Arab Americans

Arab Americans on the Move

Ferial Masry Builds Bridges

Posted on Thursday December 1, 2005

An Interview with Ferial Masry

Every time she speaks, another stereotype shatters. Most of the people who come to listen at the local synagogue or church, have never met a Saudi, Muslim woman. Ferial Masry isn’t your typical Saudi woman: Her hair is exposed and cut short. She wears a tailored, turquoise suit instead of a traditional Saudi abaya. She speaks loud and without hesitation, and argues her liberal beliefs with conviction.

Ferial Masry, 2004 candidate for California State Assembly, has broken barriers in ways that the Arab American community has yet to see. Though she lost the seat in the last election, Masry is determined to take the State Assembly seat in 2006.

“I started my campaign the day after the election. November 3rd, I got so many e-mails, and so many people asked me to run again,” Masry said.

Masry had admirers in all parts of the world. “[People] from all over the country, and abroad, everybody was interested in my story.” And her story is unusual.

She is a Muslim military-mom. When her son Omar was deployed to Iraq as a civil affairs officer, she protested, but realized that carrying signs would only get her so far.

“I realized that this would not get us anywhere, and I joined the Democratic Party,” she said. After a few months she became a member of the central committee, and a board member, “Before I knew it, they asked me to run for State Assembly.”

Her election campaign made headlines locally, nationally and even internationally. She was featured several times in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, AP, CNN and was selected as the ABC’s “Person of the Week.”

Born in Mecca, Masry moved to Egypt to attend school, something girls were not able to do at the time in Saudi Arabia. Masry later moved to England and Nigeria, before settling in Southern California in 1979.

When she first arrived, she co-founded a non-profit organization to teach Arabic and Islamic studies. Education and women’s rights are not new campaigns for Masry.

“We had more than 80 students and [the school] continued for years,” said Mariam Humeid one of Masry’s close friends, and now campaign organizer. “I worked with Ferial and knew she would be a wonderful friend and hard working citizen, determined to make a change and bridge between the Middle Eastern and the American cultures.”

And she has been able to do just that, this election gave her a spotlight on the world stage. Masry’s unique background elevated her story into the national and international media. In Saudi Arabia, she was hailed as a hero.

Earlier this year, Masry was asked to speak at the Saudi Arabian Economic Forum about U.S.-style democracy, where she spoke on a panel with former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. “The Saudi’s were very proud,” said Masry,who considers herself a positive face for women in Saudi Arabia.

Masry’s picture, with no veil, was featured on the cover of several papers in the country and on television channels, something unprecedented for women in Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi women can stand their ground and can fight and can win, in the world stage. I am running in the United Sates, and standing tall and achieving things, which, to a lot of Americans is unusual…so just imagine for a Saudi woman.”

Masry’s trip, she felt, validated her struggles for the equality of women, and set an example for the Arab American community, and the Arab world.

“[Saudis] saw a different face of America they didn’t know. And that’s the whole idea; I’m giving Americans a new idea about people in the Middle East, and to people in the Middle East about America.”

At home she’s working to get young Arab Americans involved in her campaign and in the U.S. political system in general.
Masry hopes that the Arab American community will become more active in politics.

“We want to open the doors for the younger generation,” she said. “We don’t want them to face the same predicaments we face when it comes to political and social adjustments in this country.”
While Masry proudly admits that Arab Americans have been successful on a professional level, she knows that politics are just as important.

“People are trying to figure us out, and decide who we are,” she said. “We cannot run from one ethnic leader to the other asking them to help us, we have to help ourselves.”

Though she lost the election last year, Masry feels that she only gained from the experience. She was the only Democrat who was able to significantly sway Republicans. The president of the Republican Woman’s Club endorsed Masry, and now works with Masry on her campaign. Winning 42 percent of a traditionally conservative district was no small feat. This achievement, she says, will win her the seat in 2006.

Beyond the campaign, Masry continues to work for women and children’s rights. On December 4th she was awarded the 15th annual 2005 Human Rights Award. The honorees were selected for their selflessness, lack of prejudice, generosity, and passion for their work.

Still working daily on her campaign, Masry speaks at rotary clubs, Kiwanis clubs, Lions clubs, churches, and synagogues to tell her story.

“I heard Ferial speak to my Unitarian Universalist congregation in Santa Clarita, California this past summer, her words moved me to tears,” said Patti Sulpizio, now a volunteer for the campaign.

By day, Masry teaches American History and Government at Cleveland High School, where her students create campaign strategies as projects, which she hopes to put to use in her own election. She was the creator and coordinator of the Arab Children’s Cultural Exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles.

In her spare time, Masry is in the process of writing a book chronicling her political experiences. A publisher in London approached her shortly after the campaign, and she is now nearing the end of the fourth chapter.

Ferial Masry’s advice to Arab American youth
“You are part of two worlds, but you’re not really part of either one. You’re not really Arab Arab, and you’re not really American American. You are hanging between two worlds. And you have to stand up and make the decision, of where you want to be and how you are going to belong to the two. You can pick the best of each one, but until you make a decision, you can be an American better than the Americans and an Arab better than the Arabs. This doesn’t happen over night. It happens by involvement.”