Normal People
I returned to my home country of Jordan after not seeing my family for four years. Trump’s impeachment was announced the day I departed to the Middle East, and the Iranian conflict erupted when I arrived to New York. Growing up, I only saw violent images of war and brutalized brown bodies on television broadcasts related to the Middle East while news, both good and bad, showed clips of the average person walking through Times Square or quiet homes in suburban neighborhoods. The horrified American face was always spared from the screen. Partway through my return home, I realized that I rarely see images of Middle Easterners simply being, and so I began documenting the little bits of my country I hid within myself after a life of demonization by an entire hemisphere.
Ironically, after reflecting on the Arab humanity, I wondered why I felt compelled to present our normalcy on film. But I believe this is what truly defines white privilege, the subconscious acceptance of an intrinsic humanity. People of color, however, must constantly prove their benevolence, particularly through the arts, when the oppressor may never concede to this proposition.
Submitted by Ryah Freih.