OBH is not the first Arab
fraternity
in
the
nation.
However, Elharake said the
founders of OBH decided to
create their own fraternity so
they could build the traditions of
the group themselves.
Before presenting themselves
to the audience, the brothers
of OBH recognized the other
multicultural fraternities and
sororities attending the event.
Members of other organizations,
including Sigma Lambda Beta
fraternity and Sigma Sigma Rho
sorority, responded with chants
and calls of support.
Kneeling huddled together in
a circle, the brothers introduced
themselves
one
by
one
by
standing and removing their
scarves and robes. Elharake
brought each recruit to the
middle of the circle and took
away
their
scarves
before
stepping out. Amid chants of
“ossoud,” or “lion” in Arabic,
each member then revealed his
name and pledged to support
his fellow brothers. Many of the
members introduced themselves
through rap.
Ahmad Saad, Business senior
and OBH brother, said each
member of the fraternity was
given a lion name prior to the
reveal. According to Saad, these
names are given by members and
denote certain characteristics
about the recruit, like leadership
or courage. Saad’s lion name is
“Bassel”.
“Immigrating
from
Bint
Jebail, my parents don’t have
it easy,” Saad rapped. “They
look to me to carry their legacy.
Strongest of the pack, I protect
my brothers — no matter what
it is, we’re always here for each
other. Ballin’ since I was a kid,
I’m the real MVP. The best
there ever was, I got that lion
mentality. Yeah, I go to Ross, I’m
a different kind of lion. Imma
build stacks on stacks without
even trying. My brothers are
my priority, and like lions in the
jungle, we lead with authority.”
The
creation
of
OBH
comes just four months after
the
University’s
first
Arab
sorority, Epsilon Alpha Sigma
Empowered Arab Sisterhood,
introduced its first pledge class
in a reveal show held in Angell
Hall. EAS, which has chapters at
several other universities, is the
first Arab sorority in the nation.
Silan Fadlallah, LSA junior
and president of EAS, said it
was important for her sorority
to attend OBH’s reveal show
because
EAS
had
received
support from the University’s
Arab community at their own
debut performance.
“We’re here to show solidarity
and support them, because we
were the first Arab sorority to
come to the campus and we
know what that feels like,”
Fadlallah said. “We’re not sisters
with them, but we’re here to
support them.”
In
2017,
Elharake
helped
organize
the
#WeExist
campaign to add a Middle
Eastern/North
African
identity category to University
applications and documents.
In December 2018, Rackham
announced plans to include
Middle Eastern and North
African identity options on
applications for Fall 2019.
Elharake
said
his
work
with this campaign and his
decision to found OBH reflect
his desire to bring awareness
to the Arab identity on
campus.
“Every year, I see Arab
men who come to U-M,
ignore the community on
campus, forget their roots
and cave into the pressures
of attending a predominantly
white institution,” Elharake
said. “My experiences fueled
my desire to create, with the
founding fathers, a peer-to-
peer structure for Arab men
to mentor each other.”
Fadlallah
echoed
Elharake’s statement and said
organizations like EAS and
OBH aim to draw attention
to the presence of a distinctly
Arab identity at the University
and around the country.
“The Arab identity as a race
is often unrecognized and goes
unrecognized because we don’t
have a checkbox if you’re filling
out applications or whatever,”
Fadlallah said. “We’re marked
under white, which isn’t true. A
lot of it has to do with advocating
for that Middle Eastern and
North African checkbox and,
within that, the Arab identity.”
Throughout the performance,
the
recruits
referred
to
themselves as lions, the symbol
of the fraternity. According
to Elharake, the symbolism
harkens back to when Asiatic
lions lived across the Middle
East and North Africa. While
Asiatic lions still live in sub-
Saharan Africa, there are very
few left in the Middle East. In
a text message to The Daily,
Elharake said the members of
OBH and the Arab community
at the University embody the
history of the Asiatic lions.
“Their
story
has
become
our story,” Elharake said. “For
decades, most Arab men at
the University did not hold
leadership
positions
across
campus, take advantage of the
opportunities
and
resources
offered or advocate for the Arab
community. In many ways, we
were extinct.”
Saad
mentioned
how
the
performance was meant to be
both a humorous introduction
to the group and a reflection on
one the organization’s official
slogans: “Protect what’s yours,
even when they claim it’s theirs.”
Saad said this underlying theme
expresses
the
more
serious
aspects of the reveal show.
“It’s to show how we’re serious
about what we’re doing — we
put in a lot of work in rehearsal
and we wanted everything to be
very structured and organized in
conveying our message instead
of being disorganized,” Saad
said. “It really highlights the
consistency and how serious we
are about this.”
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