Candlelight Vigil - Majd Al-Hajj Ahmad

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In Lectures

Recorded 7/22/2016 at the Great Revelations Academy in Dearborn, MI

Transcript

[0:00]Saddam peace be upon you brothers and sisters it's very nice to

[0:06]all joining tonight for this event first I'd like to send my

[0:09]condolences to the entire world for all of the recent texts which

[0:14]have happened the cowardly attacks which have took place overseas in the

[0:17]Middle East in Europe and in the United States as well I'd

[0:20]like to start off with a quote by imam ali who was

[0:25]the successor of the Prophet of Islam the Holy Prophet Muhammad peace

[0:28]be upon him this quote was also quoted by former secretary-general kofi

[0:34]annan and the quote goes man are of two kinds they're either

[0:39]your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity and that is

[0:42]definitely something we can all take from an art form brothers and

[0:49]sisters you may know that the event tonight is titled from Bella

[0:52]dead to Baton Rouge and the reason I thought this would be

[0:57]a proper and appropriate title for tonight's event is because I really

[1:01]wanted to highlight the link between the terrorist attacks that happen in

[1:07]the Middle East and the attacks and the instances of police brutality

[1:12]or racism and hate crimes that happen here in the United States

[1:16]as victims of hate and intolerance we cannot remain silent when the

[1:21]same is done to others it is because our Muslim brothers in

[1:26]the Middle East are targets of oppression and corrupt political systems why

[1:30]we can't stand silent when our black brothers are targeted by the

[1:35]same exact things here in the United States it is unacceptable to

[1:41]stand silent when it's done on to others and it's even worse

[1:45]to only raise our voices when it's done on to us because

[1:47]if we're not standing up in the face of oppression that means

[1:51]that we ourselves are taking part of that and that oppression brothers

[1:55]and sisters we have to understand the dent romentic value of the

[1:59]disunity of the marginalized population worldwide because we see that the victims

[2:06]of terrorism and cowardly attacks and corrupt elements of government systems in

[2:10]the Middle East are the same exact terms of these things these

[2:15]hate crimes this races on this discrimination that's happening here and the

[2:18]United States and we don't really realize it at first on the

[2:20]surface you expect you think how could we compare a bombing a

[2:26]suicide bombing in the Middle East to an instance of police brutality

[2:30]that happens over here in the United States but when we look

[2:33]deeper into it we realize that these two are laying it pretty

[2:36]well together and with that being said I'd like to go back

[2:40]to the point that there is a disunity between the marginalized population

[2:44]worldwide there's no difference between the root at the essence of terrorism

[2:49]in the Middle East and hate crimes and racism that happen over

[2:52]here in the United States terrorism and racism are both ideologies they're

[2:57]both learned they're not natural phenomenons nobody is born a racist nobody

[3:01]is born a terrorist so the only way that terrorism and racism

[3:09]will infiltrate our societies is if we stay silent in the face

[3:12]of these things if we stay silent and refuse to speak out

[3:15]against instances of terrorism and condemn terrorist attacks just the same as

[3:19]well say silent to condemn instances of racism and hate crimes against

[3:23]minority groups only then will terrorism and racism allow themselves to infiltrate

[3:29]our societies as I said these ideologies go hand in hand we

[3:34]see the link between these two ideologies between the two people the

[3:39]racist and the terrorists a racist doesn't differentiate between a black man

[3:47]or an Arab or Muslim because in the mind of a racist

[3:50]the minority is a minority and nothing more while they're consciously or

[3:55]subconsciously a racist believes that minority is inferior to them and this

[4:02]is the same exact concept for terrorists right now we have Isis

[4:07]who is notoriously claiming attacks worldwide in the Middle East in Europe

[4:13]in the United States all around the globe and what does Isis

[4:17]stand for the Islamic state is the abbreviated name wall of Isis

[4:21]is so Islamic why are they constantly attacking people and Middle East

[4:28]now obviously we condemn attacks that Isis carry out against any people

[4:33]anywhere in the world but doesn't it only makes sense that a

[4:38]group that calls themselves an Islamic state and the representatives of the

[4:41]religion of Islam and the Muslim people around the globe would not

[4:46]attack Muslim people because over ninety percent of the middle eastern population

[4:51]is Islamic so when Isis carried out an attack in battle dead

[4:55]around 2-3 weeks ago killing nearly 300 people who do you think

[5:02]the victims of that attack were if Isis really differentiated between religions

[5:05]they wouldn't be carrying out these types of attacks because just like

[5:11]the racist doesn't see someone as a black or a white or

[5:13]an Arab or whatever it may be a terrorist doesn't see someone

[5:19]as Muslim or Christian or Jewish they see people in two categories

[5:21]they only differentiate in these two categories you either believe in what

[5:26]we believe in or you don't if you do you're right and

[5:29]if you don't you're an infidel is they say that's why Isis

[5:33]has no problem carrying out attacks against Muslims against Christians against Jews

[5:38]we've seen Isis attack Muslims and Christians the same way in the

[5:42]Middle East we've seen Isis invade Christian villages in Mosul of the

[5:47]north of Iraq and raised Christian villages kick Christians out of their

[5:51]homes force them to either leave or die and we've seen Isis

[5:56]do the same exact things in Muslim villages in Iraq and Syria

[5:59]where they were forced people out of their homes where they would

[6:03]force people to either pledge allegiance to them to their terrorist organization

[6:08]or die and similarly we've seen Isis carry out attacks against Christians

[6:15]and Lebanon quite recently around a month ago Isis carried out an

[6:19]attack against a Christian village of alcohol and Lebanon so obviously they

[6:26]do not have an issue with attacking a Christian a Muslim just

[6:29]as a racist doesn't have an issue targeting a black guy and

[6:33]Arab guy if we want proof of this you can go ahead

[6:37]and pull up the news article of the incident when a Sikh

[6:39]temple was attacked maybe around two years ago when a gunman went

[6:45]over here in the United States this isn't in the Middle East

[6:47]this is here in the United States where a gunman went to

[6:50]a Sikh temple and he attacked members of that congregation and killed

[6:54]some of them because they thought they were Muslims because in the

[6:59]mind of a racist there's no differentiation you are either me or

[7:03]you're not me and that's how it is and if we refuse

[7:08]to stand up and remain silent to these things they will continue

[7:12]to infiltrate our society so now we have to realize when the

[7:16]oppression is happening to the same people in the same society because

[7:22]we've talked about the same oppression happening to people in the Middle

[7:26]East and the United States but then let's break it down let's

[7:28]bring it closer together here in the United States the United States

[7:31]is the most diverse nation in the world there is no country

[7:35]you can find on the face of the earth that is more

[7:37]diverse than the United States the sister Rudd's in my bio before

[7:44]she introduced me that I have the privilege I believe and I

[7:46]believe we all have the privilege of being exposed so many different

[7:49]cultures and races and religions and backgrounds over here in the United

[7:54]States because there's really no other country in the world where you

[7:57]can meet you know 20 different people from 20 different nations all

[8:04]in the same day so over here in the United States especially

[8:07]in Metro Detroit we have a very large Arab Muslim population and

[8:11]we also have a very large black population so imagine a child

[8:19]growing up in the Middle East as a victim of terrorism and

[8:22]they are forced to flee their home like we're seeing so much

[8:27]of that happening right now we're seeing refugee crisis in Europe the

[8:31]United States has pledged to accept some refugees from Syria we this

[8:35]isn't something that has happened in the past is something that's still

[8:39]continuing to happen so these refugees these people these children these innocent

[8:44]people are victims of terrorism in their daily lives they're forced to

[8:48]leave their countries and come to the United States in order to

[8:52]find but ur life where they don't have to constantly be the

[8:55]victim of terrorist attack it's F terrorist attacks and worry every single

[8:59]day about being the victim of an attack and they come to

[9:05]the United States unfortunately we're seeing more and more now only to

[9:11]be the victims of hate how is that tolerable how can we

[9:13]claim to be the land of the free when we have a

[9:16]history of intolerance and hate geared towards minorities and the tradition is

[9:20]still kept alive today but that doesn't apply to one group that

[9:24]doesn't apply to one specific race or ethnicity that's keeping this racism

[9:32]and hate and intolerance going this applies to everyone and I'll take

[9:37]this opportunity to speak a bit right now personally we see a

[9:41]lot especially coming from an Arab and Muslim background I see a

[9:46]lot of failure to speak out and these things happen towards other

[9:52]minorities towards other groups why can I be so quick to jump

[10:01]up and protest for the Palestinian people or the Lebanese people or

[10:04]the Iraqi or Syrian or Muslim or Arab or whatever people it

[10:07]is but when my black brothers over here in the United States

[10:12]are being killed unjustly when they're the victims of police brutality when

[10:17]they're victims of hate and discrimination I remain silent how is that

[10:22]at all tolerable so this tradition isn't kept alive by the underground

[10:26]groups that the KKK is still operating this tradition isn't kept alive

[10:32]by hardcore or Donald Trump supporters this tradition is kept alive even

[10:38]by members of the marginalized population who do not realize and understand

[10:43]that there's a gap we need to bridge because if we don't

[10:48]come together to stand up for one another we're going to continue

[10:51]to fall apart and this tradition will keep on continuing the tradition

[10:55]of terrorism I'm sorry their tradition of racism of hey of intolerance

[10:59]the only way we will succeed in overcoming the hate and in

[11:03]justices which marginalized populations are faced with is if we are to

[11:08]unite as the members of the marginalized population and raise our fists

[11:12]in the face of this cancer which has become a reality brothers

[11:21]and sisters going back to the topic specifically of terrorism we are

[11:28]here today to commemorate all of the victims who have lost their

[11:31]lives to cover the attacks in the United States Middle East Europe

[11:34]all around the world something I'd also like to speak out against

[11:42]was the attack on the police officers in Dallas not too long

[11:46]ago obviously the nation this entire nation has been on edge for

[11:50]lack of better terms after the recent killings of two innocent black

[11:54]men in the past month but when a person goes and tries

[12:02]to take vengeance against police officers who have absolutely nothing to do

[12:07]with that and starts attacking them and killing them one after the

[12:13]other what did we consider this an act of terrorism why is

[12:18]it only an act of terrorism if Isis claims the attack we

[12:22]have to recognize the situation we're dealing with terrorism is terrorism racism

[12:29]is racism hey is hate violence is violence and violence begets violence

[12:34]we can't stay silent in the face of these types of things

[12:39]especially when it's coming from minorities themselves because as I said how

[12:45]it's unacceptable for us to stay silent in the face of these

[12:52]things because we face ourselves it's also for us to stay silent

[12:55]when minorities themselves are carrying out these acts because nobody is fully

[13:00]innocent there's no group there's no population that doesn't have a black

[13:06]sheep brothers and sisters I thank you all for giving me the

[13:09]opportunity to speak with you tonight i send my sincerest condolences once

[13:12]again to the victims of the attacks worldwide and I pray that

[13:19]we can recognize the gap between the marginalized population I pray that

[13:24]we can recognize the reality of the situation that we're in and

[13:29]I pray that we can also recognize that we do have the

[13:33]ability and the power to change this because I don't need to

[13:38]speak to a group of thousands we don't need to broadcast this

[13:45]on CNN we don't need to take this worldwide it only takes

[13:48]the members of this audience right now if each one of us

[13:56]truly takes this to heart and realizes that it's not me it's

[14:00]us that'll be the first step in to resolving this issue into

[14:08]uniting the marginalized population worldwide into standing up against hate and violence

[14:12]and terrorism and attacks whether it be towards blacks or Arabs or

[14:18]anyone once again brothers and sisters I thank you very much for

[14:22]the opportunity to speak peaceful peace be upon you all assalamualaikum warahmatullahi

[14:26]wabarakatuh

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