Rummana Hussain

Editorial Board Member and Columnist

Rummana Hussain joined the editorial board in 2021 and is a popular columnist who writes on a variety of social and cultural topics. Hussain has held several jobs at the Sun-Times, including assistant metro editor, criminal courts reporter, general assignment reporter and assistant to columnist Michael Sneed.

Before joining the Sun-Times, Hussain covered education and criminal courts in Lake County for the Chicago Tribune and covered crime, education and City Hall for the now-defunct City News Bureau. A Chicago native, Hussain was named a Jefferson journalism fellow by the East-West Center in 2006. She has served on the board of the Chicago Headline Club and the local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. She has a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University. She lives in Rogers Park.

Columnists

You can be a person of color or married to one and still 'stan' for white supremacy

There have been racist attacks against Usha Chilukuri Vance from the far-right elements within the Republican party since her husband, JD Vance, was named Donald Trump’s running mate. Meanwhile, many Indian Americans have been wondering what place a Brown woman has in a party that is steeped in racism and exclusion.

By Rummana Hussain

Columnists

A 'forgotten or ignored' war: Chicago-area Sudanese want us to care about homeland's humanitarian crisis

The Greater Chicago Sudanese American Association was started to help underprivileged communities in Sudan and Sudanese refugees in the United States. The nonprofit’s immediate goal, however, is to feed the hungry amid the African nation’s latest conflict.

By Rummana Hussain

Columnists

Caste-away: India's caste system may be impossible to dismantle, but Yashica Dutt wants to try

Living a lie and “passing” as an “upper” caste Hindu opened doors, Yashica Dutt discovered while growing up in her native India. But when a Dalit student died by suicide the journalist felt compelled to publicly reveal that she also belonged to the community long-maligned as “untouchable.”

By Rummana Hussain

La Voz Chicago

Para ver y aprender: El Festival de Cine Palestino de Chicago pretende entretener y educar

No todos los cineastas participantes son de origen palestino, pero su arte reivindica y defiende relatos que han sido profanados por quienes tienen una tendencia pavloviana a pensar en terroristas —y no en civiles inocentes— cuando visualizan a hombres, mujeres y niños palestinos.

By Rummana Hussain

Columnists

Watch and learn: Chicago Palestine Film Festival aims to entertain, educate

Not all participating filmmakers are of Palestinian descent, but their art reclaims and champions narratives that have been defiled by those who have a Pavlovian tendency to think terrorists — not innocent civilians — when they visualize Palestinian men, women and children.

By Rummana Hussain

Sue Naher takes photos of cars stuck in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near North Avenue after they were trapped by snow on Feb. 2, 2011.

Columnists

Is that rain outside? I think I'll work from home.

The days of trekking to the office in bad weather are over for people who have worked remotely since the pandemic started.

By Rummana Hussain

Columnists

Bothered by pro-Palestinian activists? Most Americans didn't like civil rights, Vietnam War protests either.

Americans tend to quickly praise demonstrators engaging in “good trouble” overseas but bristle at dissent in their own backyard.

By Rummana Hussain

Murad Nofal (right) and Mustafa Mabruk, co-founders of Wear The Peace, wear a sweatshirt with a watermelon symbol on it at Wear The Peace’s warehouse in Jefferson Park.

Columnists

Watermelon surprise: How the daughter of Hollywood stars helped a Chicago clothing company raise money, awareness for Gaza

Violet Affleck, daughter of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, wore a crewneck made by clothing company Wear The Peace. Now the company, founded by two sons of Palestinian refugees, is raking in business.

By Rummana Hussain

Dima Sulaiman holds an envelope with her citizenship papers on the day she received her U.S. citizenship.

Columnists

Dima Sulaiman was the kind of neighbor who didn’t want to be a familiar stranger. She wanted to be friends.

Rogers Park resident Dima Sulaiman may have been disabled, but she didn’t let her physical ailments or her family’s challenging experiences as Iraqi refugees deter her.

By Rummana Hussain