Coptic Egyptians are arguably the most vulnerable citizens whenever there is political instability in the state. During my interview with Monika, she mentioned that she was not going to her church, coptic museums, or coptic majority areas because during this time, November 2022, there was political tension in Egypt. She explained to me that all Copts are cautious and do not like to present their identity, verbally or visually, during times of political uncertainty because they have historically been collateral damage during political demonstrations. Monika and her family and friends have been victim to several attacks, most prominently during the 2011 demonstrations, whereas they were subjected to physical and verbal abuse.

Copts are in constant fear of being targeted and attacked, and for good reason, scholars explain that “ “the absence of institutional guarantees for rights that all Egyptians are granted in the constitution helps explain why outbreaks of violence against Copts continue to shake the country” (Brownlee, 2013). There are several examples that we can hear from talking to people like Monika, but examples of fatal and vicious attacks l against Copts, such as the Maspero Massacre, the kidnappings of Copts in upper Egypt in exchange for ransom, the Two Martyrs Church being burned down, and other churches being destroyed throughout Egypt, the blowing up of the Coptic Church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter (Brownlee, 2013) are all extremely important and yet are widely overlooked and unacknowledged within Egyptian society.

Monika shared an anecdote about how in one of her university lectures in Cairo, when the professor asked about the Maspero Massacre she was the only person out of a class full of nearly sixty journalism students that knew what it was. The central idea we need to focus on here is that Copts are viewed as the other, Egyptians that do not want to launch attacks on their own people opt to attack Copts instead to create a commotion. This is because we as a society have not been exposed to Coptic cultures and heritage and therefore do not resonate with Copts or view our identity as tied to ours. If the Egyptian majority felt affinity towards Coptic art, literature, infrastructure, and heritage whereas they claim it as their own, they would never allow for its destruction. But how are we to expect Egyptians to claim the Coptic culture when they have no exposure to it, when they are unaware of its existence and feel no sense of belonging to it? Monika asserts that she and other Copts alike believe that if their culture was shown in films and television, Egyptians would start claiming Copts as their own people and would start to embrace the Coptic culture.