September 1990, Page 32

Seeing the Light

Replacing Campus Racism with Informed Debate

By Dima Zalatimo

For Palestinians living under occupation, seeing the light comes by virtue of birth. For those in the diaspora, it is individual experiences that help mold our psyche and shape our political state of mind.

Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and raised in Illinois and Saudi Arabia, I grew up with a thorough sense of my Palestinian identity. My childhood was a period of inquiry and discovery; I was never actually compelled to defend or justify my heritage.

This changed when I attended the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, I found myself confronting the racism from which my parents had long sought to shelter me.

My awakening began when, in a speech class, I attempted to persuade fellow students that our government should cut aid to Israel. Classmates exhibited an intolerance for alternative views on the Middle East by deliberately disrupting my speech. As a result of this and numerous incidents to come, I became aware of what being Palestinian in this country actually entails.

As a Palestinian at such an overwhelmingly pro-Israel campus, your identity is constantly assaulted. The uninformed and misinformed are very comfortable making overtly racist comments to your face. Any challenge to their views is met with hostility and even violence. The experience can be quite demoralizing.

The Perils and Rewards of Speaking Out

I remember being booed by an auditorium full of students when I pointed out the falsity behind an Israeli guest lecturer's claims of Israeli democracy. I found the speaker's astonishment at me and my comment particularly disturbing. Since the University of Michigan has historically been friendly to Israel's supporters, he was taken aback by the presence of a vocal Palestinian in his audience. Ironically, at the end of the lecture an Arab student thanked me for speaking out when she had long been afraid to do so.

This incident had a catalytic effect on my political development. I came to realize the importance of challenging my opponent and articulating this opposition. The fact that there were other Arab-American students experiencing the same tide of racism made confronting the situation easier.

A fellow student was once spat on by a young woman during a bucket drive to raise money for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. I wondered to myself why any woman would react so viciously to a humanitarian effort. Did she not believe Palestinians suffering in refugee camps were worthy of our fund raising? Did she doubt that Palestinians lived in refugee camps? Or was it that she didn't want to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians? I was bewildered by this woman's reaction.

As troubling as the incident was, it brought the Arab-American students together and made us stronger. The stronger we became, the more hostile and irrational our opposition became.

An injustice against one was viewed as an injustice against all.

As a result, we learned to struggle on campus both as individuals and as a collective body. An injustice against one was viewed as an injustice against all. We realized the ability to mobilize and respond to particular incidents was essential to our effectiveness as concerned Arab-American students.

Taking the Initiative

Increasingly, pro-Israel activists found themselves reacting to our initiatives rather than creating their own. Dr. Israel Shahak, an Israeli professor of chemistry and a Holocaust survivor, who is an outspoken critic of Israeli policy, was harassed and told to go back to Poland when he spoke on campus. A talk by another opponent of Israel's policies, Jewish theologian Mark Ellis, was delayed due to a bomb threat.

In the meantime, I found that many students were able to overcome their skepticism and listen with open minds. Thus, I learned the importance of outreach. A large percentage of the students and faculty members were not as dogmatic as I had initially perceived them to be.

As a group, Arab-American students built broad-based coaltions with other groups fighting for human rights in South Africa and Central America. Thus, when it was time to mobilize around an issue, we were able to rally mass support.

The culmination of Arab-American student activism at the University of Michigan was our work at the school newspaper, the Michigan Daily. Recognizing its importance as a medium for educating the campus about the Palestinian cause, a number of Arab-American students began writing for the newspaper. I became a news reporter.

We began by educating staff members about the Middle East and found many of the Jewish students especially receptive. Having established support among the newspaper staff, it became easier to publish editorials representing a Palestinian viewpoint. The issues we addressed became increasingly controversial. Our editorials became the focus of heated campus debates.

As a news reportr, I covered campus events related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The articles I wrote were fair and accurate (I take issue with the word "objective"), and highlighted controversial points other reporters normally overlooked due to self-censorship or lack of knowledge.

Attempts at Intimidation

My reporting caught the attention of the local Hillel director. He and many other Israeli supporters persistently complained that my coverage of events regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict could not be "objective" due to my background. These people would never complain about an African-American covering minority affairs, or a woman reporting about sexual harassment, or a ballplayer writing for the sports page.

The controversy surrounding our work at the Michigan Daily received national and international publicity. A pro-Israel student protest of alleged anti-Semitism at the Daily received coverage in The New York Times and the Jerusalem Post.

When political intimidation failed, our opponents resorted to violence. Vandals spraypainted "Jew haters will pay" and "PLO Daily" on the walls of the student publications building on campus. Jewish editors who had supported coverage of pro-Palestinian speakers and presentation of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute received death threats. Naturally, these events did not reach The New York Times or the Jerusalem Post.

By this time, I was thoroughly prepared to challenge whatever opposition I faced. I had discovered the importance of speaking out, reaching out and educating. I am thankful for my experiences at the University of Michigan. As troubling as they were, they made me a stronger person and a more determined Palestinian. I have redirected the light I see into a beam of future hope.

Dima Zalatimo is a contributing editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.