This Is What Being Palestinian Means to Rania Batrice
For this time on “Amani On Air,” Muslim Girl founder Amani sits down with her powerhouse strategist Rania Batrice to dive into their shared experiences and what it means to stay true to their roots.
AMANI: Tell us who are you? What’s the kind of work that you do? What brought you into this space?
RANIA BATRICE: I’m a first-generation Palestinian and it’s really kind of weird to have to say this like it’s gutting. It’s been almost 25 years that I’ve worked at the intersection of politics and policy, advocacy and coalition building, and all of my work.
I have my hands in climate, reparations, immigration, health care justice, and all these different spaces. And for me, it’s all come back to collective liberation.
I feel like I came to this work. I don’t even feel like I really had a choice. Just being Palestinian, we wake up every day thinking about these things, even from a young age, even before we have the vocabulary for something like collective liberation or understanding justice or sovereignty or any of those things.
Even before we have that vocabulary, we grow up understanding that we’re otherized.
Even before we have that vocabulary, we grow up understanding that we’re otherized. And so, it wasn’t my intention to work in this space; I had a whole life plan. I was going to be a doctor because, of course, my parents wanted that. But I think I got here because I had to.
This is what I feel like. It’s gutting, exhausting, and so hard, as you know, to do this work day in and day out. But I think it’s exactly what I’m supposed to be doing just because of lived experiences and professional experiences and all the things.
And even my sweet Palestinian mom, who immigrated here when she married my dad, was all of 18 years old. She was scared for me for so long and constantly like, “You can’t do this. You can’t do this” not because she didn’t think I was capable of it. She was so afraid for me. She was so afraid of what was going to happen.
And my dad is still convinced I’m going to be killed in the street any minute now because I’m Palestinian and I talk about it all the time.
A: Have you lost any political clients before?
R.B.: Oh yeah. It’s gross and disgusting. And these are Democrats who operate under the progressive banner. So let’s be clear about sometimes we have to understand who people are. And this is… it’s so… And also the political spectrum that we’re on, where the most “liberal” end of it is still anti-Palestinian.
And when I lost one of my clients, I was actually visiting my parents, and I was really upset. Obviously, it’s always upsetting no matter how much you understand it’s that person and not you, logically. Still, in the moment, you get upset. And I wasn’t upset for too long and I was kind of starting to get over it.
And my mom like gets all emotional about it. And I was like, “You know what? They’re showing me who they are. I don’t want to work with those people.”
I’m not saying it’s easy and I’m not saying it’s not painful in moments and in times, but I mentioned all of that to say, I’ve worked really hard to have autonomy; to be able to say what I want to say; to be the person that I am truly at my core — on my own terms regardless of the consequences.
And there, and again, I don’t, I will never pretend like there are no consequences, but they still are mine to take on. I get to decide — I get to choose how I come forward in society and the clients I take on and the ones that I don’t, and how I react to shitty people like the ones who fired me for being Palestinian.
Lovin’ the conversation with Rania Batrice? Catch the full episode now on Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms!
