When an Arab influencer’s first reaction to the #BlackLivesMatter movement is to post pictures of herself donning blackface, it becomes clear that there is something deeply flawed in the way many Arabs perceive and understand racism.

The resurgence of #BlackLivesMatter after the death of George Floyd engendered a global solidarity movement that forced societies all over the world to come together in protest and to acknowledge the anti-Black racism within their own communities. In the case of the Arab world, the protests paved the way for a discussion long overdue as the voices of Black Arabs have persistently been silenced.

In the Arab world, these issues exist on a day-to-day basis at the workplace. For instance, a nursery in the UAE posted a job advert seeking English teachers who have “white skin” and are of “European origin.” The nursery’s principal claimed that the advert was posted for the “purposes of diversity” since “the majority of the chain’s staff were black” and “parents always ask what nationality their teachers are,” implicitly alluding to an anti-Black bias.

Social awareness of the mistreatment and misrepresentation of Black people in Arab countries — whether that be through the common use of anti-Black language in everyday speech or the employment of racist stereotypes to represent Black people in the media — has never gained as much spotlight as it did following the eruption of protests in the United States. Black and non-Black Arab social media activists used their platforms to not only raise awareness on the situation happening in the U.S., but to also encourage Arabs to challenge their preconceived notions regarding racism in the Arab world.

That, however, did not stop many Arabs — especially those belonging to older generations — from viewing the death of George Floyd as an isolated incident of “western injustice” that does not occur in the Arab world, further solidifying the misconception that racism does not exist in the Middle East and North African region, or is at least not “as bad” as it is in the U.S.

“In the Gulf specifically and the Arab world generally, we do not have racism towards Black people,” wrote one Instagram user in Arabic. “Not every problem that America has is a problem that exists within our societies too,” noted another.

This belief, in turn, urged a lot of Arabs to undermine the seriousness of the #BlackLivesMatter protests and to detach themselves from the prevailing issues. Their failure to understand that the issue of racism against Black people is not simply a U.S. American issue but a global one played a role in dismissing the struggles of the Black Arab community. Many even attempted to shift the attention from the cause to what they deemed to be “real” Arab issues, commenting phrases such as “What about the Palestinian cause?” or “What about Syria and Yemen?” under Instagram posts that aimed at spreading awareness regarding the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

“Our problem as Arabs is that we only care about Western issues and forget about our own problems … that include our blind imitation of the west to the point where we’re discussing racism,” noted one commenter, rehashing the “what about us” narrative.

With many Arabs debating the existence of racism in the MENA region at the time of the #BlackLivesMatter conversations, some also used religion as a means of erasing the realities of racism that Black people face in the Arab world. For a lot of non-Black Arab Muslims who are uneducated on the matter, or perhaps choose to be ignorant of it, the simple fact that Islam itself condemns racism in any of its forms was enough for them to deem racism as nonexistent within their communities.

Many would react to posts discussing racism on social media platforms by quoting the Prophet’s, peace be upon him, nonracist stance, or sharing the story of Bilal Ibn Rabah, a Black slave who became the first Muslim to call to prayer, as though that historical context is enough to consider racism absent in the Arab world today. What they fail to understand is that the #BlackLivesMatter debate in the Arab context does not revolve around Islam’s position on racism, or that of any religion, for that matter. It is, instead, a long delayed and important discussion of the deep rooted discrimination that exists, and is often ignored, within Arab communities.

The reaction that a large number of Arabs had in response to the global #BlackLivesMatter movement is proof that the Arab world has a long way to go in order to dismantle racism within its communities and to spread awareness regarding discrimination, especially against Black people. Now that the Arab activism sphere is back to being relatively quiet about racism after a period of heated discussions, it is more important than ever to keep the conversation going and to undo any biases that might have previously existed.

The first and perhaps the most important step is for non-Black Arabs to educate themselves and others about the long history and promotion of anti-Blackness in the region, which stems from a lack of understanding of the history of slavery in the Arab world. Since it is considered taboo, the history of the trans-Saharan slave trade in the Arab context is not taught in schools. Instead, slavery is framed as a western crime. This results in the erasure of Black Arab history and the denial of the existence of slavery that arguably still exists in parts of the Arab world today.

It is equally important to understand the lingering effects of that anti-Blackness and to acknowledge one’s own privilege of being a non-Black person in the MENA region, or in fact, anywhere else in the world. That privilege exists especially if you are Arab and white-passing, considering the prevalence of colorism in both the Arab and global context, and the heavy promotion of white beauty standards in the region. This is especially true for Black Arab women who are often expected to straighten their hair, get rid of their curls and whiten their skin in order to fit a certain definition of beauty.

As an Arab, it is important to recognize the discrimination that Black people around you face in the workplace, relationships and marriages, among other contexts — because of the dark skin bias that dominates the Arab world — and to actively speak out against it. With regards to language: stop using the n-word, stop using the term ‘abd’ or ‘khal’ to refer to Black people and stop associating the color white with positive connotations and black with negative ones. Educate those around you to do the same. And above all, stand in solidarity with Black people living in the Arab world and give them the platforms they need to make their voices heard.

For my Emirati friends, it is not enough to share a picture of the late Sheikh Zayed embracing a Black man to demonstrate your tolerance. For my Egyptian friends, it is not enough to spend a week sharing #BlackLivesMatter posts on your story only to record yourself singing the n-word. For every other Arab out there, it is not enough to simply keep talking. Do better.