[jimdi]

This may balance the equation.

Black Iraqis In Basra Face Racism by Corey Flintoff

Jalal Diyaab is the leader of the Free Iraqi Movement, which is seeking to have Iraq's roughly 2 million black people recognized as a minority whose rights should be protected.

Preserving African Roots In Basra

“People here see us as slaves. They even call us 'abd,' which means slave.”
Civil rights activist Jalal Diyaab

Hundreds of people live behind the crumbling facades of mud-brick buildings in Zubair.

Morning Edition, December 3, 2008 · The election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency was celebrated with special fervor by Iraqis of African descent in the southern port city of Basra.

Although they have lived in Iraq for more than 1,000 years, the black Basrawis say they are still discriminated against because of the color of their skin, and they see Obama as a role model. Long relegated to menial jobs or work as musicians and dancers, some of them have recently formed a group to advance their civil rights.

Black people in Basra are most visible at joyous events. When there's a big wedding, Basrawis call in drummers from the district of Zubair. The Basrawi bride and groom are welcomed in traditional fashion by a row of musicians in Arab dress, long dishdasha gowns and red-checkered head scarves. The drummers sway in unison to the rhythms they slap out on broad, tambourinelike drums — and drive up excitement as the newlyweds cross the threshold of a Basra hotel.

The drummers are black men, descendants of the people who came here from East Africa as sailors or slaves over the course of centuries. And while they are welcome fixtures at joyous events all over the city, they say they are not as welcome in Basra's political, commercial or educational life.

Seen As Slaves

"People here see us as slaves," says Jalal Diyaab, a 43-year-old civil rights activist. "They even call us abd, which means slave."

Diyaab is the general secretary of the Free Iraqi movement. He sits with more than a dozen other men in a narrow, high-ceilinged room in a mud-brick building in Zubair, talking about a history of slavery and oppression that he says dates back to at least the ninth century.

Facinating, more at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...ft=1&f=1001