AMMAN — Among the millions of people who
call
Jordan home is a minority population that describes its experience as one
of discrimination and stereotypes: Black Jordanians.
اضافة اعلان
According to Professor Hussein Al-Khozahe, a
sociologist, there are around 200,000 Black Jordanians living in both the northern
and southern Jordan Valley. Black communities have long made their homes in
Jordan and Palestine, with an estimated 3 million Africans brought as enslaved
people to the Middle East by the 9th century. There is a strong
Afro-Palestinian community in Jerusalem as well, some of whom now reside as
Palestinian refugees in Jordan.
“Discrimination and racism exist here towards
Black people, no matter where they come from,” Mahmoud Al-Deghemat, a Black
Jordanian from Karak based in Amman, similarly told Jordan News. “I was told I wouldn’t be able
to get a job here, because people in work places don’t want to work with a
black person. And when I introduce myself, many people would say ‘You’re not
Jordanian, you’re African.’”
In the early 2000s, before many Africans came
to Jordan as refugees and
migrants, Black Jordanians said they still faced discrimination and
stereotyping. Perhaps the most common form of mistreatment cited was through
name-calling, with the most common words including “abeed” (meaning slave),
“abu al abed” (Karemo — a chocolate coated marshmallow treat), and “abu samrah”
(an idiom meaning ‘father of dark skin’).
However, in recent years, there has been a
considerable increase of people from Africa living and working in Jordan,
including Somali and Sudanese refugees who share religion and language with the
Kingdom. Based on the 2015 census, there are around 700,000 migrants from
Africa living in Jordan. According to the
UNHCR’s 2020 statistics, there are 6,076 registered Sudanese refugees in the
country and 746 registered Somali refugees.
“The ones who suffer the most are the children
of Black parents,” Mohmmad Karboush, a Somali who has been living in Jordan for
nearly a decade, said in an interview with Jordan News. “They have been living in a country and a society
that isn’t their own and also an environment where people do not look like
them. They have been victims of racial stereotyping and racial slurs.”
Despite their experience of racism and
discrimination, both men expressed hope for change. “Awareness is the way racism and discrimination
may disappear,” said Karboush. “The people need to educate themselves about the
cultures that are different than your own.”
Deghemat echoed him. “Friendship is the way for racism to disappear,” he said. “Become friends with people of different cultures, ask questions and
be curious about their culture. That way someone will be aware of what they are
saying and respect is given to both of them.”
Loay Shahwah, another Black Jordanian
professional based in Amman, said “Racism is going to take a while to
disappear, but people need to realize that we were given this skin tone by the
Almighty. We are the same
on the inside: the only thing that is different is our skin tone.”
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