Death threats can't stop Saudi's outspoken Rosa Parks fighting racism

A woman dubbed the “Rosa Parks” of Saudi Arabia says she will defy her critics by continuing to be an outspoken advocate of tolerance and diversity, despite receiving death threats. Nawal al-Hawsawi has shot to fame in the country for her passionate work against racism and sexism.

The outspoken marriage therapist, mental health counselor and qualified pilot refuses to conform to conservative expectations of what a black woman can do and has become something of a social media phenomenon, accruing 50,000 followers on Twitter.

Al-Hawsawi grew up in Mecca, before travelling to the US and marrying a white American man. She told the BBC that it was upon returning to Saudia Arabia that she first began to experience social tensions due to her inter-racial marriage. She says that she was called an offensive racial slur by a woman whilst at an event celebrating Saudi’s National Day. She took criminal action, eventually dropping the case when she received an apology from her abuser. She says she and the woman are now firm friends. The case made headlines around Saudi Arabia and al-Hawsawi became a national icon speaking out against racism and harassment after local press compared her to US civil-rights activist Rosa Parks.