13 Things Only Half Arabs Will Understand
So let’s get one thing straight: I’m fine with being mixed-race. What I’m not fine with is how people approach me because of it. I’ve been stopped on the street, in elevators, and even yelled at on a felucca because people have so desperately wanted to know “what I was.” One man actually shouted, “Enta menen? Where are you from begad?! No, where are you really from—where are your parents from?” at me in a taxi because he needed to know the specifics of my racial identity that badly.
So today, I’ve decided to round up a list all my “half-Arab” brothers and sisters understand so y’all can stop asking us khara and leave us alone.
Fusion food was a thing in your house before it was cool
You’re really bored of explaining how your parents met
But you’re so proud and amazed of your parents at the same time
When you have to pick between two cuisines
Your Arab side of the family will always refer to you as a “khawaga”
You always try to know who are the celebrities who share the same identity complex as you
When someone says “But you don’t look like them [whatever race you are]!”
You speak, think and swear in different languages
Celebrating twice the cultural holidays each year and receiving twice the presents
Hanging out with one side of your family and feeling like this
You absolutely hate it when you bump into this question online
When you get stopped at a lagna (checkpoint) in the middle of the night and you show them your foreign passport
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss 12 Signs You Have An Egyptian Mom.
