S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. Today we're celebrating , honoring and acknowledging Palestinians through a new UCSD program. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. From the Ethnic Studies Department at UC San Diego , has created a Palestinian Community Leader in residence program. It's the first of its kind in the UC system. The goal is to build relationships between UC San Diego and the local Palestinian-American community. The leader in residence is Rama Awad. She is director of Middle , also known as the Arab Community Center of San Diego. Earlier this month , Midday Edition producer Andrew Bracken spoke to Rama about her new role at UCSD , which will start in the fall. And just a note some listeners may not agree with some of the terms used in the following conversation. Also in the conversation , the war in Gaza is described as a genocide. There is currently a case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people. The court has said it is plausible that Israel has committed acts that violate the U.N. genocide Convention , but an official ruling on the case could take months or even years. Now back to the conversation. Andrew Brackin began by asking Rahma Awad about her new role as the Palestinian community leader in residence.
S2: In my role at the center , we've had a long standing relationship with UC , UCSD , and I was invited to serve in this role. Essentially , I'll be facilitating stronger connections between the university and the Palestinian and Arab community here in San Diego. And one of the parts I'm most looking forward to is being on campus , offering seminars on different topics that I get to decide on. So I'm looking forward to teaching on topics including refugee rights , youth organizing , Palestinian history , and so on. So I'm really in the driver's seat to design what the curriculum looks like.
S3: So as you mentioned , you're also the director of middle the Arab Community Center of San Diego. You know , talk about your work there around refugee resettlement here in San Diego.
S2: So at Mandel , we started actually as a volunteer initiative in 2016 when there was a huge influx of Syrians being resettled in San Diego. Of course , San Diego has a really long history of refugee resettlement of refugees from all over the world , but from the Middle East. Specifically , that migration started in the 80s and 90s with the Iraqi community who resettled in El Cajon. And then 2016 , we saw the influx of Syrians also being resettled in El Cajon for many reasons , namely a lower cost of living , cheaper housing or more affordable housing. And so our efforts started really as a way to welcome these families and make sure that that they had access to a more culturally relevant services , that they were understanding more of how the US system worked. And so we were really a helping hand to the work of the refugee resettlement agencies. And so since 2016 , our work has grown. We're now a full on nonprofit. We've grown from a small collective of volunteers to a nonprofit. We have a team of about eight staff , and our work is really focused on making sure that our community members feel like they have a first point of contact when they're coming to the US , and a point of contact that understands where they're coming from , understands their culture , their language , their religion. And so that's really important. As these new residents in San Diego begin to navigate their new lives , having been uprooted from their homelands.
S3: And you mentioned some of the refugee groups I think a lot of San Diegans are familiar with. You mentioned the the Iraqis , the Chaldean community in East County , but there's a lot of diversity there. And I think , as you mentioned , you know , where people are coming from , changes through the years. So can you talk more about the refugees that you're seeing more today that maybe hadn't seen , you know , a decade ago or a few years ago ? Yes.
S2: Yeah , absolutely. So , as we said , in the 80s and 90s , a lot of the Iraqis were coming to San Diego. After that , we saw a lot of Syrians coming in. Palestinians are also a major group. They mainly started coming to the US , uh , in the 40s after the Palestinian Nakba. And so you can map those waves of migration to different points of , of war or political turmoil happening in the Middle East. And , you know , every community has its own story , its own background , different reasons for migrating to the US , to San Diego. And so in the last , I'd say , six years after the Syrians came , of course , we still see more Syrians and Iraqis and Palestinians coming. But the other major group that's arrived in El Cajon , specifically in East County , is the Afghan community. So I would say that Chaldean Iraqis , Afghans and Syrians are probably the largest refugee groups that have resettled.
S3: And in the work you do with refugees. I think , you know , one focus you also have is working to sort of change the narrative of how we talk about refugees and their experiences. And I'm thinking about your Arab storytelling project. Can you talk about , you know , what that project is about and what , you know , the motivation behind it ? Yeah.
S2: So over a year ago , we received some funding from the California Humanities. And our idea with this project was to host a series of workshops to offer youth in the community the opportunity to really reflect on their family's journey , their own journeys , their current experiences navigating life in the US , and the different workshops in storytelling , filmmaking , printmaking , really trying to touch on so many different media. We're planning an exhibit in the fall of this year at the local library in El Cajon to create that platform for our community , because , as we've seen especially post 911 , the Muslim community , the Arab community , and now today Palestinians have been largely criminalized and vilified by mainstream media. And so our work is to one push back against those stereotypes and taking into account more of the refugee aspect of it. I think oftentimes refugees are seen as victims of their of their circumstance , or they are seen a they're seen as needing help or needing a helping hand. And I think what's important here is to assert this idea that refugee is not an identity , right ? Refugee is a condition that someone does not choose to enter , that that's a condition that's forced upon them. And so I think it's really important in this conversation about refugee rights and that that we don't just frame it in humanitarian terms , but we frame it in terms of these are people who were contributing to rich economies and rich homelands , and they were professional professionals in their homelands. And being uprooted from that. It doesn't change who they are. It doesn't , um , it shouldn't position them as less than.
S3: I mean , you know , in conversations I've had with , with refugees that came to San Diego , I mean , there is also the you get off the plane and then you're here , you know , especially you mentioned children and the experience of kids. We all know how difficult childhood is. But I mean , can you talk a little bit about some of the stories there and some of the some of the common experiences you hear about from the people you work with ? Yeah.
S2: So actually my my own involvement in this , my , my own grandparents are actually refugees from the , the 1948 war in Palestine. And so for me , you know , doing this work , it is personal , although I am first generation born in the US , but I will say that a lot of our focus now is on the youth , is on the children , because they do have the most margin to integrate and evolve and learn English and really make something of themselves in the US. And a lot of the youth that we work with in our community , you know , a lot of the the burden is on them to translate for their parents , to get the degrees to work , to make income for the family. So that's a lot of responsibility on , on these young people. And our goal is to really work with them , to empower them , to make sure they have the resources they need to succeed. We offer mentorship. Um , but prior to working at Masdar , I actually did a lot of fieldwork , and I was interviewing Palestinian refugees who were fleeing Syria between 2012 and 2015. And so a constant story that I've seen , including those who arrived , you know , including people who I work with now , they had a very long journey to getting to the US. It wasn't as simple as it wasn't a helicopter ride from Syria to San Diego , right ? It was a journey of escaping through borders , arriving in Turkey , not really being able to claim asylum in Turkey , getting in these small dinghies and trying to get to Greece to claim asylum from the European Union. Um , and so I've seen these conditions firsthand. I was in Turkey , I was in Greece , and now in San Diego. I'm seeing those stories come full circle , but that's a very common trajectory that these families have taken , and some of.
S3: Them or even staying in like a third , you know , another country for a long period of time.
S2: Right ? So one of , uh , you know , a lot of the families we work with were in Jordan for anywhere from three to to ten years waiting for their paperwork to , to come together. So , yeah , it's no , it's no feat making it to San Diego.
S1: Well , this is KPBS midday Edition. We're back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman , you're listening to Andrew Bracken and his conversation with Rahma Awad about her new role as the Palestinian community leader in residence at UCSD.
S3: I mean , another part of your work that you've been involved in is this effort to add a category in the census , the Mena category. It's Middle Eastern , North African , and it actually will be on the 2030 census for the first time. Can you talk about you know , what that change means for the community ? And yeah , more about the journey to kind of add that because I know it's been that's been that effort's been underway for several years , right ? Yes.
S2: If not decades. Uh , so , um , a little bit of context here as Middle East North African residents in the US , we have not been classified as a formal minority. And that dates back to the 19th century , with land ownership , voting rights all being wrapped up in white. And so our great great ancestors were actually advocating to be classified as white. But now that we we see now that that's really done a disservice to our communities today because we are not showing up in the data. And so how are we expected to advocate on our on behalf of our communities if we don't have baseline data to show we don't have data on how many we are , we don't have adequate data on our education backgrounds , our socioeconomic backgrounds. So we're really facing a form of data inequity compared to other minority groups in the US , who at least have some starting point when they're going to make different policy interventions and so on. Um , so I think this is going to be very transformative in decades to come. And obviously our work doesn't end here. I think there's a lot of there's a lot more to do in terms of making sure that the category is implemented at all levels of government , and that'll really equip us with the data we need to be our own advocates.
S3: So earlier , you know , you mentioned the experience of your family coming from Palestine. Um , we're now approaching nine months since the war in Gaza began. I'm just curious to hear your reflections on how this current moment influences your work today here in San Diego. Um. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I think this is work that has been going on for decades. Um , this work around raising awareness about the Palestinian plight , the Palestinian struggle for basic rights. And what I would stress here is that this solidarity movement has existed , and it's been very strong here in the US because of the US's role in enabling the Israeli occupation , in enabling today's genocide of Gaza. And so that's why our work in the US is so critical. And that looks like many different things. I think raising awareness is a key one. I think offering educational resources on Palestine is critical , because the US public needs to understand that it's it's there and our and my tax dollars that are funding the violence that Israel is perpetuating against Palestinians. And so I think in this moment , we've seen an unprecedented level of solidarity with Palestine. And I do believe that this is a point of no return , given how badly it's gotten in Gaza. So we have not seen this level of devastation in Palestine before. And I think that that's opening people's eyes to the reality on the ground. And again , as Americans , I think we need to take this very seriously because it's our own government that's enabling what's happening.
S3: And you mentioned the kind of moment we're in and this sort of public support that , you know , you mentioned there. We've seen college campuses across the country , including UC San Diego , with protests and encampments , walkouts. Um , what's been your reaction to to just this movement we're seeing not just on US college campuses ? I think , you know , seeing in other parts of the world even. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Well , I want to say that if you look at any social justice movement in our history , if you look at the civil rights movement , the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa , you'll see that it's always been young people at the helm. It's always been students on their campuses pushing for this change. And so I am coming. You know , I came up as a student organizer at Stanford , and at the time , we were pushing for a divestment resolution to pull from these companies that are producing weapons being used in Palestine and in other places around the world. But I am so proud to see this generation really take on this moment and to take it with such courage and boldness. So I think bringing it back to this opportunity at UCSD , I really credit the students with pushing for this opening in , in higher ed within these. Academic institutions that for so long have repressed any discussion of Palestine. While we've come a long way , and even being able to talk about it , ten years ago , you couldn't say the terms of apartheid as it relates to Israel. You cannot say the words occupation as it relates to Israel. So I think I think it's really powerful to see how students are pushing the discourse and creating space within academia for discussion and engagement and dialogue on Palestine. And so the this community leader in residence program , I think , is a is a reflection of that. And for me , I think it it reflects this want for more representation and just more knowledge. And I and I'm glad that it's within ethnic studies , because ethnic studies offer such a critical lens to this topic as opposed to more traditional disciplines like history , political science , international relations , anthropology , and so on. So yeah , I think I'm I'm very proud to see this generation of students take this on in the way they have. I want to.
S3: Switch gears now and talk about the importance of celebrating culture , too , and why that's an important piece here. And you're a member of House of Palestine's Debra Dance Troupe. Tell us more about that. Yeah. Yes.
S2: Yes. Thank you. So I've been dancing ever since I was young. Uh , for me , that's been a really critical way to stay in touch with my heritage and my culture. And specifically is such a rich dance form. It's , uh , performed at weddings , uh , celebratory events. It carries so much of our history as Palestinians and not just Palestinians , but Arabs as a whole. I think especially with what we're seeing in Gaza and what we've been seeing for the past 75 plus years in Palestine , is that we are facing a campaign of ethnic cleansing. And so the role of cultural preservation becomes even more important , uh , in terms of preserving our art forms , our embroidery , our dance , our , uh , food practices , we are actively facing the devastation of that of that culture. And so I think it's a really important way to assert that we come from a rich history , that we exist. And I think it becomes harder to deny then , that Palestinians never existed in the land or that they , you know , it's also a way to combat this dehumanisation that we've been seeing as well. So , yeah , I take I take it very seriously. Um , you can ask any of my , any of my peers and , um , yeah , we perform twice a year , once that December nights in Balboa Park , and then the House of Palestine puts on a lawn festival every spring. So we also perform then.
S3: Well , lastly , I mean , what do you wish more people understood about the Palestinian community here in San Diego ? Yeah.
S2: Um , I'll say that I carry a lot of pride for being Palestinian. Um , Palestinians are some of the most educated people in the world. I hold a lot of pride in my heritage and the fact that we're such a resilient people , and you'll find that no amount of hardship or devastation can quell that , that spirit. And you'll find that in any Palestinian home you enter. So you'll find , um , a warm welcome , you'll find genuine hospitality. You'll find endless tables of food , um , you'll find humor. You'll find music. You'll find you'll find dance. So I think it's just there's so much that we carry with us as Palestinians. We're not a monolith by any means. Um , we all have our own unique stories and histories , but there's something so special about being part of this nation that shares in a language and a culture in , in different art forms. And I wish that more people would experience that. And that's really what organizations like the House of Palestine or the Major Center , what we're trying to do is be a reference for the broader San Diego public in connecting with Palestinians , connecting with Arabs here in San Diego , because we have so much to offer.
S1: That was Rahma Awad , UC San Diego's first Palestinian community leader in residence , speaking with producer Andrew Bracken. Again , there is a case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide in Gaza. But a final ruling has yet to be made for coverage of the war in Gaza. Visit npr.org. Mideast updates.
