Egyptian activist Nada Zaiytona had little idea when she walked into Seif Pharmacy in Cairo that she would come toe to toe with the ugly and omnipresent face of racism in Egypt. The activist strolled into the pharmacy last month intending to buy a product and was turned away by an employee who told her bluntly "we don't sell to blacks." Yes, in an African country, Seif Pharmacy, an African enterprise, discriminated against an Egyptian customer with dark skin, in post-revolution Egypt. The manager followed Zaytona to tell her he would cut three days of the employee's salary and that she should not be upset. Zaytona said no. She responded saying that she would file a police report against the man. With the news of what can only be described as a hate crime spiraled across the Internet, the fury began to escalate. Online comments denouncing the incident were dire and Seif couldn't ignore it much longer and started to address the incident publicly, saying first that they are investigating it, then under mounting pressure from online activists, the giant pharmacy officially apologized to Zaytona and promised to publish the documents regarding the employee's dishonorable dismissal. Yet, one could think the conversation would die out, burn out like it does in so many other critical moments of our contemporary happenings. The buzz is still online and more people are reading and talking about the hate crime. Unfortunately, the new Islamic influenced constitution doesn't state clearly the banning of discrimination based on race or color. The old one stated clearly that it was against the law to commit a crime of discrimination based on race and color, keeping in mind that middle and southern Egypt are much darker in skin than Cairenes or northerners, who have a more “Mediterranean" look. Yet, a point that continually came up in the discussion was the cultural and emotional legacy that dehumanizes blacks, where the circulation of myths about them persist, and marks them by race. But in a country where races have been melting since the dawn of Egypt, it is still surprising that these actions continue. Egypt is a racial melting pot where, sadly, some view others as less, based merely on a few shades of color difference. Could Seif be our bus and Zaytona our Rosa Parks? We all know we need one desperately. We need a movement to dig and cut through the ugly and unexpected roots of racism, once and for all. A merciful bullet, one could argue. Rosa Parks was fighting a set of laws created to undermine her rights; Zaytona and others are fighting a cultural legacy, a collective conscience, that has been distorted, corrupted even, by myths and lies. A protest is planned to take place later outside the shop where the incident happened in downtown Cairo, and not very far from the revolutionary Tahrir Square. Whether this will be our spark to confront our own ignorance and prejudice or will be another missed opportunity for unity, only time will tell. But the facts remain the same, darker skin Egyptians or immigrant Africans are discriminated against almost daily. Few have the tools of expression Zaytona has, and they walk away with their wounds, not interred in victimhood knowing that it's much harder to fight a lie than an army. But Zaytona said no, and she should keep saying no, and should take the man to court. A southern artist friend of mine told me two years ago that she heard comments about her skin color everyday. Not all are hate slurs, most are sexual advances mentioning the color of her skin. One man flirtatiously asked her if she was left in the oven too long; another said to his friend that, "blacks are great sex partners in the winter, because they are hot." I can't imagine the double pressure of being attacked for both my gender and color. Over three quarters of Egyptian women face sexual harassment daily in Egypt and dark skin women, I learned later, face more harassment, violence and discrimination. Being a woman in Egypt is a current disadvantage many people see, they have to be protected against the violence wave against them that increased after the dethroning of imprisoned President Hosni Mubarak, who in his days violence towards women escalated steadily and firmly, and we are grossing it now. Yet, Egyptian women have never been more visible. Creating wave after of wave of protest, not lettering the abusive behavior of the government slide by unnoticed. There are now more women's organizations and grassroots groups more visible than ever in Egypt's history. And in equal force and power, there has not been more hate incidences against women, of all backgrounds and color, as there are now. Female activists are being slapped, silenced forcibly by hand, dragged, sexually violated and of course unaccounted for. But that spark seems to be turning into a fire that one moment will burn Park's bus and the Seif Pharmacy. But Egypt can overcome and I feel confident it will. BN
