This past weekend on March 3rd I spent my evening at Arab Night, a Non-IA event starting at 6 PM in Performance Hall at the Ohio Union. There, I was simply a member of the audience, but I was immediately immersed into the culture and the spirit of the other attendees; everyone was smiling and singing and cheering, celebrating their country and their culture. This event greatly impacted my perspective on the existence of such a large Arab student population on this campus, consisting of about 3,000 students, and their underrepresentation. At the event, they employed a part of their “We Exist” campaign to push for the recognition of Middle Eastern and North African as an ethnic category on papers and applications and for the consideration and creation of certain scholarships. I found this movement and passion from the students to be very inspiring and long overdue, in my opinion.

The event consisted of many parts including a musical performance, poetry, and a fashion show, but my favorite part of this event was the initial procession and presentation of the countries and the flags. The national pride and exaltation of identity among the presenters and those in the audience was incredible, contagious, even. And I found that I could not help but smile as each country came in, one after the other. I very much enjoyed the communal aspect of this event what with the large portion of the audience being non-students, and I was surprised, probably mostly due to my own ignorance, by the large Palestinian representation amongst the crowd and students. Their patriotism was exciting, and the participating students were so proud of their heritage that two students who presented the flag for Jordan even ran back into the processional line to represent Palestine, too. This pride was inspiring, and their love for their culture and their identity was unlike anything I’ve seen in many other places. 

I really gained a lot from this experience personally through this pride that the students and the attendees showed in regards to their culture and identity. With my dad being from Venezuela, and therefore my being half-Venezuelan, I feel a sense of guilt almost after attending Arab Night. Seeing the immense passion in their patriotism and the expression of their pride made me feel bad about my own reception and expression of my Venezuelan culture and heritage. While my family continues to eat Venezuelan cuisine every Wednesday night back at home, I have struggled to keep up the tradition after coming to college. Being away from home, I have also lacked a general exposure to my Venezuelan culture, and, after Arab Night, I find myself feeling the need to further involve myself and surround myself with my Hispanic background here on campus as these Arab students have. 

 Overall, I very much enjoyed Arab Night and the atmosphere it cultivated. The organizers and attendees alike were wonderful, and the experience as a whole was very thought-provoking, inducing a lot of self-reflection. I am very glad that I decided to attend Arab Night, and I look forward to attending next year, as well.