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#PalestiniansSpeak: Ahlam Yassin

Can you give me an example of how the Palestinian occupation has impacted what you do now?

- Well I'll tell you a little story, and I'll tell you how that story may have very well changed the trajectory of my life. I was a university student, I was a part of the diplomat in residence program, and from that program I received a scholarship to live in DC for a summer and intern at an embassy. And I won't say the country's name but it's an Arab country, and I was so excited. You can only imagine, I was so excited. And my mom she was an immigrant Palestinian mom, she's like . I'm like mom, please I have to go. And then she finally gave me the yes, and I had everything in order and just, I was waiting for the day to go to DC. And before the summer trip I went down just to get acquainted with the embassy staff and just acquaint myself with the area, and so on. So in my conversation with the gentleman from the embassy, he asked me, what are your thoughts on Oslo? And I told him, well Oslo I mean we, and I gave him my thoughts which were not positive and decades later we can see that the outcome of Oslo were not positive. So we carried on with our conversation, I went back to my university, back to Philadelphia, this was in DC, I went back to Philly. And the next day I get a phone call from my professor, she's like you have to come to my office. I have to talk to you about something. Okay well that doesn't sound good. So I went into her office and she's like, I'm so sorry to tell you but they have revoked your internship. So they revoked my internship and I was devastated. I was devastated, because I really saw that this opportunity would have changed the trajectory of my life. So they revoked the internship. There was no ability for me to kind of maneuver and go somewhere else, whatever. So that was one very scarring kind of incident that very off the bat, in my young adulthood sent the message that if you say things that don't align politically with the status quo there will be very serious consequences. And so that is one kind of instance that shaped myself and what I thought I could do in life, I guess.

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#PalestiniansSpeak: Enaam Salem

- What's one thing that you admire about your parents' generation?

- One thing I admire about my parents' generation is that they always went back. They never cut off Philistine. Philistine was always a part of them, they brought their culture with them and they made sure that that culture was ingrained in their children, that they raised their children in that culture. And that's one thing that as an adult now, I'm forever grateful for. As a child, I probably resented half of those things, but it's really important, I think, and that's one thing that I really admire that generation for is keeping up with that culture and making sure that they instill that culture within their children, within their households, and that they extend that on to their grandchildren, keeping those stories alive, letting us know who our relatives are, our ancestors, their stories, their childhood, their upbringing, keeping that alive, I think that's really important. It really taught us, it really kept a fire ignited within us that we belong to something bigger than who we are here in America.

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#PalestiniansSpeak: Abed Awad

When I say the word home, what comes to mind?

New Jersey, Deir Dibwan Palestine. To me, home is Palestine. That's where my ancestral roots, my DNA was built in this village, Deir Dibwan, because both my parents are from the same village. But New Jersey is my home. I feel American as apple pie. My mannerisms, my music, my outlook, my view of the world. And I feel Palestinian and Arab as Zerto's data. It's a very interesting feeling when I think of home, because I long to my village when I am here and I go there. But I also long for my town in New Jersey, because I can't see myself living anywhere other than Deir Dibwan and New Jersey. I couldn't see myself living in any other state of this nation. So this is how deep rooted I feel about New Jersey and how deep rooted I feel about Palestine.

What is something that has being Palestinian taught you?

Resilience, perseverance, courage. You will find that Palestinians have a courage to air their opinions and to fight back, more so than many other groups or Arabs or Muslims. And because of them being under oppression, we have this sense that you have a right to express yourself and you're going to fight to the death for it. We're not afraid and you see that with the Palestinian movement. You see that even going on in Palestine today with the Palestinian authorities, authoritarian oppressive practices as recent in the past few weeks. There's an uproar in the Palestinian community from all political persuasions. So yes, it's resilience, it's courage, it's perseverance and it's fighting for everybody. As Palestinian student activist at the university of London, I was involved in the Pan-African nationalist movement, I was involved with the Irish groups, I was involved with other ... with Kashmir, any other groups that were out looking for fighting for justice. You would find Palestinians either in a leadership position or active members in those movements. We feel the collective nature of our struggle for freedom and Liberty worldwide.

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#PalestiniansSpeak: Rima Qasim

- How has the occupation impacted your family?

- Well, the first thing is that my parents are expelled. Therefore, I am expelled, really. I can go for a visit as an American with a three month visa, but they decide when I have to leave. I have no real right to live as I please. Every time we travel there, we are extremely humiliated, especially my teenage daughters by the Israeli Forces at the, either at the airport or at the bridge when we cross from Aman. We are forced to wait 6 to 8 hours, for no reason whatsoever except that we are originally Palestinians. We were once expelled. One time we went, we were trying to cross the bridge and we were kicked out and we were told that we could not enter today, you have to come back tomorrow. Just as a punishment. They're trying to punish us for no reason, except that we're Palestinians and we're trying to come home. Plus, my kids did not have the privilege to live in their own country. We were expelled by Israel. So the occupation does not give me rights as a Palestinian to live there comfortably, as it does with the Jews who come from all over Europe.

- How has the occupation impacted your family?

- Well, the first thing is that my parents are expelled. Therefore, I am expelled, really. I can go for a visit as an American with a three month visa, but they decide when I have to leave. I have no real right to live as I please. Every time we travel there, we are extremely humiliated, especially my teenage daughters by the Israeli Forces at the, either at the airport or at the bridge when we cross from Aman. We are forced to wait 6 to 8 hours, for no reason whatsoever except that we are originally Palestinians. We were once expelled. One time we went, we were trying to cross the bridge and we were kicked out and we were told that we could not enter today, you have to come back tomorrow. Just as a punishment. They're trying to punish us for no reason, except that we're Palestinians and we're trying to come home. Plus, my kids did not have the privilege to live in their own country. We were expelled by Israel. So the occupation does not give me rights as a Palestinian to live there comfortably, as it does with the Jews who come from all over Europe.

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First ever Al-Ghazaly school yearbook

What you are looking at is the first ever year book published for the Al-Ghazaly school in all of its black and white glory. This is truly a gem that deserves to be in a museum. Thank you Sr. Hanini for sharing this with me.

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Organizing footage for Al-Ghazaly Documentary

Spent the better half of yesterday color coding interview transcriptions for an upcoming #documentary film I’m working on. Once each paragraph of the transcription is color coded by subject, it is ready to be imported into final cut and applied the correct keyword. Organizing footage like this is crucial when dealing with a large amount of interviews.

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Introducing #PalestiniansSpeak, a new video series in collaboration with PACC

Palestinian American Community Center,NJ. USA's mission is to strengthen and sustain ties to Palestinian heritage while empowering the well-being of the entire community. Just finished working on a video series with Palestinian American Community Center,NJ. USA that is launching next week. Follow along with us as we hear different members of our Palestinian community share their stories and and discuss what being Palestinian means to them. Stay tuned for more!

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Interview: Bilques Muhamad

Bilques Muhamad was one of the first people involved in the creation of the Al-Ghazaly Islamic school in 1984. She joined the school after founding another school, Al Madrasa Al Islamiya, in Brooklyn NY in the late 1970s. Born in 1926, Bilqees has seen the Muslim community grow significantly over the years.

Today we met and spoke about her conversion to Islam, her involvement with the islamic schools, her first Hajj, and much more.

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New Project: Documenting the founding of the major Islamic Institutions in Northern NJ

Al-Ghazaly school in 1989

Al-Ghazaly school in 1989

From Islamic schools, marriages and funerals, to communal Eid prayers and Ramadan Iftars, the Islamic institutions of northern New Jersey play a major role in the daily lives of thousands of Muslims. But who founded these institutions? And what were the challenges that they faced in establishing them? 

This project will tell the fascinating stories of the founders of a few of the most impactful and influential Islamic centers. These people worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Muslim communities needs are met, rarely accepting credit and putting themselves in the spotlight. As I’ve dug a little deeper into some of the stories, a few themes have emerged. The first of which is the formation of the state of Israel.  Almost all of the founders have immigrated to the United States and were deeply impacted by either the creation of Israel in 1948 or the Six Day War in 1967. The second theme is survival. While some of them were doctors and imported their degrees from overseas, others were barely struggling to make ends meet. Many of them worked multiple jobs and were juggling work, family, community work, all while feeling home sick. They were from different countries, and despite their cultural differences worked together towards a common goal to establish a Muslim presence in this country.

This project is an effort to document not just institutions themselves, but the people behind them. It will weave together around 10 different people’s stories to show us what determination, perseverance, and long term vision can accomplish. What were their values and priorities? What were the challenges they faced? Who were they? The young Muslim generation of today is in the process of obtaining the reins to these institutions, and we would like this project to document the original intention of these institutions by their founders.  These founders are reaching their old age, and their stories must be documented.  We would also love for this project to inspire other communities across the country to document the stories of their respective founders. 

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New Collaboration

A few weeks ago Kamal Saleh from OnePath contacted me and expressed interest in re-cutting and sharing a story from Black Muslim Speak season 1. Of course! I’m always interested in collaborating with other artists. The film ended up getting over 400k views on Facebook. 

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#BlackMuslimsSpeak Season 1 Analytics

This series went way beyond what I had initially hoped! Below are some of the analytics from Facebook that were captured one day after the release of the final episode of the series.

TLDR: 

  • 259,000 people reached 

  • 48,000 post engagements 

  • 126,000 video views 

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Interview: Nabintou Boumbia (Detroit, MI)

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Nabintou Doumbia is a pre-law student at Wayne State University, studying Sociology and African American Studies. She is a proud Detroiter and the daughter of two, Ivorian immigrants from Ivory Coast, West Africa. It is her personal experiences that lie at the forefront of her interest in the legal field, specifically in the area of [Black] Immigration. Nabintou wishes to serve her local, national, and international communities by leveling the legal playing field in which minorities, Black immigrants especially, often exist at the margins, resulting in a plethora of systematic disadvantages. She hopes to be a community worker who speaks her own narrative unapologetically and empowers others to do the same in their unique ways. At the core of this work is her prioritization of intersectionality, holding herself and her community to a standard where identities are not required to be compartmentalized in order for people like her to exist, create, and organize in spaces. 
 

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Interview: Malaz Mohamad (Houston, TX)

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Hailing from the cultural medley that is the city of Houston, Malaz developed her passion for psychology and human-focused design at Rice University where she graduated with her BA. For the past year, her interest in social advocacy has burgeoned as she worked with communities close to the border and overseas on an initiative to prevent diabetic foot ulcers. Now, she hopes to nurture a spiritually and psychologically conscious approach to addressing mental health issues in Muslim communities. She aims to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology.

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Interview: Vanessa Taylor (Minneapolis, MI)

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Vanessa Taylor is a co-founder of the seminal youth-led organization, Black Liberation Project (BLP), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is interested in using a multi-disciplinary approach to social justice from on-the-ground activism to finding accessible ways to educate community with writing as a way to make sense of it all. Her work with BLP has included the development of a #No2SROs campaign to remove police from schools, facilitation, promoting healing spaces, community outreach, and etc. She is an experienced presenter, having designed and conducted workshops for organizations such as The Center For Prophetic Imagination, Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative, and Showing Up For Racial Justice MN. She is also a free-lance writer and poet whose work focuses on exploring Black womanhood and Muslim identity. Her activism and writing has been featured in AJ+, Elle, Nylon, Racked, among many others. .
 

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Interview: Seynabou Denise Niang (Atlanta, GA)

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My name is Seynabou Denise Niang, a recent college graduate of Spelman College from Dakar, Sénégal, West Africa. I obtained my Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology with a concentration in Public Health. During my matriculation, and post-graduation, I was afforded the opportunity to study and conduct both qualitative and quantitative research under many organizations such as Sexual Health Empowerment Program under the Department of Psychology at Spelman College, AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta, and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention under the National Center of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; specifically under the Division of Community Health. My areas of expertise are health disparities among minority populations, sexual health promotion and prevention, and prevalence of mental illnesses among African American women, including Muslims.
I aspire to become a Public Health practitioner and philanthropist focusing on health promotion in West African countries, primarily my beloved home, Sénégal. I strive to master ingenious ways to implement health care policies that benefit all citizens, regardless of economic standing. With the grace of Allah, I will work to eradicate health care inequities in Sénégal and other West African countries through establishing community- inspired health clinics in rural and suburban neighborhoods, along with implementing laws and policies that protect citizen’s health care rights by minimizing oppressive socioeconomic factors that breeds inequity. I truly believe that the most efficient form of activism and advocacy against oppression must be intersectional, therefore my pursuit of liberation of all forms is deeply rooted in the spiritual pursuit of the freedom Allah has bestowed upon us all.
 

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Interview: Ganiyat Balogon (Greenbelt, MD)

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Ganiyat Balogun is a sophomore psychology major with a minor in sociology at Howard University. Originally from Nigeria, she now lives in PG County, Maryland. She is very passionate about working with youth in undeserved communities and mental health within black and Muslim communities. Ganiyat is currently a youth program provider at So What Else and an HR intern at the Heart Rhythm Society. She wants to receive her PHD in clinical psychology and open up a mental health clinic in her home country of Nigeria. In her free time, Ganiyat enjoys reading, working out, cooking and watching documentaries. 

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Interview: Tesay Yusuf (Windsor, MD)

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Tesay Yusuf is a senior at Stanford University majoring in International Relations and minoring in African and African American Studies. She is from Arlington, VA and loves to travel. On campus, Tesay has held various leadership roles in the Black Student Union, Muslim Student Union, a number of event planning committees and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Omicron Chi Chapter. She is dedicated to engaging with and serving the communities that are so central to her identity, and ensuring that marginalized voices are uplifted in all spaces that she enters. She is passionate about human rights and hopes to pursue a career in the non-profit sector. Tesay loves photography, the beach, planning future trips, and all kinds of dessert. 

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Interview: Ousainoue Touray (Detroit, MI)

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Ousainoue Touray is a community organizer in Detroit. His main focus has been directed towards youth coordinating. He is currently president of the Youth Group in his community, and also acts as advisor for some organizations raging from non-profits to local businesses. He's also in school studying Business and Economics. Ousainoue believes in doing as much as he can to simply make things easier for others in all aspects of life.

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