It’s been a push-and-pull between being invisible and hyper-visible
Stories for Change
This digital story campaign features census advocates connecting census participation to a wide spectrum of advocacy, including racial justice, immigration, disability, labor, and faith.
Lara Kiswani was raised to be proud of her Palestinian family’s history and culture. She hopes to bring the visibility and political power Arab and Arab American communities need to demand rights and resources.
“The first time I felt invisibilized as an Arab American, I was in second grade. My teacher asked us to point out on a world map where our families come from. When I indicated where Palestine was, I was challenged by my teacher.”
“I grew up learning about our culture, about my parents’ and my grandparents’ forced exile, about our history of dispossession. While I was a quiet kid, I was also proud of who I was. When my teacher told me there was no Palestine, I didn’t hesitate to challenge her back.”
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“We are deprioritized in everything, down to a lack of translated material in Arabic to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Lara Kiswani