Since the police killing, IMAN has partnered with the Muslim AntiRacism Collaborative, a racial justice education organization, to launch “Corner Store Witnesses,” a new training curriculum aimed at nonblack Muslim business owners.
Since its founding in 1997, IMAN has worked with dozens of corner stores in Chicago’s South Side and in Atlanta’s West End on campaigns focused on developing healthier business models and building positive relationships between Arab store owners and black residents.
“I understand that we have a long way to go to build transformative relationships between Arab/Asian store owners and local Black communities,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
Sara Hamdan, an IMAN organizer who is Palestinian, said several Arab corner store owners in Chicago’s West Side have loudly expressed their frustration over damage done to their businesses during the protests.
In a statement acknowledging that many Arab small business owners’ relationships with local black communities are “rooted in racism and exploitation,” Chicago’s Arab American Action Network also urged business owners to support the ongoing anti-police brutality protests.
