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By Aisha Gawad
February 4, 2010
I woke up Sunday morning to the sounds of car horns blaring and crowds chanting. In New York, this is not uncommon and on any ordinary Sunday, it is more than a little annoying. But on this Sunday, January 31, this was the sweet sound of victory. And no, I’m not talking about the Jets either. Egypt had won the Africa Cup for the third straight year in a row.
Growing up in Virginia, I’m pretty sure my family and I were the only Egyptians around for miles, so celebrating moments like these were kind of lame. What were we going to do all by ourselves? Run around the cul-de-sac waving the national flag while the neighbors looked on in horror? But in New York, the euphoria was contagious. People were waving flags from the backs of their cars. Little girls had their faces painted red, black and gold. Grown men hugged on the street.
As an Egyptian-American, it was moving to see my people so united, even if only for a soccer match. Yet more than that, I was moved by photos from Gaza where Palestinians also took to the streets, proud that their Arab brothers had won over an entire continent with their skill and talent.
After the divisive matches between Egypt and Algeria (both for the World Cup qualifying games and for the Africa Cup finals), it was refreshing to see displays of Arab unity, which now feel so rare. It wasn’t about politics. It was just about the people.
For the downtrodden, like the people of Gaza, how nice must it have been to see people who look like them, talk like them, and pray like them as winners on an international scale. And for the Arab-Americans, who probably feel a disconnect from their homelands and who live in a country where being Arab isn’t always seen as a good thing, the Egyptian win was like a validation of our Arabness, at least for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.
Photos: CAN 2010 Official Site
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