When Rosa Parks, a Black woman and seamstress, refused
to sit in the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, she was
arrested.
Her
arrest became the foundation of a boycott organized by the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr., and that boycott against the bus company, the town and
the sheriff who arrested Parks became the foundation of today’s American
Civil Rights movement.
I am no Rosa Parks. Let me repeat that. I am NO Rosa
Parks. I am just a Palestinian Arab American who constantly stands
up for the rights of Arab Americans in an unfair world.
But when I was thrown off a stage at Zanies Comedy Club
in August 2002 on the orders of anti-Arab comedian Jackie Mason, Zanies
and Mason became the offenders of the Arab community, I found myself in
the middle of an unwanted battle over racism.
Mason and Zanies did not throw "Ray Hanania" off of
the comedy stage. They threw an "Arab" off the comedy stage. In fact,
Mason’s manager said it clearly. "It’s not like Ray Hanania is just an
Arab. He is a Palestinian. And Jackie Mason doesn’t feel comfortable
performing with a Palestinian."
When the bus driver and sheriff arrested Rosa Parks,
they did not throw "Rosa Parks" off the bus. They threw the African
American community off the bus.
If it wasn’t Rosa Parks, it would have been any other
Black person who tried to stand up to anti-Black bigotry.
Had it not been "Ray Hanania" it would have been any
other Arab or Palestinian who was thrown off that stage in the summer of
2002.
Ever since, over the past three years, Arab Americans
have stood fast and firm against Zanies and Jackie Mason. They have
protested Zanies on at least seven occasions. Our efforts were not
publicized in the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun-Times, newspapers
that often ignore issues involving "Arabs."
But Mason and Zanies have come to symbolize for Arab
Americans a line in the sand. We will not tolerate their actions and we
have demanded an apology. An apology not to "Ray Hanania" but an apology
to the entire Arab American and Palestinian community. Zanies has never
apologized to anyone nor has Mason.
Yet, if it were up to the Advisory Commission on Arab
Affairs and the Chicago Human Relations Commission, Rosa Parks would
never have gotten their support. They lack the courage of Rev. Martin
Luther King who told the people of Alabama that although Rosa Parks was
just a seamstress, and a young woman, that the Black community should
stand firm against ALL bigotry and racism and demand that the Bus
company and the city respect African Americans. King led a boycott of
the bus company for 381 days and would have continued for 381 years to
achieve justice and stop racism.
In mid-October, a young Arab American activist
approached the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs asking if they would
host two Arab comedians from New York at an event in Chicago. She
suggested that Zanies was anxious to have Arabs appear on its stage.
The Advisory Commission told her that there was an
"issue" with Zanies, but decided to not only host the event they also
funded it.
The issue is not about the comics, but about the
failed leadership of the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs. The
Advisory Commission has been a useless organization that has done
absolutely nothing when it comes to standing up for the rights of Arab
Americans in Chicago.
When I was discriminated against by Zanies in August
2002, I complained to the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs and to the
Human Relations Commission, but my complaints were ignored. They never
responded. I complained again about using Zanies for the show and urged
them to find a new location. They ignored that request, too.
But, I am not alone. Countless hundreds of Arab
Americans have been discriminated in Chicago and the Advisory
Commission, which has come under the thumb of Human Relations Commission
Chairman Clarence Wood, did nothing.
Who stood up and defended the store owner two months
ago who was attacked publicly by protestors organized by Ald. Ed Smith?
Smith charged that the store owner was "rude" but the real
racism came out when he told CLTV that the store owners should "go back
to the Middle East."
It was a racist protest against an Arab American store
owner who happens to be Muslim, but the Advisory Commission would never
speak out against a Black Chicago Alderman. Clarence Wood would never
permit that.
Although the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs has
many good members, its leadership is a disgrace and should resign
immediately. Clarence Wood should either start standing up for the
rights of Arab Americans or at least admit that his Human Relations
Commission is a bigger joke than the material used by the comedians that
Zanies has banned.
The Rev. Martin Luther King could have easily walked
away from Rosa Parks. She was a nobody. Not even active in the Black
community. The bus company would have continued its racist practices and
Blacks would have just continued to sit in the back of the bus.
I am one Arab American who refuses to sit at the back
of the Bus. I refuse to be told that I can’t perform someplace because I
am "Palestinian." I refuse to remain silent when some pathetic leaders
in a do-nothing Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs don’t even have
the courage to stand up for the rights of their own people.
I appreciate and thank those in my community who have
expressed support for me. But I say to all of you, this isn’t about me.
It is about the rights and dignity of the Arab Community and when some
of our own leaders refuse to respect those rights, they do not deserve
to remain as leaders.
(Ray Hanania is a nationally syndicated columnist
and author of the new book "Arabs of Chicagoland." He can be reached at