#FierceAuntiesUnite
By Shomial Ahmad
I grew up a in a community of fierce aunties in Fort Worth, Texas in the 1980s. They raised money to build mosques, schooled Texas butchers on how to make meat halal, and once they knew that Texas was their ultimate home — not Pakistan, nor Hyderabad, nor Lebanon, they were on call to wash their dear ones' dead bodies so those who passed could be buried in a plot carved out in the Fort Worth prairie. I was a child in the 80s, and a teenager and a self-proclaimed feminist, college student in the 90s, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know of the aunties' power and sacrifice until I picked up a minidisc recorder as an aspiring ethnographer and interviewed my aunties about home, community and belonging.
They fought for their sons' names to be called out in high school football games, they proudly wore pastel shalwars under their white lab coats as they did rounds in the hospitals regardless of the stares, and they showed up — if there was a death in the family, they brought pilau; if someone was really sick, the ronak and rona party would be ready for action in the hospital waiting room; and they taught me how to be an independent and proud Pakistani-American Muslim woman from Texas.
You know, as I know, aunties fight — a lot. And we may fight a lot too in the coming years. But what if we fight, and we also do what aunties do: support one another; show up with food and laughter and style, and speak out, as we prepare for a long game.
#FierceAuntiesUnite is the union for fierce aunties because we know that one fierce auntie alone can wreak plenty of havoc but not create as much change as a collective of aunties united.
So if you know of an auntie, like the aunties who I know: Shakila and Sayeeda, Nighat and Riffat, Mehr and Maryam, share their story and tag it #FierceAuntiesUnite because we need their inspiration in the coming days, weeks and years ahead.
(Photo credit: My #1 Auntie: my mom, auntiesplaining my dad outside of the newly built mosque off of Hulen Street in Fort Worth, Texas.) #FierceAuntiesUnite
