Photograph by Stephanie Eley
This essay is part of a series—we asked 17 Atlantans to tell us how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has impacted their lives in honor of its 60th anniversary. Read all of the essays here.
When I was in high school, my teacher overheard a classmate mention that I’m Palestinian. He pulled me into the hallway to interrogate me to make sure my family and I didn’t have ties to Hamas. There was no reason for him to believe this other than my identity. This kind of discrimination would color my entire life, but as a result, it forced me to see the systemic injustices around us. After all, I was lucky. Many in my community weren’t as fortunate, getting ensnared in a system like the No Fly List that targeted them for no other reason than who they are.
Those experiences planted me on a path of advocacy and civic engagement. It made me realize that until we educate those around us and build infrastructure to protect one another, these incidents will continue to happen to so many of us. Our lack of engagement left a gaping hole that allowed more of these hateful ideas to become policy. So I worked for organizations like Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, and the Georgia Muslim Voter Project to teach people how to vote and become civically engaged. For so long, our electoral mobilizing had completely ignored entire communities in our state. This work ensured that we would no longer be ignored.
Now, I’m a state representative because those same communities wanted to see themselves represented in institutions that constantly make policies about us without ever engaging us or learning about who we are. Today, when any one of our communities is targeted, a diverse, multifaith, multigenerational, and multiracial coalition mobilizes against injustice. For me as a Palestinian, my hope is that these efforts build systems that are truly just for all.
Ruwa Romman is the first Muslim woman elected to the Georgia State House. She was born in Jordan and is the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees. Her family moved to Georgia when she was seven.
This article appears in our June 2024 issue.
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