First, religious texts discriminate between slaves and freemen in several issues, including that of punishment of their murderers or lack thereof, if they were freemen. Many insulting expressions like describing black people as holders of the keys to hell (Ashab al Jahim) and white people as holders of the keys to heaven (Ashab al Janna) are also used.
Second, social habits and norms expressly distinguish between freemen and slaves. The vast majority of Iraqis are opposed to mixed marriages between slaves and the “Sadah,” who are the descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, considering that there is a difference in lineage and purity. The word “slave” is still attributed to black people in cases of conflict, mockery or even in their absence when someone wants to introduce them and distinguish them from white men. An example of this discrimination would be an anecdote from Marwa, who told Al-Monitor that she was asked to hand over her passport during a trip to the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The police considered her a non-Iraqi foreigner, and she complained of being sarcastically addressed as Michael Jackson and Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi (the black muezzin of the Prophet Muhammad). Moreover, there is no common social hub that aims to develop the social situation of blacks. For this reason, it is very rare for black Iraqis to hold degrees and occupy intermediate ranks in the army, police or official departments, even in their own regions.
Third, their political participation in the country has been largely undermined, and not one of them has reached the level of minister, MP in the national parliament, member of the municipal councils or general manager or such. It is noteworthy that their marginalization persists although they exceed about 1.5 million, according to the Free Iraqi Movement Vice President Salah Ruhais Salman, or 2 million, according to a statement made by the secretary-general of the movement, Abdel Hussein Abdel Razzak. They have presented candidates more than once to the Basra provincial council, but they have not won any seats. According to a document published on Wikileaks, the director of the US Embassy’s regional office in Basra, Ramon Negron, said, “The black community suffers disproportionately under the government’s patronage-based political system. … [Otherwise,] a unified black community would easily have enough votes to win at least one seat on [Basra’s Provincial Council].”
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