Revealing the True Meaning of Being "Born Palestinian Born Black"

    The reason why Suheir Hammad titled her book, "Born Palestinian Born Black" was to show that two different cultures can fit into one person, that you can be both a Palestinian women and African American at the same time. Suheir always refers back to Brooklyn and how that influenced her when it came to poetry and how words had life, but she never forgot her Palestinian side which she boldly shows through her poetry. Suheir could have titled her book as, "Born Black in a Palestinian land" or "Afro-Palestinian Born", but she chose to separate the two, one being her nationality and the other being race.

    The title became the main theme for most poems, because it shows the harsh reality that both African Americans and Arabs faced, during times where people were being stigmatized for how they looked. Dealing with systemic racism from all corners not knowing if the next person closest to you will end up dead or facing the law simply because they were not part of the majority. In her poetry she was able to draw out to different identities and clearly state issues that were occurring in each of her poems. 

    For example is her poem she will mention government assistance programs which are primarily used by African American people, or she will talk about injustice of Arabs in refugee camps, being stripped of their identity or witnessing the death of their brothers and sisters. Suheir Hammad is 2 sides of the same coin, no matter how life flips the coin she will still remain the same form, just life her identity as being born Palestinian she is black as well. 

    Just like in the film Salt of the Sea by Annemarie Jacir, the scene where she was at the airport and the workers constantly questioning her family origins. That scene really made me anxious for the character Soraya was being picked apart because the workers looked as if they weren't sure of her identity and were very ignorant when questioning her. The photo above really focuses on the identity of Suheir title and how it relates being "too black to be Arab, and too Arab to be black" and the distinction of how you should identify yourself ethnically and by race.

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