An Interview with Marian Douglas
By Nasra Al Adawi
(Muscat, Sultanate of Oman)
There’s a saying: "If you face any woman, don’t judge her by an appearance." We often make first assumption about the people we meet for the first time. My first encounter with Marian Douglas-Ungaro was through the Facebook group Women of Color Day that Marian started and which I joined just for the fun of it.
When she assigned me to be an inspirational officer of the group, I was a bit surprised the reason of her selecting me among other women and how can I contribute to such group. However, this led me to want to contribute even though I was not really sure what part can I take. I always wanted to uncover the achievement of women and I wanted to be an inspirational writer or a poet, she no doubt sparked that dream.
Marian Douglas-Ungaro is a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a spouse, an activist and a writer at the moment she lives in USA and also Italy. How does she plays all these roles. I'm very delighted that I am meeting with Marian in Washington through exchange of email.
Through Women of Color Day on MARCH 1ST we just had seen participation in activities not only in USA but also abroad. Let me leave you with Marian to hear her through her own voice and thoughts.
Q: What was the reason behind generating such group and how was it beneficial to spread awareness on women of color?
We now have over 200 women around the world in our Women of Colour group on Facebook. This is a remarkable beginning, and I welcome and thank each of those women! I created the group as a supportive, inclusive and affirming online meeting place so that women of colour as a major population group can begin to benefit from and fully enjoy using the platform of Web 2.0 social software.
As women most of us realize that there is something missing when we see and read discussions of people’s daily lives and experiences around the world when the discourse always addresses EITHER gender or racial and ethnic status. Some women talk only about being women, at the same time that the men from our ethnic groups talk about their experiences of being “men from those groups.” What is usually missing is the voices of women who also are part of ethnic communities often seen as “being outside someone else’s mainstream.”
In fact, women of colour are the majority of the world’s population. We are our own mainstream!
Q: How Women of Color Day can be observed on international level?
Internationally we are able to focus locally and share globally, and also the other way around. The main thing is that women contribute; that we have the courage to put our ideas into words and into action, and then to share our dreams and activities with these networks that we have – like the International Women of Colour group - and new ones we are creating, both locally and globally. We are meeting each other and learning to cooperate when we combine traditional communication with the useful and affordable features of social software technology. Over time we can create our own opportunities for face-to-face meetings.
Q:Africa has special place in your heart? Tell us more about it?
I come from the population of the Americas which is the Afrodescendant people. Afrodescendants of the Americas are the largest population of African people outside Africa. We are all over the Americas, not only in the United States. My ancestors were trafficked from several different parts of Africa. They were the people who survived what is called “the Middle Passage” – that is, the ship voyage of thousands of miles and several weeks – 2 or 3 months, I think – across the Atlantic slave trade. Researchers say that Afrodescendants are 33% or one-third of the entire population of the Americas. My family is Black Americans of what is now the United States. Most of my ancestors were trafficked to the region that is called North America before the United States of America existed. Africa is part of my life because it is where most of my ancestors came from before they were torn away from their lives and families in different regions of Africa. Most Afrodescendants want to know Africa, and we want continental Africans to know and appreciate who we are, and our amazing and difficult history. We want to re-connect with Africa just as I’m sure our ancestors also wanted to.
Q: You had been strong participant in many forums such as African Forum for Envisioning Africa's Future (Nairobi, Kenya) and 2002 International Women's Day (Hargeisa, Somaliland). How women can be an active participant in such forums? Tells us more.
Most women do not have the time or resources to attend large meetings and conferences. At the same time, today, we can use “social media” technology as a bridge between our communities and help us connect with each other, even when we cannot physically go to the large conferences. Most of us, including myself, did not attend the Beijing Conference in 1995, so the question really is how do the organizers of large centralised gatherings make them relevant for women who stay in their home regions and communities. This makes local and regional meetings so important, and it is why it is also important that women who do go to the larger conferences return to their countries and communities to talk about the meetings they’ve attended, to exchange information and ideas and take part in planning and taking action on the issues. We have our responsibilities in our families and in our schools, women also have a responsibility to be fully part of civil society and its activities. Women and girls are needed to shape and plan civil society activities and not only just participate. In this way we cooperate to meet our own needs and the needs of others: our sisters and brothers, our elders and others, in education, health care, to save the environment and improve our part of the world.
Q: Women in International Missions (tell us more about it)?
I started Women in International Missions around 1999, as an online discussion group, before Web 2.0 began. This is a group targeted at women like myself who work or have worked in international civilian missions; post-conflict, elections, sustainable development, human rights, etc. This is the non-military presence and work. Even today there are not very many women doing this important work.
Q: As writer what part of subjects that you enjoy to cover?
I’m happy to say that during the Women’s Worlds conference in Kampala, Uganda in 2002, I took part in drafting the “Kampala Resolution on Women, Peace and Conflict.” We are asking for people’s support for the Resolution through signing the online petition here: www.petitiononline.com/WmnPeace. I also enjoy writing essays. In 2001 before the World Conference on Racism I wrote an essay on the international trafficking of Black women. It was published online by Lola Press.org. I enjoy interviewing people who are making contributions, and I’ve been lucky to do this as a radio and television journalist as well as as a freelance writer. A couple of the interviews I’ve done so far have been with Puerto Rican actress Miriam Colon (who played Al Pacino’s mother in the film Scarface) and also the late Chicana writer, professor, and lesbian activist Gloria Anzaldua who was from the region and culture of South Texas in the U.S. Both of those interviews were published in a women’s newspaper called Minnesota Women’s Press.
Q: You seem to cover a lot of articles on subject like women trafficking? How can we as women contribute to help out other sisters to not fall prey in prostitution or trafficking?
This is a very good and essential question. Fighting trafficking and exploitation requires courage. Women must empower ourselves to say ‘no’ more often when we need to. We must hold accountable our elected, appointed, and also traditional leaders, regardless of their gender or ethnicity. Women have to look out for each other and also be willing to take urgent, positive action when necessary. We do have the ability to help ourselves and each other and to make a positive difference in each other’s lives. We need to exercise the power that we already have inside ourselves.
Reaching to the end of the interview, I hope you can take time to inhale Marian's words. We as women we tend to underestimate our strength, there is a reservoir within that waits for us to seek it. Making a difference can be begin with a smile, an act of encouragement to another sister/ woman, or became an mentor to a young woman who seem to need guidance. As I'm closing my final page, leaving you with one thought "How much would that cost you to reach out to another woman?"
