‘Refugee’ in the U.S. is circumstance, not identity, El Cajon center dir. says of Arab storytelling project
From her advocacy work with political prisoners in the West Bank, to Syrian refugees in Turkey, to related work in South Africa, Greece, and Switzerland, Ramah Awad has long been committed to the work of making life better for people immigrating to, and those seeking refuge in, a new place.
“My own grandparents were made refugees during the 1948 mass expulsion of Palestinians from their villages and my parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. Growing up with this family history instilled in me an awareness of injustice and a sense of responsibility to address it,” she says. “I have been a political activist for Palestinian rights since college and draw inspiration from different legacies of people’s social movements, from the Black freedom struggle to the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa.”
