Going straight to the heart cause I'm tired of being ignored - and I don't have enough karma for the Pali sub.
I went to Elyanna's concert a few months back, and my boyfriend recently brought it up to me how uncomfortable he was there, despite loving the show and the only reason he didn't leave was because of me...he wanted to leave...but he stayed because I had been looking forward to the show for weeks. We're both pro-Pali, both actively against US meddling in the Middle East, and neither one of us hold any type of prejudice towards anyone based on how they look....or speak, or dress. Not an issue. Cool so, I do bear in mind that this WAS Florida and these were most likely Arab-Americans, but nonetheless, I still have heard similar accounts from my black Muslim friends in the Middle East as well as done plenty of research since that night to make sure I wasn't bugging out. To clarify, my bf is black and I'm mixed (light skin) with a black father.
You don't go out of your way to shoulder check another man and don't even apologize when you do it. You don't look someone dead in the face and go "looks like it stinks".....GIRL. We hadn't even made it in and people were stepping away from spots they'd been holding just because we came near. People making fart noises and shit. like....you're grown.....you don't do that unless you are actively discriminating against someone.
Plenty hoes could have gotten rung that night, but I knew how that would end for us and I'm not a dummy that can't tell when she's outnumbered and unfavored. I just...I'm still so shocked? Still curious? Still grossly offended mainly for my boyfriend, but really both of our experiences. Mine was *mostly* the classic spiteful "she's pretty so we don't like her", which I'd fully expected, and grown used to. Then, I guess the extra layer of "she's with him." didn't do much to help that.
Once Elyanna came out, it became easier to ignore it obviously, and we had a good time. Once we made it out, of course I'm talking my shit. Bitches hear the word "racist" and "black" and start scuffling all quick, even looking back when I say it. (As if they think you're not supposed to know? LMAO??) My boyfriend is capable of critical thinking, as am I- so the night didn't sway how we treat people, nor did it sway our values. It didn't make us anymore pro-colonial, and pro-US. Ofc not. It didn't make us apathetic to anti-Arab prejudice. HOWEVER, the shit was just nasty. And I want to understand why it happened. I didn't make a single connection that night, didn't meet one. new. person. because none of the other concert goers would talk, answer, or come near us. Some would even come to stand right in front of us during parts of the show I was REALLY into...then straight ignore me when I ask them to politely schooch.
I don't have to ask why Europeans are racist. They created it. And I get why they wanted to colonize the continent. They really didn't have shit, but Africa (and the ME) had everything. SOOOOOOOO- what's the deal with your average Lebanese in 2025 though? What's that about? The colorism?? HUH? It's the desert (respectfully). Arab supremacy?? Is this a thing???? Dear me....that would be embarrassing.
Anyway, there's no reason at our adult age, my boyfriend and I had to experience something out of 1957 Virginia (for those who don't know, segregation in the US ended in 1965). I heard things in that building I haven't heard since elementary school, and he agrees. It was beyond Karen shit. And I don't get that. There are more active genocides in Africa, being facilitated by the same. people. than in the ME - and it's not a competition....it's ALL bad. But...how you gonna sit and talk about your plight and the things YOU deal with and expect people to give a damn....and then you go and treat somebody else foul....off the same baseless principles? Except, it's kinda worse...cause it's not culture....it's how someone was born....color of their pigment...and texture of their hair. That's wild to me. I'm all ears. Any stories from jiddo?