Members of SJP Javell Sheppard
Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) hosted their annual Arab Cultural Showcase on Sept. 26 at the Schmitt Quad to share their cultural traditions, foods, and heritage within the SXU community.
Upon entering the event, attendees were presented with tables that each represented an Arab country. These included Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, and Egypt. At these tables, traditional foods relating to the country like desserts, foods, and arabic coffee were served. Cultural decor and clothing were also represented for audiences to discover more about the countries’ history
“It’s just the sense of showing our roots and showing what we stand for, what our cultural background is. It’s really important to us and we love to showcase it all to the community,” said Lana Jalal, SJP’s social media manager.
“It’s so heartwarming, it feels really nice seeing people enjoy and actively be involved with what we have in store, it’s a super beautiful thing,” she says.”Seeing a bunch of diversity amongst us is something that we always love to see. We’re always willing to invite and welcome people with open arms for trying out new things and getting a feel for what we have.”
Though this is SJP’s third year hosting this event, changes were made due to the circumstances in the Middle East. The ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing occuring in Palestine, as well as Lebanon, are the main contributers to this change.
SJP changed its former event name, “Arab Fest” to “Arab Cultural Showcase.”
“We decided it was a little inappropriate to not only name it fest, but just be in a celebratory mood because none of us are celebrating anything right now, so we renamed it and dedicated it to make the essence of the event,” said Jena Kanaan, president of SJP.
“We’re remaining steadfast and remaining resilient going through what we’re going though and maintaining our culture through eating food, wearing our cultural clothing and just sticking to our roots,”
Majid Matariyeh, treasurer of SJP, commented that usually performers of the Dabke (traditional Arab dance) were replaced with two singers and a spoken artist who have been vocal about Palestine.
The planning process for the event took three weeks to organize by the board working diligently together, said Kanaan. Aya Alkarzoun represented her Lebanese culture at her table serving vegetarian stuffed grape leaves and Layali Lubnan translates to “Lebanese Nights” (a traditional Lebanese dessert consisting of a sweet-milk based dessert with rose water and topped with pistachios).
This is Alkarzoun’s third year representing her country at the event.“It hits right close to home that I can come here and represent different foods because we make good food,” she said.
Despite the struggles that Lebanon is facing, Alkarzoun mentions to remain determined during these times.
“Just knowing I do have family there and are struggling, but at the end of the day, it’s important to keep the line going and showing where we’re from and this is what we do. Just keeping it going,” Alkarzoun mentioned.
Zara Darabaih, who graduated from SXU in 2023 with a bio pre-med degree, represented her Palestinian culture during the event.
“I’m so honored to represent Palestine in the showcase this year. We lost a lot of people from my family specifically from the war that’s happening and just to honor, is really an honor,” commented Darabaih.” It’s okay not to be strong all the time but just smile. Everyone is here to support you, everyone is here to love you, that’s the best.”
“They’re all accepting, they all want to learn more about Palestine and I’m there to tell you about it. I just love when people expand their knowledge. It’s wonderful,” she says.
Yasmin Abduallah, an alumnus who graduated from SXU this year with a degree in Psychology and Graphic Design, represented the Yemeni table.
“I think it’s amazing to showcase many different Arab groups at SXU, the cultures, the foods, the traditions, and showcasing Yemen establishes it as one of the original Arab,” Abduallah says. “I think a lot of people were fascinated to see Yemen. We tried to showcase both north and south Yemen because there is a divide that people don’t really know of.”
“They’re fascinated when they see the different sides [deserts], they compare all these different pastries and cafes out here like, Qamaraya [cafe], so they see authentic, original yemeni foods. So I think a lot of people are enjoying it.”
Sophomore Emma Willis said, “I think it’s a very enjoyable event. I like it so much and the food is amazing,” she says. “People have been talking and been thanking me for something, so it’s been very good.”
Another attendee, Sophomore Shezana Khan stated while attending the showcase, “I was really looking forward to this event, I’m not Palestinian or Arab, but I feel like with everything going on in the world we really need to see the root of these people, the Palestinians, their culture, and this event is the best way to show that.”
“I feel like I can relate to their culture and my culture so much, it’s so similar. I can relate to them on so many levels and it’s just amazing. I really love the culture,” she said.
SJP invited two Arab artists to perform at the event, Eddy Mack and Norhan. They have received recognition for their support and songs that surround the topics of Palestine. However, they were most recognized from their song, “The Sound of War” which gained popularity online and received more attention to posts surrounding Palestine related content.
The remix of the song was streamed on Spotify with half a million listeners.
A concert by Mack and Norhan was performed as audience members waved lights in the air, enjoying the environment.
Mack, who comes from Jordanian roots, also comes from a Palestinian background as his grandmother is from Yafa, Palestine.
“It’s not one of those things where you just make a normal song and it goes viral and it’s on the radio. It’s hard to be happy when your people are still being slaughtered. It’s rewarding in a sense. Your people love you and look up to you for using your voice for the cause which I’ll always be thankful for, but it’s still not easy,” mentioned Mack.
“Making music for Palestine has been the greatest honor of my life. I don’t care if I ever win a grammy, I don’t care what accolades from this point forward, at the end of the day I am happy that I will be remembered as a strong voice for this movement and I’ll die a happy man.”
Upon his arrival to the showcase event, Mack mentioned that performing isn’t always about the big shows he attends, but rather the smaller ones, and more specifically the “heart of these campuses.”
“It’s not a big show but everybody wants you here and I didn’t hesitate. I just wanted to show that I’m here for everybody,” commented Mack. “I want to be where I can and show love where I can, that’s all that matters to me. I’m just happy to be here.”
Norhan, an Egyptian, has always been vocal in the Palestinian cause, however, within the recent events in Palestine, she has taken the creative music approach when dealing with the grieving process of what is happening in the Middle East.
“For me, as an artist, I use music as an outlet and I write about whatever is occupying my mind and heart,” she expressed. “I was always supporting Palestine and posting about it, but I only started the music for it because it got to a point where I was so sad after seeing everything that was happening. I was crying and I was grieving.”
“At that point I needed to let it out somewhere. And that’s where my music came in. I started writing about it. It’s really just an outlet, and it really got to a point where I couldn’t ignore it, my heart needed to write about it.”
At the event, SJP had provided henna services for attendees. They also included their “Watermelon Cafe” as they served coffee and mojitos.
Arabian food was also delivered by the restaurant, Pita Pita from Bridgeview, additionally from the food already supplied from the cultural tables.
The hosts engaged with those attending by having them participate in dialect challenges where they were awarded with gift cards, such as one to the restaurant Krave.
The event had a full crowd of attendees, most of similar Arab backgrounds, however some were newly exposed to the Middle Eastern heritage, music, and cuisine. SJP plans on continuing these traditions by sharing their culture with SXU to become more familiar with diverse communities within campus.