Racism is a seductive mistress for those in glasses houses

This lovely lady is a Nubian – which is why this song by Haifa Wehbe confuses us so much.  this woman is from the same tribe that we originate from. we are all Nubians, and of many colors and hair types. not one of us looks like another. if Haifa Wehbe is a Nubian, she wouldn’t have sang those lyrics about herself. she would have known better than to be so defamatory, about herself and her family origins.

“We are one of the oldest civilizations on earth,” said Isaaq. “Instead, our image is constantly perpetuated as the uneducated doorman or waiter.”

Racism is a very seductive mistress; even for those who are products of it.  Haifa Wehbe  must not have looked into that date grove where she originated, very closely. Very sad indeed in 2009.  a star of the stature of  Haifa Wehbe being openly racist and ignorant. then thinking she can just be excused for it.

The line, Nubian representatives say, infers that members of the black Egyptian minority are monkeys.

This woman is lebanese, and that means she is a product of the Nile Valley. does she not know the truth of who originated there ?  obviously not since her song belies her ignorance to her own dna and origins. She is a decendant of Nubians; thereby making her a Nubian.

Please Haifa, Get a Book and do a lil reading; it does a brain good.

Penticton Herald – Stories -.

In this Tuesday, May 19, 2009 file photo, Lebanese model, actress, and singer Haifa Wehbe arrives at the 62nd International film festival in Cannes, southern France. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Joel Ryan, File)

CAIRO, Egypt – A famous Lebanese pop singer, who normally stirs controversy for her seductive dresses and provocative dancing, has now been accused of singing a song with racist lyrics that compares black Egyptians to monkeys.

Haifa Wehbe, considered by many as one of the sexiest women in the Arab world, has the minority Nubian community in Egypt distraught over her latest children’s album “Baby Haifa” and the community’s activists have launched several lawsuits over the lyrics.

The Nubians took issue with a verse in the song “Where is Daddy?” in which Wehbe croons: “Where is my teddy bear and my Nubian monkey?”

The line, Nubian representatives say, infers that members of the black Egyptian minority are monkeys. In November, they slapped separate lawsuits on the singer, her record label and Wehbe’s Egyptian song writer.

“It may not be intentional racism on the part of the song writer, but it is still highly racist and offensive,” said Motez Isaaq, with the Committee for Nubian Issues.

Nubians come from the southernmost region of present-day Egypt, where a culture later known as Nubian first arose around 3,800 B.C. along the Nile and in northern Sudan. It was one of Africa’s earliest black civilizations, complete with an independent kingdom.

Isaaq said that stereotypes of minorities are so entrenched that referring to them in popular culture media is frequently done unconsciously.

“We are one of the oldest civilizations on earth,” said Isaaq. “Instead, our image is constantly perpetuated as the uneducated doorman or waiter.”

Isaaq alleged that Nubians are discriminated against because of their darker skin, and stressed that the community still holds in painful memory the political oppression in the 1960s, when the Egyptian government forced tens of thousands of Nubians to leave their homes and resettle elsewhere in southern Egypt, to make way for the building of the High Dam, 425 miles (685 kilometres) south of Cairo.

Wehbe has in the past tested the limits of a conservative Middle Eastern culture for her revealing outfits, suggestive lyrics and dancing.

But this time, Isaaq said the danger of her song is that it targets children.

“Kids can soak up the lyrics so quickly,” he said. “They could start calling their Nubian classmates monkeys.”

Isaaq’s group has held protests against the song, he said, and is also suing Egypt’s culture minister and the country’s state censorship board for allowing Wehbe’s latest album to be on the Egyptian market.

The Nubians want a formal apology and an end to airing the song in Egypt, Isaaq said, expressing also hope that the action would change the way other Egyptians treat their Nubian fellow countrymen.

“Egyptians have to stop treating us as second class citizens,” he said. “We are the original Egyptians and the country needs to remember it.”

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Tags: Arab World, dna, Haifa Wehbe, middle east, Motez Isaaq, nile valley, nubia, nubians, prejudice, racism, singer, stupidity