Palestinian-American author, lawyer and comedian Amer Zahr spoke at Memorial Union on Wednesday, Feb. 5, as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series.
Born to Palestinian refugee parents, Zahr’s family relocated from Jordan to Philadelphia when he was three. Zahr studied at the University of Michigan and holds a master’s in Near and Middle Eastern studies and a law degree from the University of Michigan. During his second year of law school, Zahr realized that comedy could be just as effective a form of activism as law.
“Comedians sort of try to take difficult things and condense them into something funny, but still to make a point or advocate,” Zahr said. “Comedy is a form of protest and the number one way we protest the system in America is through the legal process.”
During the lecture, Zahr recounted his campaign for school president in seventh grade. As part of the campaign, Zahr’s father excitedly displayed 500 photos of his son throughout the school, he said. Shortly afterward, the U.S. entered the first Iraq War.
“A few days later, America bombed Iraq, [for the] first time, and I came into school and somebody wrote on my face, go home, terrorist,” Zahr said.
At age 14, Zahr knew what it meant to be an Arab in America — he knew it meant he was different.
Zahr said that Arabs have the unique ability to always be in the news, while other groups often escape the media’s glare. For instance, the language used to report mass shootings as opposed to acts of terror is racially coded, Zahr said.
“They always come out two minutes later to say, we can confirm that this is not terrorism,” Zahr said. “You know what that means, right? It means not us, okay?”
During the lecture, Zahr asked students to shout out their high school mascots. Answers ranged from Blue Knights to Cheeseheads. Zahr then presented fictional mascots claiming to be named “The Blacks” and “The Mexicans.”
He then displayed an image of one California school’s actual mascot, “The Arab.”
“They’re called the Coachella Valley High School Arabs,” Zahr said. “Look at them. Turban, big nose, beard, one tooth.”
Zahr lives in Dearborn, Michigan, which he described as “Arab Disneyland.” He explained that many of his neighbors were afraid of getting deported, calling into memory the Naturalization Act of 1790, which stated that a person must be white to be defined as a U.S. citizen.
“Under the law, in order to become naturalized, you had to prove, among other things, that you were white, especially because the law just said white,” Zahr said. “It didn’t define what white is. Just said white, as if this must be pretty clearly known.”
Zahr repeatedly acknowledged the importance of unity, support and love in a time of agony. Zahr told the special memory of visiting his grandma each night as a child in Jordan, where he’d receive a cupcake and a story.
“It was just one story every night, the same story,” Zahr said. “She’d lay on her bed and she’d hold up two fingers in Arabic, and she would say, ‘Alouna esboua’en.’ They told us we could come back in two weeks, and that’s how I know that we are going to win, and we already won, because I live with the truth.’”
In an interview with The Badger Herald, Zahr further commented on the war in Gaza and the student protests that took place at universities across the U.S.
Students at the University of Wisconsin protested extensively last spring, occupying Library Mall for 12 days, from April 29, 2024, to May 10, 2024.
After 12 days, Students for Justice Palestine reached an agreement with the university to remove the encampment, avoid disrupting any future university activity and follow all university policy in future engagements, according to the agreement.
In return, UW pledged to connect members of SJP with members of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association that control UW’s investments, with Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin in attendance as an advocate for SJP. UW also pledged to not interfere in any attempts by SJP to influence university investment policy through forms of shared governance like Associated Students of Madison.
UW also pledged to require the International Division to create a review assessing current projects, internships, abroad programs and learning opportunities accessible to students impacted by war, violence and displacement. Furthermore, the UW administration pledged to host at least one scholar from a Palestinian university each of the next three academic years through the Scholars at Risk network or the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund.
After reaching its apex last May, pro-Palestinian activism has since receded on UW’s campus, and early in the fall semester, SJP faced a ten-month disciplinary probation for violating five RSO rules of organizational conduct, according to UW News.
Zahr’s said to students involved in pro-Palestinian activism:
“[The university] is very insulated,” Zahr said. “So you think, ‘okay,’ everything I do here, but then, ‘okay, I’m eventually going to leave one day and go into the real world.’ No, this is as much of the real world as when you go out of this place. Keep having those principles because it matters.”
