Laughing about Yemen: Yemeni-American Wins Illinois State Championship in Original Comedy
It was an epic moment. Standing on stage after delivering nearly all of his lines for the state of Illinois High School speech championship in original comedy, Ali Mohamed knew he had his audience where he wanted them. The judges were enjoying his lines and his fellow competitors, poised in the seats in the auditorium, were laughing except for the stoic Northsiders who never laughed at anyone out of a sense of decorum.
By Kipp Cozad*
The Yemeni American News
But for everyone else, the laughs came quickly —— naturally. And then he delivered the line, “It’s not the quality of the cloth that covers the face, but it’s the person underneath that counts”. It caused such laughter that he had to pause in between the sentence. Ali Mohamed had arrived.
Ali’s material for State competition blended elements of his own experiences, stereotypes of Yemen and Arab culture along with the naiveté of the wider American population. Ali’s comedic performance is based on the story of a Yemeni-American who falls in love with a beautiful but shallow white girl. Ali explained while dressed in a blue hoodie and tennis shoes, “I take her back to my homeland to introduce her to my beautiful culture…I want her to look past the hardships, I guess the poverty, and see there is good to it.” His family in Yemen rejected his girlfriend, Becky, and through the course of his act, he does as well. Using humor, he shares this overriding moral that beauty resides on the inside. His white girlfriend is not a good person. She rejects Yemen. In the end, Ali’s grandfather presents him with a bride that he accepts and she, like his ancestral homeland, turns out to be beautiful. It is at this moment in his presentation where Ali’s two cultural identities converge. Seeing the lovely face of his bride-to-be, Ali proclaims, “Thank you, Jesus!!!”, to the roaring laughter of his peers and judges.
Ali comedically confronts many of the challenges of growing up Arab in America. At one point, Ali addresses racial profiling at airports. “I was able to get this card that says, Person of Interested, he jokingly boasts in his act. Later, pondering the origin of that material, “I actually had problems going through the airport. They made my sister take off her socks….to check her toes, I guess? I’ve seen the stigma. My sisters and my mom wearing the hijab and us fat little brown boys walking through with Family Dollar belts; taking everything off,” he jokes.
Ali’s life has been anything but easy. Growing up in Buffalo, New York and then moving around a lot was difficult. In the sixth grade, Ali traveled to Aden with his family. It was supposed to be a summer vacation but he ended up staying for two years. “My dad threw us back in there because he wanted us to learn the culture and the Arabic language and Islam,“ he related. Ali also saw the difficult side of living in Yemen. Because the bus route was fraught with danger in Aden in 2014, Ali did not attend school during that period. Occasional rioting and martial law marred Ali’s time in Yemen.
When Ali returned to America, his personal life grew more complicated. “It’s a bit of a dark past,” Ali explained. “We got evicted in the Northside (of Chicago). My parents divorced and my dad remarried. My mom and all of us ended up here (in the south suburbs of Chicago).” There were other challenges as well. Ali shared that he did not have many friends growing up. “I got bullied left and right. Instead of just laughing at me, I’ll laugh with them. I’d crack jokes about myself to ease the tension.” Speech coach Mr. Harrigan added that Ali was able to use that nervous energy to his advantage while competing in speech tournaments. Mr. Harrigan played a large role in Ali’s development in speech.
Ali found a voice on his speech team at Richards High School. He ran cross country, played basketball and football before blowing out his knee. Then he was recruited by Mr. Harrigan to participate in speech during his junior year. At the time, Ali was working two jobs to help support his mom, four sisters and his brother. As Ali became more serious about competing in speech tournaments, he quit one job to focus more on perfecting his performances. By the time this year came around, Ali had honed his skills and had the winning narrative that combined personal experiences and cultural humor about his Yemeni-American roots. In February, Ali captured the state final championship with his delivery of A Mideastern Night’s Dream in Peoria, Illinois. It is a remarkable run for a student that not only didn’t start competing until his junior year but also overcame so many obstacles in life. “I want to let Yemeni-Americans know that they can do anything. I came from a lower-class family, difficulties with my father, was raised by my mom my entire life. You can do it,” he related. Ali’s challenging past is behind him. He has become a bit of a celebrity at Richards High School. Being only the fourth person in the 53-year history of Richards to win the State Championship will do that. Ali plans on attending the University of Illinois-Chicago in the fall. As he shares in the final line of his performance, Ali truly offers a little something for everyone.
* Kipp Cozad has a master’s degree in history focusing on Yemeni migration and is currently a professor at Moraine Valley Community College outside of Chicago.
