Sudan-born model exposes blight of racism in Egypt
Sudan-born model Fatima Ali began speaking out four years ago against the daily racism she faces in Egypt and is compiling her writing on the subject into a book.
A Sudanese-Egyptian woman’s daily struggles against racism in Egypt, shared online since 2013, are now set to become a book that will explain the difficulties of being a black woman in the Arab world’s most populous country.
Fatima Ali, a former Sudanese beauty queen who now works as a fashion model, told Al-Monitor that her website, which was last updated in 2013, aimed to shed light on the daily suffering that dark-skinned Egyptian and non-Egyptian women face on the streets of the country, from name-calling to harassment.
Ali, 29, was born in Sudan but came to Egypt when she was nine months old. “At some point in my life in Egypt, I grew fed up with the daily negative comments that I hear from people on the streets about my color,” Ali told Al-Monitor on Dec. 9. “That is why I decided to set up a site where I can vent my anger on prejudice and discrimination against black people in the country.”
Four years after Ali started putting her experiences online, she is hoping to republish most of the content in a book called “Diary of a Black Girl.” “The book has been a plan of mine, and I hope it gets out and impacts more people,” she added.
