I thought I was witnessing a rebirth of Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Barbara Jordan, and Shirley Chisholm, rolled into one, when I heard about Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese female journalist, who challenged the rule of law in Sudan. Hussein is accused of violating Article 152 which sentences women to 40 lashes and a monetary fine for wearing pants in public.
Hussein’s first act of defiance was publicly defending her actions by saying, “Islam does not say whether a woman can wear trousers or not,” nor, by her account, is it even mentioned in the Quran. She had single-handed started a revolution!
Lubna Hussein was arrested with 12 other women while at a restaurant listening to an Egyptian singer. While they took their lashes and moved on, Hussein asked for a lawyer and to go to trial and be heard. She also had the chance to change her fate because she is an employee of the United Nations. She quickly resigned. She wants to change the law. This is a bad sista! Like Rosa, and other fearless black women, she is not standing for this injustice.
African-American women should be supporting and applauding her by being vocal in any way possible. We should be blogging and speaking her name in conversation, on chat rooms and on radio shows. She says, “I am ready to be flogged 40,000 times,” if it’s a chance for her “to defend the women of Sudan.” Doesn’t this sound familiar?
Like every leader, whose moment of truth often comes by surprise, Hussein humbly stated, “It’s not about me.” This sentiment and her acts of defiance are reminiscent of the unwavering spirit of freedom fighters and ordinary extraordinary men and women who stood up for our human dignity and collectively changed the course of history. 2009 is no different!
Are we so comfortable that we can’t see courage standing in front of us? Speak Lubna’s name. If you have a blog, listserv or website, let someone know about Lubna. Her trial begins September 7 and she needs women of color to be there to support her decision to take a stand and make a point. Her lashes will be heard round the world because we will be clapping and cracking the glass ceiling of silence and replacing it will applause and accountability.
Let the world and Sudan know that what you do to one of us, you do to us all!!!!
