Ahmed Twaij explores an often-overlooked issue in the Arab world: racism toward black Arabs. In this episode, he looks at racism in his own community, taking us from his Iraqi roots, through to modern-day slurs still commonly used in many Arab communities around the world.
This episode was produced by Ahmed Twaij, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar and Alex Atack; fact checking by Shraddha Joshi; sound design by Alex Atack; and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat. Music in this episode was by Ahmed Moneka and Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to Noon Salih and Sara Elhassan. Our marketing director is Bella Ibrahim, and the “Kerning Cultures” podcast is a Kerning Cultures Network production.
*[Fair Observer is a media partner of the Kerning Cultures Network. Click here for a full list of shows in English and Arabic.]
The views expressed in this post are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.











Commenting Guidelines
Please read our commenting guidelines before commenting.
1. Be Respectful: Please be polite to the author. Avoid hostility. The whole point of Fair Observer is openness to different perspectives from perspectives from around the world.
2. Comment Thoughtfully: Please be relevant and constructive. We do not allow personal attacks, disinformation or trolling. We will remove hate speech or incitement.
3. Contribute Usefully: Add something of value — a point of view, an argument, a personal experience or a relevant link if you are citing statistics and key facts.
Please agree to the guidelines before proceeding.