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MELC hosts Maysoon Zayid for Middle Eastern cultural month
The Middle Eastern Leadership Council hosted Arab-American comedian and philanthropist Maysoon Zayid Monday. Zayid was invited by the group as the speaker for the last event of Middle Eastern cultural month.
MELC Treasurer Abdulla Jastaniah, a second-year College student, said the group wanted to invite someone who could represent Middle Eastern culture, while also being relatable to the University community as a whole.
“We’ve gone through so much this past year as a community, and to bring someone who is not only a minority, but also someone that deals with a disability, we hoped that she could share some of her experiences with us,” Jastaniah said. “By listening to her laugh at herself and tell jokes about being disabled, for being unfortunate, but loving her life, maybe we can learn to laugh at ourselves too.”
Zayid is a unique representative of many minority groups. She is a Palestinian, disabled, female comedian. She gave a Ted Talk in 2014 entitled “I’ve got 99 problems…palsy is just one,” which served as a loose basis for her talk at the University. Zayid has also been featured on the Queen Latifah Show and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.
“In the oppression Olympics, I’d win the gold medal,” Zayid said. She began her performance describing her experience growing up as one of the only Arabs in a small town in New Jersey. Zayid made numerous gibes at the many stereotypes pertaining to disability, Arabs and women.
While her performance followed a similar outline to her original Ted Talk, Zayid also played upon some well-known associations to the University. This included her long held admiration for Dave Matthews and the common notion of the University as a Southern institution.
Throughout all the comedic irreverence, however, Zayid still maintained her original purpose in coming to the University — reaching out and inspiring groups on Grounds. She was intent on emphasizing the potential of college students to positively change the course of the world.
“The world is broken but we can fix it by saying no to violence, to oppression, to discrimination,” Zayid said. “Your voice is a weapon, so use it.”
Zayid runs a non-profit organization for Palestinian children called Maysoon’s Kids, and commented on the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She said the best remedy for the tensions is a two state-solution — typically an unpopular thought in the current discourse on the issue. She noted many Palestinians already work in close proximity to Israelis as housemen and maids, among other professions, so to allow them to be considered equals in Palestine would not prove that difficult.
Paralleling this issue,which highlights her belief there should be equal rights for all, Zayid applies a similar sentiment to the current situation most colleges are facing. Many minorities on college campuses around the country have long been unaccounted for — and Zayid said she believes this must change.
College is a time to cultivate community and equality, something essential to future leadership, she said.
“From this moment forward, at this university we need to take care of each other and in order to take care of each other we need to be treated as equals,” Zayid said. “If one of us is hurt, the entire community is hurt and as a community we need to stand together against the oppression because otherwise what’s the point of being leaders of the future?”
She explained the problem of academic dishonesty, favoritism, oppression to women and rape have not truly gotten worse; it is only that the communication of such events has proliferated.
“I think with the power that students have with social media, they’re standing up and saying enough is enough and that the backlash against college isn’t because its gotten worse, its because we’ve gotten more empowered saying enough is enough,” Zayid said.
Outgoing MELC President Mariam Yaktieen, a fourth-year College student, said while Zayid embodies many groups, she is not the “golden ticket for minorities.”
“We found her to be a well-rounded and well-respected Arab-American comedian who we believed would be a great addition to our Middle Eastern Cultural Month,” Yaktieen said. “I hope that MELC was able to hold events this MEC month that reached out to many groups on grounds and not just Middle Easterners.”
by Ella Shoup
The Cavalier Daily