{"id":2185,"date":"2019-06-08T00:36:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T21:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2019-06-08T00:37:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T21:37:17","slug":"2185-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/2185-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mona Abdulla: A Next Generation Advocate for Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

YAN – Lackawanna, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"As an elected board member of the Lackawanna City School District, Mona Abdulla\u2019s greatest achievement was to secure April as Arab Heritage Month in April of 2019.
\nShe smiled thinking about that moment as it held personal relevance to her own childhood. She recalled a moment in first grade in that same school district. There was such a lack of cultural understanding of Muslim students at that time that Mona was excluded from participating in gym because she refused to wear the required athletic shorts. She recalls, \u201cThe gym teacher made me sit down [and] said, you are not prepared.\u201d It took a visit from her father to rectify the situation and this incident resulted in a new policy of tolerance that allowed girls to wear gym pants rather than shorts.
\nMona\u2019s journey is one of a second-generation Yemeni-American. She was born just days after her parents arrived in the United States from Beni Bakr on the outskirts of Yafa\u2019. Steel was king in Lakawanna, the home of Bethlehem Steel Company from 1902 to 1983. Her father advanced from being a dish-washer to a worker at the Letchworth Steel Plant. It was in this environment that Yemenis like Mona\u2019s father were drawn to this industrial hub on the banks of Lake Erie.
\nIn the midst of her childhood, her father brought the family back to Beni Bakr for several months in 1986. Mona recalls, \u201cIt was really different and we got sick often\u2026.I loved the people there, I loved the culture but I just was kind of homesick.\u201d She remembers landing in Aden in the midst of the Cold War era and seeing westerners who she assumed were Americans. \u201cWhy are the Americans speaking a different language?\u201d she asked. \u201cThey are not Americans, they are Russians,\u201d she was told.
\nOnce back in the United States, Mona grew up with few Arabs in her school. She remembers having to explain her culture to many of her classmates, especially the Yemeni traditions that were obvious, such as the henna designs on her hands. \u201cI looked recently at an old yearbook when there were [around] five Yemenis at the school. Now they make up about forty percent.\u201d Growing up in America, Mona was inspired by traditional female heroines, both fictional and real, such as Amelia Earhart. \u201cMy father told me a woman should always be educated and even if she doesn\u2019t grow up to work, she has to have the tools for life.\u201d Her older cousin, Fatima, gave her the advice like an older sister she never had.
\nMona spent much of her twenties moving to different parts of the country and her academic aims were just as mobile. She finally returned to Lackawanna and obtained a Master\u2019s in Higher Education Student Services. During a stint with a college, she became embroiled with the events of the Trump Administration. In particular, she was outraged at the Muslim ban and how it was affecting the Yemeni community in Lackawanna. Mona believed much of her adult life that she would have to represent the Yemeni community on a larger level. She was troubled by the fact that Yemenis were being held at the airport, and in some cases, sent back. This was the moment that Mona knew she had to do something. Soon after, Mona\u2019s friend Gamileh Jamil, the former Executive Director of Access of Western New York, encouraged Mona to speak at a rally opposing the Muslim ban. It was the first time that Mona spoke to a crowd of people in this way. \u201cI spoke in front of 2,000 people and I wasn\u2019t nervous\u2026.I was so angry and so concerned about our community,\u201d she shared. \u201cWe are in America, we have a Constitution and when [actions] go against the Constitution, I do not care if it is the President or someone in the Arab community; whoever it is, I am going to stand up for what is right.\u201d
\nMona\u2019s call to action surrounding the protests against Trump\u2019s Muslim ban catapulted her into a desire to be a leader. Combined with her earlier successful bid on the Lackawanna School Board, Mona has cemented her place as a fixture in the Yemeni-American community. With all of her accomplishments, Mona now wants to urge others to be active in the community. \u201cMy parents are immigrants and I would love for other women to be able to connect through me and feel power through me,\u201d Mona said. Mona is among a growing number of second generation Yemeni-American women who have found a mission and a voice in support and advocacy for a community challenged by the events unfolding in Yemen and within the diaspora as a whole.<\/p>\n

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