring flaws Taraji made in her passionate speech which I didn’t like though. Here’s the first:
…Lawyers called me to say they were initiating a constitutional lawsuit against the Sudanese government because of the words “to all countries, except Israel” [in Sudanese passports]. Sudan is the only country to include in its passports such a clause, which deprives a very wide sector of Christians, and even Muslims, from visiting [Jerusalem] and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Wrong! That was a dumb statement. Sudan is not the only country with such a clause in its passport.
Moreover and secondly in my humble opinion, Taraji herself is guilty to a certain extent of the same thing she accuses the Arabs of. Let’s see the following:
The Palestinian people should not forget that we, the Sudanese people, opened our doors to them in the days of Sabra and Shatila. The Palestinians should not forget that Ja’far al-Numeiri saved Yasser Arafat in the days of Black September. Unfortunately, none of this is imparted to the Palestinian people, which, as has been proven, treats the Sudanese in the worst possible way – with racism and persecution – because they are black.
I don’t think it was fair for her to say that. She herself made a generalization too. Sure, Palestinians are not all lovely non-racist angels but at the same time they’re not all evil racist devils. How can you make such a blunt generalizing statement and describe a whole people as racist? Now, listen up guys and girls. I’m not going to sit here behind my keyboard and tell you that I haven’t experienced racism from Arabs who view northern Sudanese darker skinned Afro-Arabs as lesser Arabs. I’ve experienced my own share of racism from Arabs… in fact too much of it especially during my childhood school days in Qatar. I’ve been called names like charcoal, chocolate boy, “blackie” and slave. I’ve experienced racism from Lebanese, Jordanians, Syrians, Qataris, Saudis but not Palestinians. Yes, not Palestinians. However does that mean that just because I never met a Palestinian who is racist, all Palestinians must automatically be non-racist angels? Bleh, yup sure ‘cause you know I’m just like totally retarded. Damn it, of course not! I bet you a thousand bucks that there are some racist retarded Palestinians out there! Also ask any Sudanese who they think are the most racist of all Arabs and there’s a 90% chance they’ll answer “the Lebanese”. Hell, many Lebanese call Sudanese peanuts, “fustug il 3abeed” which translates as “peanuts of the slaves”. Yes, the Lebanese have a bad reputation amongst the Sudanese and many of us consider them to be racist but you see this is exactly what I heavily dislike… this whole generalization and stereotyping thing which of course I myself am embarrassed to say used to be quite guilty of in the past when it came to Jews and Israelis.
Most of the racist retards that I really hated back during my childhood school days in Qatar were Lebanese mostly, Syrians, Jordanians and Qataris but at the same time my best friends in class mainly consisted of 2 Palestinians, a Jordanian, a Bahraini, 3 Qataris and a Lebanese. My point? Don’t generalize and paint all people with the same ugly brush. I think Taraji got too emotional during the interview and I didn’t like the sweeping statements she made. My guess is that she probably had a very bad experience with a Palestinian person sometime in the past. It’s kind of like those funny Sudanese I know who visit India only to return back and say “man, Indians are smelly”, or get robbed while visiting Egypt only to return back and say “man, Egyptians are thieves”, or go to a fully packed mosque while visiting Indonesia only to return back and say “man, Indonesians are such good religious Muslims”. I can go on and on but you get the idea.
Taraji also makes another generalization:
I believe the Arab media in its entirety – TV, websites, movies, and songs – should be held responsible for this racist behavior. We are sick and tired of seeing blacks in Egyptian TV series in the roles of doormen, waiters, or drivers. We are sick and tired of the stereotyping of blacks in the media, in series aired in the Gulf countries.
In its entirety??!! Like whole damn entirety?!! As in everything?! If she said “some”, I would have no problem but “entirety”?! Damn! People, do you see what I’m trying to point out here? The roles in Egyptian TV simply portray reality. Most of the mentioned jobs are held by dark skinned Nubian Egyptians from the far south of Egypt. Portraying blacks holding such jobs isn’t racist. Plus how the hell can you explain the huge popularity of many dark skinned Egyptian actors and singers? And how can you explain the popularity of this Kuwaiti band which I really like?
Please Taraji, I admire your courage and bravery but chill out a little bit. Don’t generalize and don’t get heated up in the moment. Friendly peace loving Israelis deserve our friendship and we should stand against the wrong ignorant stereotypes about them but let’s not paint all Arabs with the same brush.
Oh well… there you go… my thoughts on Taraji Mustafa’s interview.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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ST-
You make some good point. In Taraji’s case…remember this was impromtu and the interviewer kept pushing at her. I would not generalize too much about her either. I kind of read into it, “hey dude…you gonna give me shit…I am gonna give it right back”.
In terms of her Sudan-Israel idea…there she is right. She lives in Canada and she sure as hell does not need permission from a tyrannical, murderous government to try to break out of the slime of hatred.
In terms of you reaching out to Israeli’s in peace…I am gonna ask you the same question I ask my pal Mohamed:
“How many Sudanese has Israel (or Jews) hurt, maimed, repressed, or killed?” Don’t talk to me about Solomon hitting on Sheba, they were adults and that was arond 1000 BC or something.
Certainly…how many Darfurians have we hurt, maimed, injured, killed repressed? Hell…even during the slave trade, to borrow a line from Woody Allen, “what, my ancestors were busy being raped by Cossacks during that time”.
Anyway…Mohamed gave it a lot of thought and a very short answer.
What is your answer?
Maybe not ‘the’ media, but since I’m quite surprised at the almost general view of israeli’s by people in arab lands (even described by you in some posts) I’m under the distinct impression that the most influential media must have something to do with it. I’m not saying Israeli media are angels. Far from that. Only the last few years ‘the enemy’ has been portrayed as human beings as well beyond ‘enemy’*** - but still nothing as vicious as I sadly came to realize arabic media has labeled ‘israeli’s’ (zionists).
Funnily enough, mahmoud (of mahmoud’s den) once wrote a post about the commercial relations some Bahraini parlement members wanted to create with Israel and there was this one minister (dead against the idea) who said (in parlement
) “we have always conveyed hate towards the zionist entity, we won’t refrain from doing so now” 
:D 
*** (this fact was confirmed on tv not long ago by agreeing that the movie “avanti populo” was the first to do such in 1986)
hi drima
i realy like this post, and about the palestinean thing she said , she is just wanted to find an excuse (or explaination for arab viewers ) to make this frienship .
(no body needs a reason to make a friedship) .
beside i think she does not know any thing about the israeli society where white israeli is treated better than the darker one.
Salma - apparently, nor do you.
Drima - Wrong! That was a dumb statement. Sudan is not the only country with such a clause in its passport. - Common, man. Surely that’s not the point at all …
Oops, that should have been “come on, man”.
LOL. I’m not suggesting that you are “common”. :))
NC-
Your punishment for calling Drima “common” albeit by accident” is to go and vote for him and his blog.
Is “punishment” the wrong word?
Hmm, I was discriminated against by Palestinians & so was my mom & sis:) but hey,I’ve learned, the hard way, not to generalize.Anyway, that’s beside the point.
Interesting interview & I respect her for speaking her mind.
Furthermore & please excuse my skepticism,I got the impression that the association was established to spite the Arabs more than it being a friendship thing.Waalahu Aalam
tsk,tsk, she said the forbidden words ” The govt is oppressive”.I fear for her life now.
Great balanced post, Drima.
Hipster, will she really be in danger now for just saying “the government is oppressive”?
Howie - old news. Done that already
Hipster - but she lives in Canada - does she have a real reason to fear for her life from there?
Also, do you really think she’d set up this thing just to spite other people? Surely she’s got better things to do with her life, no? I actually think that she probably does just want to meet Israelis and Jews, and that she wants them to meet her. Personally, I’d be happy to meet her, or any of you for that matter. I have a place in my heart for Sudanese, since my first (and unfortunately last) Arabic teacher was Sudanese (and yes, it was a long time ago, and pretty much all I can still remember how to say is “ana ashrab shay” LOL).
Hipster, I had the same skepticism too. I thought maybe she’s just doing it openly to piss off the Arabs but I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Lynne, thanks but “balance” wasn’t really a concern I had when writing this post. It’s just what I honestly think.
Salma, thanks but girl you’re statement itself is a generalization too and I don’t think Taraji was looking for an excuse for her friendship foundation.
““ana ashrab shay” LOL”
Hehehehe. You’re a tea drinking fan huh? Me don drink tea. I like Ovatlin.
And NC, I too don’t think she’s just doing for the sake of only pissing off Arabs. That might be part of it. I don’t know but maybe it is. However I think her “stretched out hand” is genuine and she really does mean what she says about friendship with friendly Israelis.
I think that she knows she’s going to piss people off, but that she doesn’t really care about that. But that doesn’t mean that her entire purpose is just to piss people off. That would be a bit stupid really, and she doesn’t come across as being stupid.
Oh, and yeah - I love my tea
Y’all
I think she is both reaching out and giving both the Arabs and her government the middle finger.
To me it is kind of an awaking of “don’t tell me WTF to think!” I think also she is going through the shock/realizaiton..maybe a bit like folks like Precious or ST, that she has been fed a whole lot of slanted hooey.
Drima, your post is balanced because you always seem to have the ability to think reasonably and critically. As you say, you just say what you honestly think.
Hey Drima,
I agree with you on some points but disagree on others… in the case of racism from Arabs directed towards Sudanese, to be honest, I think there is more intra-Sudanese racism than there is racism from Arabs to Sudanese. Reading some Sudanese blogs, has made me wonder why my life wasn’t a living hell in Arab countries! I’ve lived in Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt, and I remember being teased when I was like 6 or 7yrs old in Kuwait at school but otherwise I haven’t encountered racism from Arabs and I’ve certainly never been called a “slave”, throughout my childhood my closest circle of friends were Palestinian, Egyptian and Lebanese… we used to tease each other over our accents and stuff like that, but I never got the vibe that there was any bad intentions on their part and it was always just friendly banter…
The thing is with Arabs, and I know I’m about to generalize, but the discrimination tends to exist on a more economic level, that is - if you’re perceived to be coming from a lower economic background then people will treat you like crap… and come to think of it I think that’s generally true about human nature. Many of the Sudanese who work in Arab countries, and especially the non-Gulf Arab countries, tend to come from poorer backgrounds and so tend to work in less skilled jobs than their Arab counterparts and so it tends to invite a lot of racism - not that this justifies the racism but it is a possible cause of it. A couple of decades back, our parents generation, when it was generally the more educated Sudanese who worked in Arab countries and so held good jobs, Sudanese were a respected nationality and were treated well.
Also, about Egyptian houseworkers… most houseworkers in Egypt don’t come from a Nubian background - that is the impression that’s given by Egyptian tv series. The overwhelming majority of houseworkers are poorer Egyptians, and only after the very recent influx of Southern Sudanese to Egypt (within the last 5 or so years) have they started to take “darker-skinned” houseworkers. So Taraji Mustafa was right in saying there is generally a negative portrayal of black people on Egyptian tv. I think Gulf Arabs have a more balanced media portrayal of blacks, and it’s most probably due to the fact that there are many wealthy black Gulf Arabs…. let’s not forget that Kuwait would have a black Emir had it not been for his ill-health.
Rihab, ween ikhtafeti ya 3ajeeba inti?
I agree with you on racism within Sudan and amongst Sudanese being a severe and REAL problem. You might be right about it being worse than Arab racism towards Sudanese or wrong because maybe that’s just simply the impression you have since you didn’t experience much racism from Arabs when you lived in Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar. The racism is very real and it’s not just based on economic background of the person. Like I said in my post. Just because your friends weren’t racist doesn’t mean all people from their countries are not. This goes for Sudanese people too. Racism isn’t only limited to being directed from light skin to dark skin. I know Sudanese who’ll treat any white person or even Lebanese like crap simply because they’re “7alaba & ma3afineen” stuck racist. It’s the impression we have about them being racist that makes us become racist towards them too.
I do however consider your point regarding Egyptian TV. I admit I wouldn’t know more than you. You live there and you know better so I won’t argue with you on that one. But dark skinned Egyptian actors and singers are still famous and popular though.
Anyways, good to have you back. I hope you’ll get active on your blog again. The Sudanese blogosphere needs people like you.
Salam ya 3aweera. LOL.
Lynne & NC, I’m not sure but she said it on TV.I hope she doesn’t get targeted & they don’t cause her problems when she visits Sudan.
NC, hey, I would love to meet you & would love to visit Israel:)
Drima, I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt too.
Salam, Rihab, what does ” Aperdosoni” mean?
Drima, yeah, i didn’t mean it in the sense that racism was unheard of in the Arab world but i’m just trying to say that it’s not as severe as it may seem, reading sudanese blogs… but yeah i agree with what you’re saing.
meeee?? 3aweera?? never! loool! you reminded me of the time i said that to one of my teachers (she was a Brit) and she turned around and said “I’m not 3aweera, and you’ve got break detention!”…. i remember thinking wtf?? you weren’t meant to hear nor understand woman!! ugh! anywaay, sorry for disappearing like that i was busy for a while but yup i’m back, and i’ll hopefully start re-blogging again.
Hipster - Aperadosini means Rihab in Greek, Rihab was taken on blogger.com so I went for the Greek translation of my name (i.e. vastness)… go figure!
Thankx:)
Interesting blog, you got there.I’m currently chking out the archive:)
I consider Ms. Mustafa’s remarks to be on point despite her generalizations. The criticism regarding generalizations is a minor deficiency considering the reality on the ground. Its like the powerless being disrespectful to the powerful. The powerful should not care about disrespect from the powerless because utimately the powerful hold all the cards to the powerless’ destiny.
I hope her attitude regarding concentrating more on her African/Black identity becomes more common among Northern Sudanese. I consider your destiny to more tied to Africa than to the Arab world.
The identity crisis the Northern Sudanese suffer from will continue to be its achilles heel for the 21st century.
Likewise, AfricanAmericans also have to deal with issues of identity because many of us look European.
Salam
if i may say that all the opinions of mirs taraji mustafa is true me myselfe i studied with some jews at my earliers days at university they are very very civilized , kind , people . but the media pictured them as bad peoples they are not bad at all . i agree with taraji completely why we are prevented to visit israel state.?why we prevented to accept them as humans being ? why dont let them live in peace as others like ?
i think there arent any reasons prevent us from making relationship with them .
goodluck to the brave lady taraji . im with her
Hi People
I just wanted to ask if somebody can help me. I´m searching for the adress of Taraji Mustafa´s Organisation “Darfur Association fo Canada”.
I am a sudani, living in germany and it would be very helpful for me to contact this Organisation.
If somebody could help me I would be very thankful.
Salam.
hey drima how u doing?
just i need and i wish you have address or phone number by madam
taraji mustafa plz ,, it,s first time today to know about her and really i like that she say in interview ,,,,,,,,,, god bless you taraji,,,,,,,
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