♪♪ ♪♪ -What we want you all to start with is to write down any instances that made you feel uncomfortable or that you felt that you were being discriminated against in any way.
I'll give you guys five minutes to do that.
-Oh, so long.
-Can we have a volunteer who wants to come up and just read a few of them on the line?
-"1990?
Classmates called me raghead when I started wearing hijab."
"Other students would call my cousins racial slurs, not even for the right race, usually."
"Teacher told me I was anti-Semitic for talking about Palestine in second grade."
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ [ Voices overlapping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Vehicle horn blares ] -I moved to the United States when I was three years old.
-Dad is a refugee from Vietnam and then my mom is from Cambodia.
-I was born in Jersey City.
-I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.
♪♪ -I remember my parents telling me about how they came to the U.S. after the Immigration and Naturalization Act was passed.
-[ Knocking ] -They were part of a large wave of people who were allowed to come to America from Africa, South America, and Asia.
But soon after they arrived, the Iran hostage crisis happened.
-[ Chanting ] -My parents got calls telling them, "Your children will be next."
That experience taught them to keep their religion and culture hidden.
We're Pakistani, but that didn't matter to most Americans.
They just lumped us all together.
-[ Speaking foreign language ] -My dad used to sit on the edge of my bed every night and recite a prayer of protection over my sister and I -- "I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak, from the evil darkness when it settles."
♪♪ ♪♪ -6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
-Just two hours ago, Allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait.
[ Children playing, laughter ] -When I was ten years old, Operation Desert Storm in Iraq was going on.
My sister and I would get up on Fridays and dress in our shalwar kameez and wear a headscarf.
Our mom would pick us up early from school to attend juma'a prayer at the mosque.
And she would wait at the back entrance all the way across the playground.
It seemed like an eternity to get from the school building to the back fence where my mom was and there was this kid, Ross.
He and these two other girls would chase us, basically tormenting us, calling us Saddam Hussein's children.
♪♪ There was this one time where he threw a basketball at us and it hit me straight in the head.
It made me feel really small and...so low.
And so hurt and not understanding why... ...we were being subjected to this.
♪♪ We spent that year, every lunch and recess, just kind of hiding out from them.
We would hide behind these portable classrooms and have our lunch there... ...just to feel a little sense of safety.
But when my parents tried to intervene, they spoke to my teacher, who I really liked.
But then she asked us, "Why do you have to be so different?"
♪♪ And that was when we stopped wearing our shalwar kameez to school, wearing our scarves.
And, pretty soon after that, we stopped going to juma'a prayer altogether.
♪♪ That was when I started distancing myself, not just from my religious identity, but even my Pakistani identity.
Just trying to blend in as much as I could, but not realizing that... [ Sniffles ] ...it would never be enough and that I really didn't need to.
That I shouldn't have had to.
[ Sniffles ] ♪♪ [ Piano playing upbeat tune ] [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ -On the first day of class, all-white class, the teacher found out I'm from Iraq.
He made me stand up [ Scoffs ] and tell people what it's like to be Iraqi.
Like I was like this specimen, like I was alien.
"Farouk?
What a weird name.
I don't know why your parents named you that.
You should be Jimmy.
We're going to call you Jimmy."
The whole semester, he would just call me Jimmy.
Periodically, he'd remind me, "Aren't you glad you're not Farouk, you're Jimmy now?"
and I was like, "Uh, yeah."
♪♪ I remember being called a raghead, a camel jockey, a sand nigger.
There was a sense in the air that people were going abroad to fight Muslims and to fight the bad guys.
[ Indistinct conversation on video ] -I remember watching the bombing of Baghdad on the TV screen in night vision while my mom was trying to call our grandparents, to make sure they were okay.
[ Michael Jackson's "Beat It" plays ] -♪ They're out to get you, better leave while you can ♪ ♪ Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man ♪ -[ Singing ] -I remember a song on the radio.
It wasn't like Beach Boys song, but it was like, "Bomb, bomb Iraq, bomb, bomb Iraqis."
-♪ Kurd is the word, well, uh ♪ -♪ Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iraq ♪ -♪ Let's bomb Iraq ♪ ♪ Yeah, let's attack ♪ ♪ That maniac ♪ ♪ So, now, my missiles are a-cruising ♪ ♪ Giving me a bruising in Iraq ♪ -♪ Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iraq ♪ [ Explosion ] -[ Laughs ] [ Indistinct conversations ] [ Mellow tune plays, singing in foreign language ] ♪♪ -Bye, guys.
-Bye!
-We're holding like a mix around Islamaphobia and like racism for the Arabs and Muslims and if you guys are interested in volunteering [indistinct].
If you guys want to work with us or volunteer, you're welcome to fill out these cards.
We're like trying to survey the neighborhood on issues that are affecting people.
Um, see.
Mommy!
C'mere.
I don't understand what this says.
Why are you giving me an email?
-What do you want?
-You want me to email them?
Okay, but -- Okay.
[ Chime ] Hi, Baba.
So do I just say like, "My father's in Jordan.
I'm having a wedding and I want to invite him to come to my wedding and what kind of visa should I apply for"?
Okay.
"Since then, he has been in Jordan.
Please let us know what visa we can apply for."
Okay.
Is that good, Baba?
-Yes.
-Inshallah, it works, but if it doesn't, that's okay, too.
We're going to see.
Inshallah, it works.
Yeah.
We'll, hope.
Inshallah.
-Take care.
Bye-bye.
Love you.
Bye-bye.
-Bye.
Love you.
[ Chime ] It doesn't seem very likely, according to the lawyer.
But it's not about the severity of the crime.
It's what they categorize as felonies.
They categorize things that are not felonies in other cases as aggravated felonies for immigrants, so.
Yeah, no, I understand.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ [ Camera shutters clicking ] -It was an act of cowardice... ...and it was evil.
The United States will not tolerate it.
And I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated.
-The governor said earlier that he never gave a thought that anything like this would happen in Oklahoma.
You chair the House Intelligence Committee.
Do you ever give it a thought in your own state?
-Well, Larry, a month ago, in New York City, I gave a speech on Islamic fundamentalism and the potential for terrorism in the United States.
♪♪ ♪♪ -Even though the Oklahoma City bombing was committed by Timothy McVeigh, a white domestic terrorist, people immediately thought it was done by Muslims.
-[ Speaking foreign language ] -They had arrested two or three Middle Eastern-looking men.
-Nice, people.
-Here, let me take a picture of you.
-Nope.
I already had one.
-Early in the morning, my parents were watching the local news and our mosque was burned down.
The back of the mosque had just recently gotten like a new basketball hoop and so it was like a place I looked forward to going.
♪♪ We were very much the type of family that wanted to assimilate and have people feel comfortable with us.
-♪ I think you'll understand ♪ -But not necessarily the full version of us.
Just a friendly family living in the burbs.
-♪ Your hand ♪ ♪ I wanna hold your hand ♪ -♪ Darle a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena ♪ -You guys aren't even super nice.
-I was just kind of like, "Okay, I'm just going to be this American person and go to high school football games on Friday night and pool parties with my friends and not have to think about or confront identity."
-[ Singing ] -It was easy to kind of assimilate and lose my cultural truth.
[ Birds chirping ] [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Should I eat grape or should I eat bubble gum bubble?
Or should I eat lime sour?
-Bubble gum.
[Indistinct].
[ Indistinct conversation ] -I think that's my favorite Pokémon now.
-Mom, he's a bad guy!
-He's a bad guy!
-But his name is Coffee.
-He's a Pokémon, Koffing.
-Think about it.
-No, Ma, it's Koffing.
-Can I drink him?
-No!
He's a Pokémon!
He's a bad guy!
It's gas!
-He's a gas?
-Yes, sweetie.
[ Indistinct conversation ] -And your shoes are in the bag.
Oh, is it this one?
-Actually, if you can take them, that'd be good.
Have a wonderful day.
-Bye!
[ Coughs ] Bye-bye!
[ Birds chirping ] [ Keys jingling ] Alright.
♪♪ -I have the baby sister.
She's so cute.
I like her very much.
-What's her name?
-Ameena.
-Oh.
-I grew up in California.
Part of the large American Muslim community.
I am half white and half Pakistani.
Before I started wearing a headscarf, I passed as a young white girl.
In the sixth grade, I was president.
In the seventh grade, I was vice president and, this last semester, I was director of activities.
-Did you pay for it?
-$8.
[ Laughs ] Every morning, I wake up and I look in the mirror and I'm like, "I could walk out the door and not have any problems today."
But every day, I wrap the scarf around my head and I choose that path of resistance.
[ Static crackling ] [Indistinct] ♪♪ ♪♪ I was 19 years old, a student at UCLA.
I just saw people standing around the TV.
So, I asked, "What's going on?"
And a librarian looked at me and gave me this look that I'll never forget.
-My physics teacher came in and he said, "I have some bad news.
A plane has just hit one of the Twin Towers in New York."
♪♪ -We were on 14th Street in Union Square and like we saw south.
I immediately just saw like a plume of smoke and I was like, "Oh, that's like strange."
I forget what the headlines were at that point.
-Pretty immediately, as I was grieving and in shock with the rest of the nation, I started getting blamed for the deaths of 3,000 of my fellow Americans.
♪♪ ♪♪ -It's not that it affected me, in terms of my faith.
It affected me in terms of my family.
My uncle worked on the 95th floor of the first tower.
♪♪ Just because there is a Muslim perpetrator doesn't mean there can't be a Muslim victim.
-Vengeance rhetoric spread very fast.
And that was a lot scarier because you have people who have attacked the United States, who do not have a national affiliation.
Who are you going to retaliate against?
It became Afghanistan, but, really, the feeling was it's Muslims and Islam that we're going to retaliate against.
♪♪ -I remember buying an American flag and putting it on my car.
We had a sticker on our apartment door that said -- [ Speaking foreign language ] That day, we took that off.
♪♪ -And even to say, "Our country" felt contingent because these terrorists who purported to believe in the same God that I did attacked this country.
-We told our kids that it could be dangerous living here and we might have to go back to Pakistan.
-I was a senior in high school.
I don't know.
I just dove into drugs.
That's how I dealt with it, was to stay as high as possible all the time.
♪♪ -I do remember a classmate telling me that my religion was of the devil.
And she started talking to me about Christianity and like I don't know if she was trying to convert me as like a second grader converting another second grader.
-Every time I'd say, "Oh, I'm Muslim," it became like this black hole.
A palpable shift in behavior and then an interview, essentially, like I need to prove to them that I'm not too religious, you know?
I'm chill.
"Yeah, I don't pray five times a day."
-It's crazy how like this event completely changed my life and I don't even remember it.
It changed the way people viewed me.
It changed the way I had to talk about and learn about my religion.
I don't know a life before 9/11.
I'm a post-9/11 Muslim.
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] -The terrorists are traitors to their own faith... ...trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.
The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends.
It is not our many Arab friends.
Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.
[ Applause ] We're also going after the terrorists here at home.
And one of the most important tools we have used to protect the American people is the Patriot Act.
[ Camera shutters clicking ] [ Applause ] -[ Singing in foreign language ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -It's the night before Eid and so all our gifts were already wrapped and the house was decorated.
-[ Whispering ] 2, 3, 5, 6.
[ Banging on door ] -And, just as we were about to break our fast, we hear a knock at the door.
[ Banging on door ] Open up!
♪♪ ♪♪ -[Distant, indistinct] ♪♪ [ Camera shutter clicks ] [Distant, indistinct] I'm going to ask your husband a few questions.
♪♪ [ Door creaking ] ♪♪ -My mom drove us around in our minivan.
I remember like her driving and looking just straight forward, whispering to herself prayers because none of us knew how this would end up.
♪♪ As a kid, you don't comprehend what's happening, but you know something's not quite right.
It's crazy to me that that was a childhood experience.
That was just a thing that happened when I was six years old.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ In the years following September 11, I started becoming more closed off.
Being a very outspoken, extroverted person in high school and college, I became the person who didn't raise their hand in class.
I became the person who didn't offer her opinions.
[ Laughs ] [ Singing ] It took years to rediscover that assertive, bold person.
♪♪ Our religion is about taking down systems of oppression and standing up for justice.
So, I became a lawyer.
Those who may speak up and speak out against government oppression might, instead, remain dormant because they're afraid that what they might do next is find themselves in a courtroom, having to defend their right to free speech.
I love my work, but it is intense.
Homeland Security announced the recipients of the CVE program.
So, for a while, we thought there wasn't going to be any more CVE grants, that they would refashion it.
So it's still called Countering Violent Extremism, as opposed to what he was saying -- they might do Countering Islamic Extremism.
[ Turn signal clicking ] I speak often with my kids and I apologize.
"Mommy's really sorry I'm at work so much, but I'm trying my best to fight the bad guys."
♪♪ ♪♪ That's going to be like kind of the living room, too.
Like when we have the summer program, we're going to do like woke movies.
We still got -- We have to go through all of this.
So, this will -- this will be you.
The program, so far, that we have -- and this, again, not set in stone.
-Yeah, this is -- -We have parent ed, sex ed, job skills, music, art, community organizing/ liberation building -That's different.
-because we don't have enough trades jobs.
-Yeah.
-And then we want to do a couple field trips.
We're hoping what we teach the youth, they'll take home to their parents -Oh.
-and, hopefully, we want to get a parent component going as well.
It's just really strategically planning this stuff out and like where the needs are.
-Honestly, I have so much to learn and I need to learn that from you, so, I wanted to be in this area to learn about a different community and to like build allyship.
So, like now you have an ally within the Muslim community, you have an ally within the Black community, you know.
[ Laughter ] All these communities, you know?
And so like now I have Mexican allies, you know what I mean?
So like.
-So, we got a lot, a lot, of work to do.
[ Laughter ] -Alright, yeah.
We're really -- I think -- What do we even start, though... [ Laughs ] ...with?
It's only seven minutes away.
-Turn right towards Congress Street.
[ Turn signal clicking ] [ Horn honks ] I love this color on you.
-Oh, thank you.
-It's very nice.
It's popping.
-Thank you.
I like this pink.
-It makes your eyes pop.
Thank you!
Thank you!
-[ Laughs ] -Who says we can't have healthcare for children, unless we kick out immigrants.
That we can't protect the environment and ensure that you have a good job with a livable wage.
-What do you plan on doing to help with immigration reform?
Because we're in desperate need of that.
-In two miles, take Exit 3 toward Forest Avenue/ Warren Avenue.
♪♪ -[ Sighs ] Hi.
So, I'mma quickly just play some random piece of music over here and hope it goes well.
See how it goes, okay?
Betcha it's going to be so bad.
♪ Come over on Election Day and never, ever do ♪ ♪ I got bills in my hands that I'd really like to throw ♪ I was born in Sudan in 1999, but I was raised in Saudi Arabia.
We came to the United States in 2007.
In Saudi Arabia, kids in our school were visibly racist.
Their parents shaped them to believe that Black people are the other.
-[ Laughs ] -In America, my middle school was majority white and I had this experience when this kid called me a terrorist.
I didn't even know what terrorist meant.
But just from the hate of the way he said it, I knew it wasn't something good.
-Okay, here we go.
-Mm-hmm.
-Um -- [ Chuckles ] -[ Laughs ] -Don't tell me.
-I won't.
"Khadigah"?
[ Laughter ] -"Khadega."
-"Khadijuh"?
-Yeah.
I just wanted to fit in.
I wanted to have friends.
I often feel like an outsider and I have to scream louder, "I'm Black, I'm Muslim, I'm here," in order to be heard.
[ Whistling and applause ] [ Cheering, whistling, and applause ] I've always been into politics... ...so, I decided I want to major [ Laughing ] in political science.
[ Poignant tune plays ] The day that Obama was inaugurated, I remember watching that at school.
I still didn't speak English... [ Laughs ] ...didn't understand anything, but I just thought, "Whoa, something different is happening right now and I'm a part of it."
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ -I was really excited when Obama was on the ticket because the things he was promising were incredible and I was so sick of all of these people who I knew had lied to us -- George W. Bush, [ Laughing ] Dick Cheney.
♪♪ -What he was saying, what his background was, his loose, Muslim-ish name, you know?
Everything felt so exciting, not just for Muslims, but all people of color.
-I noticed the difference and I realized how much I had to unlearn being the other.
-It was like, "Hey, we're getting there.
We're changing.
The U.S. is changing.
We're making big strides."
-♪ Escape from reality ♪ [ Playing rock ] -I grew out my beard.
and it was like this terrible-looking beard, but I was like, "I'm going to totally grow this thing out."
I had something inside of me being like, "I need Muslim friends.
I don't know who I am."
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Poignant tune plays ] [ Birds chirping ] My sense of identity came back full force and I reconnected with my South Asian roots.
-[ Singing in foreign language ] -There was a camaraderie there.
There was this, "Hey, you're more like me."
♪♪ -The first time I went to Iran, I had such an out-of-body experience.
I was like, "Wow, my ancestors also touched this dirt."
Just a really grounding, beautiful feeling.
-I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.
One based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
And one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition.
Instead, they overlap and share common principles.
Principles of justice and progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -But Obama grew the drone program and he killed so many Muslims.
It's my brothers and sisters.
They're an extension of my family, in a lot of ways.
-What does it mean that national security or our safety requires robots to be killing people who look like us abroad, especially drone striking people in our own homeland?
It was a really important moment for me to feel that betrayal, in terms of being like just a liberal girl in Oklahoma, being like, "Oh, my God, Obama!
He's like our hero," and then actually seeing what he did sign into policy.
[ Beep ] ♪♪ [ Explosion ] I do think it's a feeling, in some ways, of being very fractured.
[ Explosion ] All of these stories or these places or these geographies and cultures are a part of you.
It can make you feel a little schizophrenic.
♪♪ -[ Knocking ] And hang a flier.
-Alright.
-Beautiful, okay.
-[ Laughs ] Alright.
-Let's go back this way.
-Go all the way down there.
-Hello.
-Hello!
-I'm sorry.
I know.
Get rid of the dog.
-It's all good.
I'm Khadega.
-Hi, Khadega.
-Nice to meet you.
I'm your neighbor and I just wanted to stop by.
I'm going around meeting people in the neighborhood.
I'm running for precinct delegate, so, I just wanted to meet you and introduce myself.
And, as a precinct delegate, my job would be to listen to your concerns and to connect you to our elected official.
-Wow!
-So, Inshallah, I get your support.
I get your vote on August 7.
That wasn't bad, bro.
-Yeah, that wasn't.
-Okay, I was really nervous.
[ Laughter ] -What?
-Nice neighbors.
Maybe we should try this house?
-Okay.
Are we going to this one?
[ Children playing, laughter ] [ Indistinct conversation ] -White supremacy is a small group.
-So, let me ask you, then, why are you running for office?
What are you trying to accomplish?
Because it's literally the system.
America was founded on it, okay?
This is why indigenous people of this country were killed.
This is why slavery happened and people were killed.
-Okay, no, no.
-You want to know -- -Hold on.
-slavery happened?
-Oh, my God.
-It was in the 1600s.
-Are you really?
Are you going to tell me like the economic reason for slavery, or...?
-No, no, no, no, no.
I'm saying that it was actually a Black man won in the courts in the 1600s to have slaves.
And also -- -But white people had the slaves, so.
-Yeah.
So did Black people.
-So, a lot of people -- -Yeah, sure.
-So, a lot of people -- -But in America -- Do you know?
Maybe you don't know this, Khadega.
Do you know the percentage of Arabic people they had slavery from Africa?
-But it was nothing close.
Yeah, sure, we do have slavery.
It was nothing close to the American slavery, the inhumane slavery that was carried out in this country, so.
-But do you know they used art?
-That's you.
-Yeah, yeah.
-That's all you.
Sure thing.
Well, honestly, good luck to you guys.
-Thank you.
-Good luck on your campaign.
Good luck door knocking.
Good luck talking to your constituents.
Good luck running for office.
-Thank you.
-Good to see you around.
-Good to see.
-Thank you.
-I think deep down, you're a closet Republican.
[ Laughs ] -Yeah, no.
You keep thinking that, buddy.
[ Laughter ] Lord have mercy.
I need a drink.
[ Tender tune plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ She needs to be chilling with old people.
[ Laughter ] You work for who?
-Oh, really?
-[ Speaking foreign language ] -Ooh!
[ Indistinct conversation ] -It's the best chicken.
-It's the best thing you're about to eat.
-You never ate it before?
-Does she speak English?
-[ Laughs ] -Does she understand?
You know in Dearborn?
I don't know if you've heard, but like a lot of -- there was just recently like he was like 19.
He just committed suicide.
-When?
-You know what I mean?
Recently, in Dearborn.
Listen!
He committed suicide because of depression.
But they're still like the older generation, you know what I mean?
-Oh.
-The ones that won't change their ways.
"There's no such thing as depression."
Depression is like a taboo topic.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] [ Ethereal tune plays ] ♪♪ [ Chime ] -Hi, Baba.
I like your outfit.
It's cute.
-You like what?
-I like your outfit.
I like your vest and your shirt.
-Thank you.
That's it.
I love you.
-I love you, too.
Bye-bye.
-Okay, bye.
Love you.
-Try and keep warm.
-Okay, I will.
Good night.
-That's good.
Good night.
-Bye.
Me, defining myself as a normal American teen depends on the narrative of what a normal American teen is that people imagine in their head.
I wanted to go study for my SATs and I wanted to like, you know, strive to go to Harvard or Yale, et cetera, but I really had to go home and take care of my little sister because my mom had to figure out how to feed us and she had to go get a job and, you know, all those things happened.
I don't think that it's such an uncommon experience.
I just don't think that people talk about these experiences.
♪♪ My family is Palestinian and my mom and father are both Palestinian refugees who went from Palestine to Jordan.
And, when they were in their twenties, they decided to come to the U.S. From really early on, we all understood Mama and Baba and documented.
They're really afraid of official documents and police.
[ Applause ] Then my dad was accused of buying cigarettes from out of state and selling them in delis in New York City and an undercover Muslim informant turned him in.
I remember visiting him in jail every weekend from the ages 14 to 17.
Every day that passed by, he would become more distant to me, less of a father.
I remember feeling really dark and confused and also really helpless because my mom didn't know how to handle the situation.
We were so young, me and my siblings, that we couldn't find a way to actually console her.
Let's get food while we chat.
-You look cutie patootie.
-Help yourself.
-Why does no one want to eat?
Why does no one want to eat?
Are you not hungry?
Does your mom make you good Syrian food and then you were like, "I ate my mom's Syrian food."
[ Laughter ] Micah, how do you open these Entenmann's boxes?
-What are you doing?
[ Indistinct conversation ] -No!
-What?!
it's going to make it all messy.
-Then open the box.
-That's what I was trying to do!
-I was thinking about this recently because I met this person who I'm like interested and I was like, "How am I to talk to this guy about my family?"
And so, like a lot of the times I'm like, "Well, I have to talk about my mom, my dad," and then I realized like this is actually an identity thing.
-The thing with me and Maggie was, for a long time, we never talked about it with our friends.
Like we would go to the center or go to the mission and we'd like just pretend it doesn't exist.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Only if like -- There's only a few people who knew.
So like your mom was like one of those people who knew.
-Yeah.
-So, like, by default, you, her children knew, but like our other friends.
And we would always be like, "I hope they don't like tell people."
-Yeah, yeah.
-Because it was like a secret.
When we were young, the only understanding is like only a criminal goes to jail, so you're in jail because of this.
You don't really understand these things.
But we always felt bad.
It was like a -- It kind of just built a weird relationship with him because you feel bad for him and also like you resent him, in a way, for everything that happened.
-Yeah.
-The immigration system, it's designed to like put all this pressure and stress on families, when it's like not your fault.
It's like the system.
You come into this country and there's like no way to like get like -- to become a citizen or to get green card.
Like it's so difficult for people.
What do all these undocumented people do?
They just live in like secrecy and they live stressed out their whole lives and it affects their families and it like seeps into everything.
[Indistinct] for formal pants.
White, formal.
What did you pack when you came to America?
-What I make?
I packed my clothes.
-Mm-hmm.
-My favorite clothes, my favorite shoes.
And, oh, you know what?
I bring towels with me.
You didn't took towels with you, Abby.
You should.
-I don't think we should buy towels.
-Why?
-They have towels in South Africa.
Abby, you have to have your own special, lovely one.
-How long did it take you -Like Arabic food, too.
-until you started crying for your mom.
-How long it take me?
-Mm-hmm.
-The minute I step here, I want to go back, honest.
-Really?
-Of course.
Yeah, but the first week, like, "Oh, you see the Empire State.
You see Manhattan.
-[ Laughs ] -You see downtown because it's all, "Oh, my God."
Then what, after that?
Okay, I saw the tall building.
What the tall building do for me?
Nothing.
-[ Laughs ] -I saw the ocean.
What it do?
Nothing.
I saw the bridges.
What?
Nothing.
-But that's what's going to happen to me, see?
I'm going to go and I'm going to enjoy myself for like a month and be like, "Oh, my God!"
And then after like a month, maybe, I'll be like, "I miss you."
-[ Laughs ] -Maybe.
[ Musical ringtone ] Baba's calling.
Hi, Baba.
What happened today?
Okay.
We'll figure out a nice way to have you be part of the wedding.
-You make a special video.
-We're going to do special things.
Don't worry.
-[Indistinct] -We can livestream the whole thing.
You can watch the whole thing.
-Okay, no problem.
-Okay.
Alright.
-Take care.
-Yeah.
Love you.
-Love you, too.
-Bye.
-I love you, too.
Bye-bye.
-Bye.
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -It was so profoundly traumatizing.
Again, when you realize that they were Muslim, that they had fallen victim to extremism and that they were motivated by preaching that they were consuming through the Internet.
I sort of distanced myself from that.
I was like, "Okay, well, there's some kind of homegrown terrorism, but that's never going to be me."
If I did see maybe other Muslim men who seemed like more recent immigrants, with like large beards or dressed a certain way, I was like, "Let me keep an eye on this person.
But I was like, "Why?"
How deeply internalized has the self-fear and -hate gone?
-Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?
We are focused on prevention, countering violent extremism.
-I was about 17 years old.
My high school was comprised of almost 100% Somali kids.
I remember being in homeroom and we got an announcement that there was going to be a surprise pep rally.
So, we all went down to the auditorium and I saw my principal standing on the stage with two gentlemen -- a stern-looking man who was the United States attorney for the District of Minnesota and a Somali man who introduced himself as Average Mohamed.
♪♪ Average Mohamed told us that he wanted to share some videos with us.
He had made these cartoons he said were similar to like "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."
I remember the video starting with a job description for someone who decides to join ISIL.
[ Cocking gun ] Showing men with masks wielding AK-47s, going around different neighborhoods and killing pedestrians.
And blood seeping from their skeletal remains.
[ Explosion ] And like mosques being blown up.
[ Flames crackling ] I left the auditorium feeling angry and unsafe.
I couldn't believe that a principal would allow something like that.
I felt like the administration was now watching us differently.
Do they think we're inherently violent?
Is there something about our teachings or the way in which we're raised, you have to show us this in order to deter us from joining a terrorist organization?
And, as a young Black Muslim, started to look at the world differently.
♪♪ -That's it.
She's gone.
-We had known for a long time that the mosque was being surveilled.
People would come in and out of the mosque.
There was a lot of converts.
And I hate to say that, but we had a lot of random people who were interested in Islam, all of a sudden.
[ Cheering ] That particular space became very unsafe, so, people left that community.
-Love you guys!
[ Cheering ] -Internal surveillance that communities were enlisted to do and, I think, in the eyes of some of these Muslim organizations or masjids, it was kind of like, "Okay, well, we're doing our part as good Americans."
-Imagine that the one person who you felt you could pour your heart into, talk about your family issues, talk about your own issues, turns out to be working with the state, in order to collect information on you, to see if you're radicalizing.
Like that is earth-shattering.
-The New York Police Department was spying on myself and my friends for doing the work of charity, for distributing cereal and milk and rice to poor Muslim families.
I was terrified.
Do I have to really sit down and go through my friends list and guess which one of them was an informant?
Or are there more than one of them?
[ Upbeat music plays ] [ Static crackling ] -Good Sunday morning, everybody.
You know, last week it was Easter Sunday.
It was also the fifth day of Passover and we kind of devoted this program to looking at the history of those two religious observances and we thought that maybe we should -- the right thing to do would be to go off and look at another one of America's great religions, which is Islam.
The three of us sitting here know that there are people watching us this Sunday morning who are basically saying, "Oh, yeah?
Well, you're just a bunch of Muslims and you bombed our country.
Why should I believe or respect anything you're saying?"
What do you say to them?
-We feel that, you know, for whatever reason, law enforcement and the FBI has that they're treating our entire community as suspects, that being Muslim is somehow an indicator of suspicious activity, when, really, the opposite is true.
If anything, our community is a very civically engaged, socially conscious community that's really out there and struggling just to make this a better society for anybody.
What I'm hoping is the baby's going to be fine.
But they're going to observe the baby in the NICU for probably 24 hours or less, make sure that there's no arrhythmia, there's no problem with the heart, and then the baby will be with you.
You're not in labor, so whatever contractions you're having, that is your baseline.
-Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
-So, if you have stronger contractions than what you're having now, then you come in.
Any other questions?
-No, that's about it.
[ Laughs ] I'm just sitting at home, these days, just resting, relaxing, trying not to stress.
[ Laughs ] -Alright, my dear.
-Thank you so much.
-You're so welcome.
Take care.
[ Tender tune plays ] ♪♪ -My husband and I are bringing new life into the world.
It's been exciting, but challenging.
This pregnancy has been so tough for me.
I was losing even my ability to handle my cases and my work.
So, I chose to go on a sabbatical.
-My mom has a baby in her tummy the size of a banana.
And that's a good thing.
-Will there ever be a point where I can go back and, if I can, how will that look?
Will I feel that guilt, like I'm not spending enough time with my kids?
Or vice versa -- if I don't go back to work, I don't want to feel resentment that they, somehow, kept me from something.
-The shadow puppets.
-I'm worried about finding that balance and just being okay with whatever Allah has planned.
♪♪ -♪ Alla...hu Akbar ♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] -I was crossing the street and there was somebody waiting to turn left and the guy rolls down his window and he just yells at me, he's like -- He said the actual word.
He's like, "Eff Muslims!"
This is a different time.
I need to start securing my hijab again.
Like that's just the time we live in.
-Leaving the masjid late at night or something, not to look people in the eye because that, sometimes that's when we -- -Invites them to -- -At our masjid we have to park in the parking lot and then cross the intersection.
And, you know, it's really far removed from the masjid and it's in the back of my mind like, "Is this safe?"
-It's also sad because we stop making eye contact with people.
We just kind of like walk directly.
Like now, all of a sudden, we're becoming the stereotype that we're trying to avoid, like Muslim women who look down and don't talk and we're crying.
-Yeah.
-When we're just like open, friendly people, but we just can't be that way, nowadays.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ [ Siren wailing ] [ Radio chatter ] -I don't think there's a word to describe the pain.
If it wasn't for honoring my children and wanting to tell the world their story, I would not be talking.
♪♪ They leave a scent of flowers and a breeze and a light in our lives.
I don't think I can feel my sadness yet.
It will come when I'm by myself.
It will come at night.
It will come when I see their faces and the holes and the blood and the stitches.
[ Call and response in foreign language ] ♪♪ -I was reading articles going into detail about how he had warned them multiple times not to park in his parking spot.
Who cares?!
He murdered them in the disguise of a parking dispute.
-The media was covering it, saying it was a parking dispute, not showing that they were killed by a racist who hated them for who they were, because they were Muslim, because they were visibly Muslim.
-♪ Alla...hu Akbar ♪ -It was the reaction that we were most worried about, which was to dismiss it.
If this isn't a hate crime, then I don't know how to even react.
-I want everyone to know that, if I'm ever murdered in this fashion, it's because someone hated me.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Laughs ] [ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ -♪ Alla...hu Akbar ♪ ♪ Alhamdulillah ♪ [ Continues singing in Arabic ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪ Allahu Akbar ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Allahu Akbar ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I've been telling you for months like I think you should come over at least like twice a month, like on a set date and we should talk about programming and we should talk about like what needs to be gone -- going on and how I can support and like where I'm at with things, so that it's not last-minute stuff, and that stuff has never happened.
-This is a lot of the flaws that I have and I'm dealing with and it's something that we talked about me trying to get better at, and I am trying.
I really am, okay?
Although I act like, you know, I know my [audio drop] and I can handle [audio drop], I can't.
I'm growing.
So, like what like I I wanted out of a friend and a mentor is patience with me and my growth and the process that I'm going through.
-If it's too much and it's too heavy for you, like, I mean, I've always -- I've always said that I'm like, you know, have your priorities straight on what you can handle and don't take on too much.
I think you take on too much.
I'm not the only one who's told you that, you know, you take on a lot of projects.
Like you've come to me before and told me like, "I'm taking on too much."
-Holy [audio drop].
Why am I getting emotional?
[ Sniffles ] I came and I was like, "I'm not going to [audio drop] cry," but I'm going to [audio drop] cry, like usual.
I try not to burden other people with my emotions.
It hurts a lot, man.
[ Sniffles ] I'm not going to [audio drop] cry no more.
[ Sniffles ] I'm tired of crying.
I'm tired of crying, Sam.
Like I cry too much.
[ Sniffles ] And especially when I'm under stress.
-Nothing else matters to me but your mental health -It's bad.
and if you feel that something is getting too heavy, it doesn't make you less of a person, a weaker person, nothing.
It just makes you a stronger person for knowing what you can handle and what your priorities are.
-Yeah.
[ Sighs ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Suspenseful rock plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Chanting ] USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
USA!
-Why are you in our country, anyway?
-I'm going to call the police.
-We're going to kill all of ya.
I'm going to kill every one of you [audio drop] Muslim.
-My mom did wear a hat, instead of a headscarf.
She was like, "I'm just covering my hair.
It doesn't matter.
I'm doing it for God.
I'm not doing it for people."
-Just a red hat, sometimes even just the color red, became a trigger, an attack on my body and an attack on my safety.
-Every Muslim is a terrorist.
They all follow the Qur'an.
Right here.
All of them are the [audio drop] problem!
Every [audio drop] one of them!
They all got to go!
Every last one of them!
[ Cheering and applause ] -Thank you.
-I was praying on the side of an In-N-Out and two men in cowboy boots started harassing me -- "You need to take your rag and go back to your country.
You're not welcome here."
-[ Chanting ] USA!
USA!
USA!
-Mexican Muslim -- we're Trump's worst nightmare.
To see my identities being targeted by the highest position in government, so blatantly, I couldn't sleep.
My husband was like, "Look, we cannot let them affect our dreams."
♪♪ -I got a call from Kayla to let us know that, basically, all morning, people have been -- not had translation at the pool sites.
-You going to vote?
Did you vote?
You going to vote?
♪♪ -[ Speaking foreign language ] Are you going to vote?
She's going?
-Yeah.
-Do you have any questions or anything?
Hi!
[ Speaking foreign language ] Did you vote?
[ Speaking foreign language ] [ Conversing in foreign language ] ♪♪ [ Applause ] -I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.
We don't want them here.
[ Melancholy tune plays ] ♪♪ -The day my daughter was born felt really lonely because I felt like I needed my mom by my side.
I didn't know what to do.
I had this little human that I had to figure out and I had no clue what to do.
It's just these moments of life, you know, that are just not happening the way they're supposed to.
♪♪ -I miss the most about Asma the look on her face when she tell me she loves me.
When I wake up every day and say, "Good morning, my sweetheart," I miss touching her hand.
My life right now is like a machine -- sleep, eat, and work.
And it's hard to go to places and I just feel like, "I hope Asma is with me right now."
If I go eat outside, I just feel like, "I hope Asma is with me right now."
If I cook, I -- you know, just -- I don't know.
It's just hard.
-I'm stuck in a limbo, not able to be with my husband and start our new life together and not able to work, all that just because I'm Syrian.
Ramez is my family, so, I need to be with him.
We need to be together in our birthdays, in our anniversaries.
So, it's really hard to live thousands of miles apart.
I miss his laughter, actually.
I miss his eyes.
I miss spending the time with him.
I miss each tiny details related to him.
♪♪ ♪♪ My six-year-old daughter asked me, "Mommy, do we have to leave?"
And I said, "No, baby.
We're going to stay and we're going to fight."
[ Indistinct conversation ] Hi, Gustavo.
Are you the watch commander or shift supervisor?
I am an official representative, here with other representatives of the march and rally outside.
-[ Chanting ] Not my America!
-Trump's America!
Not my America!
-The Muslim ban was definitely a huge blow symbolically.
For many years, it was common knowledge that, for Syrians, the possibility of you applying for a visa and getting accepted was so slim.
I was so upset, but also I was feeling so grateful for the surge of support that came out for the Muslim community.
-In the worst time, you see the most beautiful people.
As we say in Arabic -- [ Speaking Arabic ] "When a country is empty of good people, then God will destroy it."
[ Cheering ] [ Applause ] ♪♪ -Did I ever go to any marches or anything?
No.
The way I was raised was not to voice my opinion.
I've learned a lot from my daughters -- that you can raise your voice.
-Being Muslim, being Black, being an immigrant, being so many different minority groups, so many hated groups in America, I'm outraged.
Honestly, that's the only reaction -- outrage.
Sudanese people are like, to me, the most kind, generous people.
They're hard workers.
And so the fact that they're trying to keep out people who look like me, people who contribute to this American society, people who make America what it is, it feels very dehumanizing.
[ Cheering and applause ] [ Drumbeat ] -And to my brothers and sisters who are behind affective bars, I send a very loud and special As-salamu alaykum -- "May peace be with you" -- and know that we are with you.
-This is my country.
I am an American.
If I didn't speak English, hang out in bars, identify as queer, enjoy cheeseburgers and metal, I would still be an American.
-Part of who I am is an immigrant and being an immigrant means that you should be grateful that you are allowed to be here.
And part of being grateful is that you accept the bad behavior of the government.
♪♪ But when you see people willing to put their bodies out on the streets for what they believe in, communities that have lived in fear can see that they don't have to live in that same fear anymore.
-Oftentimes -- and I'm guilty of this, too -- it's hard not to talk about our stories in the frame of loss and violence and destruction, but at the same time, I feel like I'm at a stronger and more confident place now, talking about where I came from, how it's a part of who I am, but it's also not all that I am.
America's formed by our own participation in it.
[ Drumbeat ] -[ Chanting ] My voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
My religion, my voice!
[ Cheering and applause ] -I didn't want to go to this subject because it's touched my heart that Abby's dad is not here with us in this moment and this is a very, very special moment for him and for the whole family.
And I can hand the mic for my brother to read the letter that my husband wrote it for Abby.
[ Applause ] -We're going to play a song right now.
Since my dad couldn't be here, it was a song that my -- that played at my mom and dad's wedding.
It's called -- [ Speaking foreign language ] My mom nicknames my dad -- [ Speaking foreign language ].
And so I'm inviting my family to join me to dance in place of my father.
Hit it.
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaking foreign language ] ♪♪ [ Ethereal tune plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -How are you?
♪♪ As-salamu alaykum.
♪♪ -Daddy -- [ Laughter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -When I was eight years old, we moved to this land from Saudi Arabia and packed our whole lives into boxes, cardboard boxes, filled with hopes and dreams.
And when we arrived, on my first day, I was asked to unpack my whole life and try to fit in a single box, based on the color of my skin.
Black/African American, Middle Eastern -- I didn't know which one to pick.
They tried to tell me that I must fit into the African American box because I'm an angry Black woman.
Because I'm a loud and unapologetic woman.
Because, in the face of injustice, I speak and because of the melanin in my skin.
They try to tell me that I must fit into the Middle Eastern box because of my religion, because I'm Muslim, because terrorists look like me, because the scarf on my head, somehow, represents my whole identity.
Socially constructed boxes they try to fit me in.
But I am tired.
Tired of not loving my skin for the longest time because I never fit in and I'm simply tired!
[ Cheering and applause ] Because, quite frankly, every time you try to build those walls around me, I will knock them down!
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
