Memoir Adaptation

Arwa Abdelmoaty

As an Arab American and a Muslim I have grown used

to microaggressions. I’m used to the side-eyes and

whispers, to the little details they forget, and the way no

one in this country will say my name without

commenting on how hard it is. But not once in my life

had I had someone stare me in the face and say

something racist directly to me. Not since I understood

what racism was.

I was young and innocent, untouched by the world’s cruelty. But that couldn't last wrong.

“No, we should bomb Egypt,” came those cruel

words, a smug smile decorating the offending boy’s face.

The silence that followed was louder than anything I have

ever heard. It was deafening. I couldn’t think. I didn’t even

realize what was happening until I spoke.

 “What,” my voice rasped out, shock evident in my tone, though the look on my face was

convincing enough I’m sure.

“Yeah, you’re Egyptian right?” The smug grin never wavered.

Now instead of a hazy picture, I could see red.

Blood red that seeped into my vision. A fire

burning in front of my eyes. How dare he. How

dare he insult me, say something so blatantly

racist, and then confirm that what he said was in

fact offensive to me. Ignorance was one thing, but

to actively work to offend someone and confirm it

is a whole different level of racism.

So many Muslim countries have been

bombed by the U.S. that it was not an

entirely false claim. In 2016 the U.S.

dropped 26,171 bombs on seven Muslim

countries, an average of 72 bombs a day,

three an hour1. And one of those countries

was Libya, right next to my own country.

And that was what shook me to my core;

1
Bruton, B. (2017, January 9). U.S. Bombed Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia in 2016. NBC News. Retrieved August
27, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-bombed-iraq-syria-pakistan-afghanistan-libya-yemen-somalia-n704636
is that one day his words could be true. And I didn’t have a hard time imagining it.

It was a cruel and yet needed lesson. I could not

expect people to simply hint at their racism, rather

there are those who feel no problem saying it straight

to my face. And I needed to learn how to fight that.

It would not be enough to walk away, and who

knows if I would be able to walk away every time.

Instead I would need to learn to reply to their cruel

words, not with cruel words of my own, but with

words that would bring an end to theirs.