Colourism & Racism: The Treatment of Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia
2020 has seen the subject of ‘race relations’ dominate western cultural discourse. Issues of representation, human rights and combatting systemic racism are being explored now more than ever, although the international scope of the discussion has been overlooked by many. Racism occurs in every country around around the globe, and Saudi Arabia is no exception. THP’s Middle East and South Asian correspondent Dania Ayaz sat down with Fatima Jamil, to discuss her experience as a Pakistani woman.
“The kids in my compound threw rocks at me, they used to laugh and call me out on being Pakistani. People allowed Arab kids to do the same thing I wasn’t allowed to do. The kids made sure I knew that they hated me every single day
When I was in 10th grade, this supervisor saw 2 of my friends and me, she pointed at us by saying “you three Indian girls”. I found it extremely discriminatory, she pointed us out because we looked different. I reported it later. They said it was unacceptable, but nothing happened and she continued to work there. My little sister used to get told to go home and ride elephants. They would call us taxi drivers, or AC repair people. There should have been rules that racism does not have a place in our school. I would’ve liked an apology. I would have liked to get told that what she said was not okay
Education and awareness is one thing. Some people don’t understand that they are being racist by calling me “Paki”. They don’t understand the context or the history of the word. If they were more educated towards it, this speech wouldn’t have been more common. We should’ve been taught more history about our countries in school.
Up until 9th grade, they talked about Eurocentric history, but they never talked about South Asians and all the effects that occurred because they didn’t.
Saudis are more privileged than other nationalities. Recently, they had to let go a lot of people from their jobs because they weren’t Saudi. It was honestly heart-breaking, because these people had been working there for 10 or 20 years and they were loyal employees, but they lost their jobs and haven’t been able to get promoted just because of the fact that they aren’t Saudi.
The experiences that I faced in Saudi Arabia are definitely reflective on the aspect of racism in general, on colorism, and the prejudice that people face because of this preconceived notions of race, the color of your skin, and your passport. This issue has been there for a long time, it’s nothing new”
Fatima Jamil
June 2020