Its is funny that the Modern Egyptians feel this way, esp. considering that they know deep down inside the real truth, that the
REAL A. Egyptians are the
BLACK people of Upper Egypt and Northern Sudan. Ive seen and read this many times, its not some Afrocentric thing because these are Egyptians saying this. A good example is the Racist Arab-Egyptian Troll Abaza who told Aswani Aswad(secretly in Arabic) another Black Egyptian that the real Egyptians were the Nubians. You can find little tidbits of this truth on various Egyptian forums. These racist Egyptians know full well their ancestors are black and this is probably what irks them so, knowing their black ancestors ruled the Eastern Med. while their Light Skinned Arab cant even compare.
one of the best Articles that sums up the Egyptian Racism/Colorism and their unescapable black identity
A Question of Colour: Is Racial Prejudice on the Rise in Egypt, or
are Egyptians Merely
Obsessed with Skin Colour?
by
Gamal Nkrumah
It is not an entirely curious fact that most Egyptians
seem fixated on blue-eyed blondes. For one thing, the country is peopled
essentially by dark-skinned, dark-haired people, and familiarity does
breed contempt. Blue-eyed blondes are an exotic rarity. Mind you, an
ever increasing number of well-heeled Egyptian women are desperately
resorting to skin-lightening creams, light coloured-tinted contact
lenses and hair bleaching dyes in an often farcical attempt to attain
the golden-locked look.
Admittedly, all this is part of a global trend.
Yellow-thatched Japanese youngsters are a common sight in Tokyo
nowadays. Mercifully, the phenomenon hasn't quite caught on in Cairo,
yet.
The whitening of Egypt has become a lucrative industry. Television
commercials bombard viewers with a baffling array of skin-lightening
creams and hair-straightening contraptions, creams and shampoos to
effect the "white" look.
"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you
have," noted French philosopher Emile Chartier. Perhaps, he didn't have
the single-minded struggle to be "white" in mind. To pass as white has
become, for some, their veritable raison d'jtre.
The Egyptians see themselves as essentially sumr, or "dark". However,
for all intents and purposes this is a most confusing and contentious
term. If an individual is described as asmar, the masculine, or samra,
the feminine, they could range in colour from the southern Sudanese
ebony or indigo black, a west African chocolate or mahogany black, the
various copper and honey-toned Ethiopian and Somali types, to the olive
or off-white dark-haired Mediterranean or Middle Eastern-looking type.
Samara, or "Darkie", traditionally a term of endearment, has today taken
on pejorative connotations in contemporary Egypt. The ugly forces of "shadism"
are also at work in the country. Shadism, as a social and
politico-economic occurrence was, and perhaps still is, pervasive in the
Caribbean and among African Americans. Lighter-skinned blacks, who
presumably had a greater infusion of white blood have been considered
socially superior to darker, full-blooded blacks.
Suspected of actually being the slave-masters' progeny, they have been
encouraged to assume overseer roles over the unadulterated blacks. In
due course, they were accorded special social status, assumed political
leadership and monopolised what economic opportunities presented
themselves to the black elites. Those who have "good hair", meaning
straighter and less kinky hair were also favoured.
In Egypt, no such historical tradition existed. But the perverted logic
of shadism is sadly very much at work. Darker is uncouth, unpolished,
crude and common.
Lighter is, accordingly, more desirable, preferred, simply superior, and
to ignore this is to ignore one of the salient features of contemporary
Egypt.
At some theoretical level it is understandable that black conjures up
images of the ugly, pathetic and wretched in the Egyptian psyche. Egypt
has become progressively whiter over the millennia.
Even so, songs
praising dark-skinned or black beauty ranging from the now classic "Asmar
ya asmarani" [Dark one, oh dark one] sung by a coterie of now
long-departed superstars including Faiza Ahmed and Abdel-Halim Hafez to
the more contemporary "Habibi laun al-chocolata", [My love is the colour
of chocolate], by Nubian singer Mohamed Mounir. This genre has always
been a characteristic feature of Egyptian lyrical folklore. Songs such as "Asmar malek rouhi"
[The dark one owns my soul], and "Alu
al-samar ahla walla al-bayad ahla" [They asked whether darkness was more
comely than whiteness], another popular song by Soad Mohamed, clearly
indicate a collective acknowledgment of the attractiveness of darkness
among Egyptians. Indeed, darkness is generally perceived to confer upon
the individual the peculiarly Egyptian concept of damm khafif loosely
translated as "charming" or "humorous". This is attested to by the popularity of references to darkness in the
context of love and romance in the popular Egyptian song.
"Asmar, asmar tayeb malu, walla samaru sirr gamalu"
[So what if he is dark, that is the secret of his beauty], Mohamed
Qandil's "Gamil wa asmar" [Beautiful and Dark], predated the "Black is
Beautiful" slogan of the 1970s civil rights movement in the United
States.
Racism as an institutionalised political and economic phenomenon never
existed in Egypt.
There are many Nubian and Sudanese singers based in Cairo, the cultural
capital of the Arab world, but their music is a different genre
altogether.
A few, such as Jawaher, a popular Sudanese singer, manage to
penetrate the Egyptian pop-song market with smash hits such as "Ana
bahebb al-asmarani" . Yet another is "Gani al-asmar
gani" [The dark one came to me] a hit song sang by Etab, a Saudi singer
who is herself black.
Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that even in the realm of the
popular song where traditionally references to whiteness or lightness of
skin are minimal, there are a few exceptions. "Al-oyoun al-khodr
saharouni" [Her green eyes bewitched me], by Muharram Fouad is one such
exception.
Sadly, this fondness of darkness in popular songs is not reflected on
the street. "I've never been called a to my face more times in my
life," Steffan, an African American studying in Cairo, told Al-Ahram
Weekly. "Some Egyptian youth may listen to a lot of rap music and may
not know how offensive the word is.
But some of the young adults I've heard it from, I hold accountable.
They understand how offensive the word is," he said. "It's telling that
discussion of race is so minimal that people could get away with using
ignorance as an excuse for using the word ," he added.
When black Africans are asked whether they felt they were subject to
racial prejudice while in Egypt, most queried had terrible stories of
personal experiences to tell. African Americans, on the whole, were less
emphatic. Some said that they did not suffer from any form of racial
discrimination when in Egypt.
"Lighter-skinned Egyptians have treated me just fine. Speaking for
myself, I have not experienced racism from Egyptians," said a friend
from Oakland, California. "When I am in Egypt, it is as a visitor.
Most Egyptians instinctively know that I am African American, but there
are some who think I am Egyptian or Nubian. But, whatever they think I
am, I believe they think I am rich," she explained. "So whether I am in
Cairo, Luxor or Aswan, Egyptians are always kind and polite to me. In
fact, a lot of them want to talk to me.
The Nubians, of course, always
call me their Nubian 'sistah'." The fact that shopkeepers, hoteliers and the public at large tend to
equate Americans (be they black or white) with dollars and relative
wealth might account for the impression that African Americans are less
likely to face racial prejudice than sub-Saharan Africans in Egypt and
are more likely to be accorded a warmer reception. "One other thing, I
am always treated nicely by staff whether I am in a five-star hotel or a
no-star hotel," my Californian friend said.
Africans from countries south of the Sahara, including the southern
Sudanese and not excepting the large African diplomatic community in
Cairo, have more troubling tales to tell.
However, racial prejudice is not exclusively directed at those from
sub-Saharan Africa. Upper class Egyptians, often fairer than their
poorer compatriots, invariably look down on lower class Egyptians who
tend to be darker in complexion. There is a subtle correlation between
lower income and darker complexion. The Egyptian upper classes and
elites tend to be noticeably lighter in complexion than their poorer and
working class compatriots. "They labour in the sun," is sometimes the
cynical explanation.
But, a more accurate explanation would be that Egypt has for thousands
of years been ruled by foreign, and lighter-skinned, invaders --
Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, the French and British. A large
section of the pre-revolutionary Egyptian elite could trace their
ancestry to Balkan, Caucasian and Turkish roots.
Moreover, Napoleon Bonaparte's French expedition was notorious for
sowing its seeds in places like the Delta city of Mansoura whose women
are reputedly "exceptionally beautiful"; in Egyptian common parlance
that means fair-skinned, with light-coloured eyes and hair.
Not only are the poorer classes darker in complexion, but they tend to
display more "African" cultural traits.
Much of the music they enjoy has
rhythmic beats that are reminiscent of those of the music of Africa
south of the Sahara, with an emphasis on drums and percussion. The elite
tend to favour classical Western-influenced music or Middle Eastern
(Turkish and Persian) musical strains dominated by stringed instruments.
While the poorer and working classes are more likely to dance
spontaneously and with abandon in public, the elites tend to be more
restrained.
Much clapping and ululation accompanies street parties in
low income areas, the elites, in sharp contrast, shun these "baladi"
literally "country" traits, suggestive of the African. "The foremost issue is the darkness of your skin and your manner of
dress. The darker your skin and the more ethnic, or African, your style
of dress, the more stares and harassment you will receive," explained
Thomas Ford, an African American resident in Cairo.
"As a Black man, an African American, I have been fortunate enough not
to have experienced anything first hand. I have been welcomed with open
arms."
Again, like many of his compatriots, he sees a qualitative difference
between racism in Egypt and racism in his native US. "I will say that,
in general, racism in Egypt is much less of an issue than in other parts
of the world. But anyone who denies its existence is fooling himself."
Ford spoke of a "subtle level of racism" that is "hard to define".
Racism in Egypt, he said, was more prevalent among the educated and
socioeconomic and political elites than among the poor and working
classes. "In some ways it is almost non-existent compared to what I have
experienced in the US, but at the same time there are some pervasive
issues in Egypt involving race."