American Muslim Project

Season 2 of American Muslim Project kicks off with Sahar Aziz, Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers University Law School. She is also the founding director of the interdisciplinary Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights. Sahar joins AMP to talk about her new book, "The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom." About the Book: "Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America’s aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America’s demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society, this book is an in dispensable read for understanding how our past continues to shape our present—to the detriment of our nation’s future." Visit the Center for Security, Race, and Rights: https://csrr.rutgers.edu/ Buy the book at the University of California Press: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520382299/the-racial-muslim Or at Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-racial-muslim-sahar-f-aziz/1139114859 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re joined by Babur Ilchi, program director at Campaign for Uyghurs, which works to promote and advocate for the human rights and democratic freedoms of the Uyghurs and other Turkic people in East Turkistan. Born in Hotan, China, and now living in Canada, Babur is unable to visit the grave of his grandfather, who died shortly after being released from an internment camp, or even talk to family there. He hasn’t been to his hometown since 2015. Babur defines the region in question for us, including its recent history, geography, proper pronunciation, and people, who are predominantly Muslim. We learn that since 2016/2017, the Chinese Communist Party has detained upward of 3 million Uyghurs, under the guise of what the state is calling reeducation camps providing vocational training and ensuring protection against Islamic terrorism. Starting with the replacement of Islamic symbols by communist propaganda and the rounding up of imams, this appalling humanitarian crisis initially began as religious and ethnic persecution. People were forced to renounce their identity, faith, and language while praising the Chinese President. The government then began systemically placing people in labor camps and prisons, where further abuses like brainwashing, torture, rape, forced abortions, and the sterilization of women are occurring. Even outside these camps there is heavy surveillance, checkpoints, the gathering of biometric date, and more sterilization. We ask why it’s taken so long for this crisis to be made public, and how we know what we know now, given the shroud of secrecy the government has enforced. We ask if the United States’ declaration of the abuse as genocide has set any relief in motion, and why certain other countries likely aren’t following suit (spoiler alert: it involves the economy, and possibly some of your favorite brands). Babur answers all of these questions and more about this horrific situation first-hand, while providing resources and things we can do to help, including calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics in 2022. Please educate yourself, whether here or elsewhere, and spread the word. Follow Babur and his nonprofit on Twitter @BaburIlchi and @CUyghurs and Instagram @baburilchi and @campaignforuyghurs. Babur also cohosts Tarim Talks, a podcast that shares the experiences of Uyghurs across the global diaspora. Please listen, write your Congressional rep, donate to groups doing advocacy, and pray, if you’re the praying sort, for these atrocities to end quickly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we chat with Uzma Jafri, unapologetically Muslim podcaster, physician, and mother of four. Hosted by Uzma and her "second-generation friend," Zaiba, with the fellow first-born problem of having a lot to say, Mommying While Muslim is a weekly podcast about the challenges and opportunities encountered by Muslims raising kids in the United States. Started after Zaiba’s 14 year old was detained by airport security and online resources for advice were scarce, the moms address “the good, the bad, and the ugly of [Muslims] growing up pre-9/11, and then the good, the bad, and the really ugly that happened post-9/11.” They also cover bullying, prejudice, and feeling safe despite anti-Muslim hatred and negative portrayals of Islam, to inform the continual influx of American Muslim immigrants, among others. Naturally, we discuss podcasting—especially as it pertains to American Muslims—and their means of generating social change. The lack of realistic looks at religious and cultural practices like fasting and resources for non-religious Muslims is lamented. While her podcast resonates with other moms, it has also attracted a huge contingent of evangelical men, evidently; Uzma points to that universal attention that being a mom commands. Despite the fact that she proudly grew up in Houston and lives with her four American-born kids in Phoenix, Uzma didn’t realize she was American until age 35. She reveals her dad’s insistence that she was only Pakistani Muslim growing up, and Asad and her swap stories of “regular” things they weren’t allowed to do as kids. This leads to a discussion of experiences with sexual abuse, how no profession or attire is safe, and the threat it poses to her sons as much as her daughter. Discursions entail how everything we learned in the '80s was probably wrong and what to convey when your identity attracts attention. Check out the Mommying While Muslim podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow along on Instagram @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast and Twitter @MWMPodcasting. Also find Uzma’s quips on culture, medicine, and politics on Twitter @ujafri24.American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.Writer and Researcher: Lindsy GambleShow Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad ButtMusic by Simon HutchinsonHosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re joined by filmmaker and activist Iram Parveen Bilal. Her first feature film, a mystery thriller called Josh: Independence Through Unity, was Pakistan's first movie to be on Netflix. Her latest, I'll Meet You There, is a drama set in Chicago that covers intergenerational family conflict, the post-9/11 American Muslim experience, and disparately minded people trying to meet in the middle. Premiering digitally at SXSW last year (with no shortage of COVID snafus), the script is actually a decade-old project that was adapted as challenges were broached and her own reflections on life and society changed. Iram's currently working on a project about media influencers and women claiming space in both the physical and online worlds. Whether watching her films or interviewing her for a podcast, it’s clear that Iram is a natural storyteller. She draws us in with equal-parts compelling and disturbing anecdotes of a beautiful moment at a Muslim Ban protest, Patriot Act abuses, and real-life objections to scripts, such as the world can’t accept Muslim protagonists, this mosque seems too safe, and the FBI wouldn’t do that. We relate to the powerful perspectives that world travel can provide, recent moments of the American public making us proud—unlike those in power—and leaving a promising career to pursue a passion and fulfill a responsibility. Trump’s impact on the American Muslim community and growing Muslim representation in film are broached, as are investments for independent filmmakers, powerful biases in media and politics, and the cycle of centering white stories and actors. We can’t help but savor her assertion that it’s even hip to be Muslim now, while lamenting the fact that it’s taken this long for POC to feel seen. You can watch I'll Meet You There now from home (released in the Middle East as of tomorrow) and see the latest news @illmeetyoutherethefilm. Follow Iram on Instagram @irampbilalofficial, Facebook @iramparveenbilal, and Twitter @irampbilal for all her thoughts, nuanced characters, and dynamic works, old and new. American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sara Minkara shares her remarkable journey a champion for disability inclusion. Imagine that the first time you meet someone, you’re in total darkness. Would you be more comfortable expressing yourself? Now turn the lights back on and think of a moment you’ve disempowered someone, intentionally or not. Learn why by asking yourself what identities you focus on when interacting and how you see your own self. These are the types of scenarios we discuss this week with Sara. A troublemaker intentionally disrupting the status quo, Sara is an advocate, entrepreneur, and educator who went blind at age seven. She is also a Muslim woman, meaning the assumptions people make about her are triple-fold—that she’s oppressed, suffering, and uneducated, for instance, when in reality she is bold, proud, and resilient. Sara has reached the point where she is candidly bringing her main identities forward to start a dialogue and decrease misunderstandings. She notes the blessing in not seeing people judging her that’s made her completely comfortable in her own skin. Thanks to her her faith, smarts, chutzpah, and the confidence instilled by her parents, Sara has founded two organizations. Her global nonprofit Empowerment Through Integration provides critical life-skills training to children with disabilities, who are often shunned and assumed to have no value. What started as an inclusive summer camp in Lebanon evolved into a mission to change the disability narrative on all fronts, taking the burden off parents and kids alone. The second, Sara Minkara, LLC, is a consultancy firm offering courses, workshops in the dark, and executive coaching to promote authentic leadership/culture by embracing disability and inclusion, the idea being that our true selves breed greater benefits for all. Sara states the startling statistic that one in five Americans has a disability (visible and invisible). We talk Lebanon versus U.S. stigmas, and how it’s not just ignorance but a mindset; examples involve COVID and apps. Treating those with disabilities as an afterthought means businesses here often miss out on 20% more potential customers, while society loses 20% more valuable contributing members. We consider how inclusion should merely be the baseline, and how to define value. Follow Sara and her companies on Twitter @sarasminkara and @ETIvision and Instagram @sarasminkara and @eti.vision. Watch the documentary she recommends, Crip Camp, and read our associated blog post on Rifelion. We acknowledge that we found 14 accessibility errors on the American Muslim Project website since Sara’s interview and are in the process of fixing them. You can and should test your own site’s accessibility here: https://www.deque.com/free-accessibility-test. American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices