November 30, 2020 - 8:15am
Layla Saad has now published two books titled ‘Me and White Supremacy’ — the first in January 2020, and the second in November 2020, this one described as a ‘guided journal’, and released just in time for the Christmas gift lists.
Saad — who also works as a life coach and spiritual mentor for business entrepreneurs — has received particularly glowing coverage in women’s magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Glamour, and praise from white celebrities including Anne Hathaway, Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’), and Robin DiAngelo, who wrote the foreword to ‘Me and White Supremacy’.
The first version of the book entered the New York Times best seller list shortly after its publication in January, and experienced a surge in sales in June, following the death of George Floyd, the subject of an article that Saad wrote for The Guardian in that month:
Based on public statements like this, one would be forgiven for assuming that Saad is American, but no — as she has written in earlier blog posts, her family are originally from Oman, her mother was born in Zanzibar, and her father was born in Kenya.
Saad’s parents met while studying in Britain, where she was born. When Saad was fifteen, the family moved to Qatar because her father was “head-hunted for a job” and Saad completed her schooling at a British private school in Qatar before returning to the UK briefly to study law. She is now permanently settled in Doha with her husband and children.
In other words, Saad has no family connection to either America or West Africa. Nevertheless, her Instagram profile reveals a fascination with the black American experience, particularly the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. Photos of foreign holidays and new clothes are interspersed with quotes from Martin Luther King, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and other famous Americans, and Saad includes herself by appealing to a kind of Pan-African identity:
She is referring here to the transatlantic slave trade, not the Arab slave trade in East Africa which enslaved an estimated 17 million people between the 7th and 20th centuries. In fact, as far as I have been able to tell, Saad has never once commented on crimes, either historic or modern, committed in the country in which she has spent almost all her adult life.
Although Qatar officially outlawed slavery in 1952, there are estimated to be more enslaved people now living in the country than in almost any other worldwide and the Qatari government’s tolerance for the practice — which I have written about previously in these pages — has led the UN to threaten international sanctions.
It is quite possible that Saad is not directly implicated in any of these abuses. But her silence on the subject of this ongoing form of slavery is striking, given her own commitment to the idea of collective guilt.
Very few interviewers have thought to ask Saad about her Qatari residency, and it seems that her white liberal readership do not care much about her class or nationality. In fact, her false identification with black America has served Saad well, given her book sales this year, because she is responding to a lucrative and growing market that demands books on people enslaved in centuries past, but shows little interest in people enslaved today.
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SubscribeIn other words, Saad is just another (privileged) self-seeking race grifter who will never acknowledge any form of truth or historical accuracy. I am sure she will get a job at the Guardian, which is home to many such people.
The problem is that consumers of such trash are about as likely to care about the truth of the authors background as they are the truth of the authors arguments. I expect if it was filled with blank pages it would make little difference to glowing reviews in the Guardian or NY times.
Have you read the book?
In fairness, his comment doesn’t really require it.
This is not ‘curious’ at all. She’s pursuing a business model that is quite lucrative for some. Expecting grifters to engage in self-awareness is not going to be very productive.
I’m not religious, but the biblical lesson “remove the log from your own eye before pointing out the speck of dust in your neighbour’s” would seem to be sound advice for so many of the SJW brigade.
The white slavery problem was in the past. The Arabs did much more against black people than the whites. America paid in blood to end slavery. Britain ended it through christian pressure on the government. Britain suffered slavery by the Romans for nearly four hundred years where even children were shipped to Rome as slaves. There are far more present slavery situations to sort out such as sex slaves who are mostly white imprisoned by pimps who were not even born here. The present population in the USA and Britain are nothing to do with the past and are not guilty of slavery.
We obviously need some guidelines on when people can self-identify as something else, and when they cannot.
(Note: I am in fact a dragon, and – since I have Welsh as well as English heritage – you cannot therefore accuse me of cultural appropriation).
Don’t count on it!
It’s a bit like Al Jazeera, constantly championing woke left wing causes in the west but never turning the spotlight on its own country or even its own region (except where it suits the Qataris or their Iranian friends). It even has a show, The Listening Post, critiquing western media (particularly conservative or right wing outlets) but never discussing freedom in their own country
True enough but that’s not unique to Al Jazeera. Most major media, particularly if it’s a state funded outlet, has a built in editorial bias that favours its country of origin. How often does media in the UK or US criticize the rationale for the illegal foreign wars these countries are involved in or the persecution of whistleblowers like Julian Assange, to name just two ‘sensitive’ issues that barely get a mention in the so-called respectable media.
People in the west who constantly point out other countries’ flaws and demand their media practice robust self-criticism are very often blind to their own states’ ideological no-go zones. This is puzzling especially in an era where anything that challenges woke received wisdom is increasingly considered “dangerous” and “unsafe” and banished from the legacy media and the platforms provides by the Silicon Valley tech companies.
This is so spot on. Laayla F. Saad came to America to steal our poverty, writings, stories, ideas, pain and made a profit. We are doing a class action suit against her. She will be flat broke when we BLACK women of America are done with her snake self. In my personal dealings with Laayla. I must say, she taught me the meaning of respectability politics through her actions. She treats most Black women horribly awful. I was so shocked and traumatized by her actions. I would never say anything to her again. She basically used Black women as she profited off of her book. Where she stole a lot of the framework and ideas from someone who was her idol at one point. But let’s not forget she’s a very clever, strategic and manipulative performer. She pretended to idolize this woman as she stole her teachings that prompted and influenced her work. Right from under her nose. She had her on her podcast and all. It was all a strategy to profit. As Laayla the imposter proceeded to steal her work. She acted as if she loved and supported Black women. Only to gain Black women of Americas support. Then slowly but surely she did exactly what any common thief does. She disposed of all of them. Especially the poor ones. She acts exactly like white women. She’s extremely classist and a capitalist. She treats Black women like they don’t matter. She does not and will not ever apologize for the harm she has caused. Unless it comes down to her capital being taken away. This woman is deeply disturbed with no real experience with poverty or oppression. She’s fixated with acting as if she has some sort of connection to us Black women here in America. We don’t want her and she came through and caused more harm than any white woman from Britain ever has. I want to write an article of my direct experience with her. As sort of a healing ritual. She needs to make amends at some point and also pay financial reparations. Folks Laayla F. Saad is a classic agent of white supremacy, an imposter, manipulator, thief and a fraud. She has deeply unchecked mental health issues. I know firsthand the the damage and harm she is capable of. I luckily took screenshots of every one is her 30 day me and white supremacy posts. Of her fake performative words of care and concern. Also of her acting like she is so angry with white women but they are her fan base and cash cow. So she only goes so far. She is so phony and she has nothing but phony followers just like her. Notice her capitalist Instagram now. She waits until she gets 4 comments of praise. Then she disables the comments for fear of someone coming and telling the truth to the public of the harm she had caused the Black community. I have never met a Black woman as disturbing and cut throat as Laayla. She’s scary honestly. I wish she would just get off her fixation of Black Americans struggles. Then go and pay attention to her own internal struggles. She is absolutely no good for humanity. She also stole another Black women’s ideas and writings. She is a white woman trapped in a Black woman’s body. Who makes it very clear that she wants to be a billionaire. If you google Laayla Saads networth. You will see where she herself put something in the billions. Like a 10 year old. She is so disillusioned. She plans on getting there by any means necessary. She loves purchasing extremely expensive hand bags and showing it off to her audience. I mean there is so much more to this woman that I left out but it will be out as a Christmas present to her. With screenshots of our conversations as well. I know white women that are way more helpful than she could ever be. Who actually do the work and pour so much nourishment into the Black community. I wish I never met this woman. As I stated earlier. She traumatized me. I’m thankful for therapy. I did not know Laayla was psychotic and deeply disturbed. She never fit in anywhere because she does not fit in with if herself. She harms every Black woman who comes her way. Because she does not see any value in us. I must say, when people see these screenshots. They will see how disgusting she truly is.
This is so spot on. Laayla F. Saad came to America to steal our poverty, writings, stories, ideas, pain and made a profit. We are doing a class action suit against her. She will be flat broke when we BLACK women of America are done with her snake self. In my personal dealings with Laayla. I must say, she taught me the meaning of respectability politics through her actions. She treats most Black women horribly awful. I was so shocked and traumatized by her actions. I would never say anything to her again. She basically used Black women as she profited off of her book. Where she stole a lot of the framework and ideas from someone who was her idol at one point. But let’s not forget she’s a very clever, strategic and manipulative performer. She pretended to idolize this woman as she stole her teachings that prompted and influenced her work. Right from under her nose. She had her on her podcast and all. It was all a strategy to profit. As Laayla the imposter proceeded to steal her work. She acted as if she loved and supported Black women. Only to gain Black women of Americas support. Then slowly but surely she did exactly what any common thief does. She disposed of all of them. Especially the poor ones. She acts exactly like white women. She’s extremely classist and a capitalist. She treats Black women like they don’t matter. She does not and will not ever apologize for the harm she has caused. Unless it comes down to her capital being taken away. This woman is deeply disturbed with no real experience with poverty or oppression. She’s fixated with acting as if she has some sort of connection to us Black women here in America. We don’t want her and she came through and caused more harm than any white woman from Britain ever has. I want to write an article of my direct experience with her. As sort of a healing ritual. She needs to make amends at some point and also pay financial reparations. Folks Laayla F. Saad is a classic agent of white supremacy, an imposter, manipulator, thief and a fraud. She has deeply unchecked mental health issues. I know firsthand the the damage and harm she is capable of. I luckily took screenshots of every one is her 30 day me and white supremacy posts. Of her fake performative words of care and concern. Also of her acting like she is so angry with white women but they are her fan base and cash cow. So she only goes so far. She is so phony and she has nothing but phony followers just like her. Notice her capitalist Instagram now. She waits until she gets 4 comments of praise. Then she disables the comments for fear of someone coming and telling the truth to the public of the harm she had caused the Black community. I have never met a Black woman as disturbing and cut throat as Laayla. She’s scary honestly. I wish she would just get off her fixation of Black Americans struggles. Then go and pay attention to her own internal struggles. She is absolutely no good for humanity. She also stole another Black women’s ideas and writings. She is a white woman trapped in a Black woman’s body. Who makes it very clear that she wants to be a billionaire. If you google Laayla Saads networth. You will see where she herself put something in the billions. Like a 10 year old. She is so disillusioned. She plans on getting there by any means necessary. She loves purchasing extremely expensive hand bags and showing it off to her audience. I mean there is so much more to this woman that I left out but it will be out as a Christmas present to her. With screenshots of our conversations as well. I know white women that are way more helpful than she could ever be. Who actually do the work and pour so much nourishment into the Black community. I wish I never met this woman. As I stated earlier. She traumatized me. I’m thankful for therapy. I did not know Laayla was psychotic and deeply disturbed. She never fit in anywhere because she does not fit in with if herself. She harms every Black woman who comes her way. Because she does not see any value in us. I must say, when people see these screenshots. They will see how disgusting she truly is.
See Unherd articles a couple of weeks ago regarding the tendency of left and right to criticise apparent hypocrisy as a diversion from addressing the actual issues people are raising. Ad hominem. Whataboutery.
if the people raising the issues are hypocrites about the issues they are raising, in the “do-as-I-say-not–as-I-do mould, then they have no business raising so-called actual issues.
The target audience is white women, think most observers can guess what the ultimate manifestation of Layla Saad’s sacred activism will be.
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Clear case of black privilege
Credit Ms Saad for knowing that the crap she’s selling works on White Americans.
The problem for her and her DiAngelo and Kendi ilk is that it only works on White Americans.
As the US becomes increasingly Hispanic, the worship of Holy Black Man will peter out, as the defeat of Affirmative Action this year in a California referendum foretells.
Jose don’t got no “Original Sin.”
When her book sales are as successful/ popular as “12 Rules of Life” I may be tempted to read it.
She’s found the money lode. Meanwhile black Americans would be far better off reading any of Jordan Petersen’s books the wisdom of which apply to people of all races.
Not curious at all. It is exactly what we should expect from woke fanatics.
I assume this is all in good faith. Sadly, most conversations about identity are between people who have already made up their mind or who are so committed to slates of thought that conversation is pointless.
To start, (and if there are indeed people who really want to discuss this I will continue) the accusation of “false identification with black America” misunderstands completely how all identity is constructed, in particular the black identity which everywhere is indeed deeply if not largely shaped by US notions of race and the black American experience.
I am not sure what substantive role these gotchas about East African slavery are performing. I would be equally skeptical of a similar rebuttal to a white American writer whose stated interest was servitude in the Arab world. What kind of critic would feel that his or her lack of attention to say Jim Crow Alabama therefore invalidated work on, say, the human markets of Zanzibar?
The fact that the author chooses to live in a modern slave state is not an irrelevant “gotcha”.
That would also be applicable to the imaginary American above, would it not?
Americans, whether imaginary or not, don’t live or cchoose to live in a modern slave state.
Saad talks about America, and the American experience whilst turning a blind eye to the history of Muslim slave traders, and their continued presence in Africa.
Northern Sudan still kidnaps people in south Sudan to be used as slaves and there are thousands of white Russian sex slaves in Thailand who went there on a job offer and got kidnapped with their passports confiscated. These sort of things are the present problems not the past.
Her identity is contructed in a way to both absolve her culture of historical crimes and to gain from another cultures very real history of oppression.
” the black identity which everywhere is indeed deeply if not largely shaped by US notions of race and the black American experience.”
What the hell does this even mean.
Why is black identity so pathetic, that it has to be shaped by someone else’s notions of race
Why is the Black “American” experience so important? After all, just a fraction of black slaves ever went to the US, and why doesn’t say the experience of Blacks in Arab or even Africa matter (both had far more slavery and random butchery of Black people, just by non whites)
And more importantly, why do people who suffered from colonialism manage to overcome their “experience” far better than blacks in the US? Indians had as much racism and did not get to vote and be free until 1947, but are the highest income group in the US.
Maybe, instead of hyperventilating on your “American experience”…..staying off drugs, studying at school and sticking to your family instead of being deadbeat dads might work better, but that’s way harder than affirmation quotas and benefits, isn’t it?
This makes sense if you understand the fundamental nature of activism. It exists to nurse grudges and perpetuate grievance, not to solve problems. It’s how the idea that only black people are killed by cops is advanced, even though the numbers show that to be false.
Kudos for bravery and cogency.
As a Buddhist I believe that identity is an illusion, that should be let go, so we are unlikely to see eye to eye on that point, but discussion is good.
I am not sure what substantive role these gotchas about East African slavery are performing.
they are injecting elements of context and perspective which you are choosing to ignore. And they’re not ‘gotchas.’ They’re facts. Just like the fact that this woman has turned her race, gender, and religion into a business model, capitalizing on the trifecta of perceived victimhood.
That’s very annoying of you, Alex: I logged on to make an identical comment, but you’ve not only got there first but have expressed the sentiment more succinctly and elegantly than I would have.
I disagree that black identity everywhere is shaped by the US conversation on race. There are black people on every continent each with their own unique experience on race. In fact, it is good that we call out the obsession with America because that conversation is monopolizing our own national experiences. This prevents us from addressing our own specific grievances. The way the US is policed has nothing to do with me as a Kenyan. If anything, I should be more worried about the modern slave trade that is happening in the Gulf countries. I can do something about that e.g. lobbying my representatives for the government to halt such traders, talking to young women to dissuade them from responding to such adverts and traveling. It also makes more sense for her to be more concerned about her fellow black people languishing in her country of residence.
Good point.
true, it’s a typically american idea that the black experience is shaped by the U.S. conversation, because so many Americans believe that all experience is shaped by what goes on in the U.S. Those of us who don’t live there, though, ought to see that it isn’t true.
ridiculous. someone who lives in a country with a recent history of slavery and a current history of treating its workers like garbage (check out the number of deaths preparing for Olympics/World Cup/whatever) has no business being high and mighty about American slavery, now ended 157 years ago. This doesn’t invalidate any facts she may uncover or mention, but it certainly puts her motivations and her “social justice” bona fides in question.