Linda Sarsour - 2016 MYC Birth of the Prophet Dinner

8 المشاهدات· 16/01/17

MYC Media
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Recorded 1/15/2016 at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn, MI

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Transcript

[0:00]sister Linda is a working woman a community activist and a mother

[0:05]of three ambitious outspoken and independent she shatters stereotypes of Muslim woman

[0:08]while also treasuring her religious and ethnic Heritage sister Linda is a

[0:12]Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed pure New Yorker a lot of

[0:17]people tell me I sound from like I'm from New York sister

[0:20]so if you recognize that and you can verify it please let

[0:23]me know because I want to prove a lot of people wrong

[0:26]uh she was born and raised in Brooklyn and she is currently

[0:31]the national advoc advocacy director for the national network for Arab American

[0:34]communities and access and locally serving as director of the Arab American

[0:39]community in New York City sister Linda was chosen as the 2013

[0:45]American Muslim of the Year by the Council of Islam on American

[0:48]and Islamic relations and once again I said personally I'm thrilled and

[0:51]so many people are thrilled to have her with us today so

[0:56]please welcome her with a loud Muhammad Muhammad [Applause] Muhammad Muhammad alayum

[1:25]I don't know why but I'm nervous today I'm usually not nervous

[1:29]but I think I'm nervous because I'm very privileged and honored in

[1:34]in particular to be speaking in front of Imam Sayed kazini I'm

[1:37]actually really nervous so bear with me tonight and know your accent

[1:42]is not a New York accent I'm actually lightening mine up tonight

[1:45]so you can understand me because then you would need a translator

[1:49]I'm very honored here to be uh celebrating the life of our

[1:56]beloved prophet and being able to put the work that I do

[1:59]into context into an Islamic context into an American context into the

[2:04]context that our community needs to understand what it means to be

[2:09]an American Muslim in the United States of America in 2016 number

[2:15]one sisters and brothers I personally believe that we have to start

[2:19]from one very simple place and that is to be unapologetically Muslim

[2:25]I am very proud to be an American Muslim and I operate

[2:29]every single day from that from that very premise I don't let

[2:33]anyone question my Islam and I walk very proudly in the beautiful

[2:39]faith that I follow and in the in the path of our

[2:41]beloved Prophet sisters and brothers we're going through very very rough times

[2:54]and it's not any news to you it's not news to Dearborn

[2:56]it's not news to any Muslim Comm in any part of the

[3:02]country and I think one of the reasons why we are going

[3:03]through these rough times is actually more our fault than it is

[3:08]the fault of the islamophobes and the opposition it is because sisters

[3:11]and brothers they are able to see the weaknesses in our community

[3:15]they are able to see the cracks in our community and they

[3:17]fit themselves very neatly in these very cracks in our community and

[3:21]it is up to us sisters and brothers to identify what those

[3:26]weaknesses are and for us to address them together as one Muslim

[3:29]Community here in the United States of America first and foremost sisters

[3:37]and brothers are weaknesses particularly for our young people come from a

[3:41]place of a lack of understanding of what our history is as

[3:45]American Muslims in this country there has never been an America without

[3:49]Islam this NE this country that you live in has never existed

[3:56]without Islam we have been on the shores of this nation before

[3:58]this nation was even founded so if our children understood that their

[4:03]lineage as Muslims is so deeply rooted in this nation they will

[4:10]not be afraid they will not question who they are as Muslims

[4:12]they will be able to stand up in the face of the

[4:16]opposition and say this is my country too I am an American

[4:18]Muslim and I belong here so understanding our history sisters and brothers

[4:23]is very important into how we operate living in this country that

[4:30]our fellow citizens Brothers also helped build recently I have been doing

[4:35]some research on Islam in America and I found out that in

[4:41]the 1500s 200 Muslims helped build something called Rono settlement which is

[4:47]now known as the shores of North Carolina it was the first

[4:53]English colony and it was Muslims that helped build it before the

[4:56]actual founding of the United States of America so understanding our history

[5:00]sisters and brothers is key to building the morale and the confidence

[5:04]of our young people to stand and be unapologetically Muslim number two

[5:16]sisters and brothers we have a tendency in our community to believe

[5:22]only that Islam is a religion of peace and say kazini said

[5:30]Islam is a religion of dialogue and a religion of inclusiveness yes

[5:37]yes and yes but for me more importantly than all of those

[5:41]three things is Islam is a religion of justice and who better

[5:46]to know than my sisters and brothers in the Shia community and

[5:50]the stories of karbala that Islam is a religion of justice so

[5:55]for us to operate in this country with the understanding that Justice

[6:01]is not just us Justice is not just for Muslims Justice is

[6:07]not just for sunnis justice is not just for Shi Justice is

[6:12]not just for Palestinians or for Lebanese or for syrians justice is

[6:15]for all people that is what our faith teaches us oft times

[6:24]I hear people talking about we need more people to know about

[6:28]Islam and for me sisters and brothers I don't know if telling

[6:32]people how many times we pray or how much we have to

[6:39]give in charity or that we have to do pilgrimage Once In

[6:41]Our Lifetime I don't know how helpful that information is I don't

[6:46]know if that's what I want people to know about Islam if

[6:48]standing on a street corner and giving people pamphlets is the way

[6:51]that we are going to educate people about Islam I want us

[6:56]to show people what Islam is let's stop telling people people what

[7:01]Islam is and start showing people the compassion and the love and

[7:05]the justice that our faith teaches us and how do we do

[7:12]that sisters and brothers we can't only be moved when injustices are

[7:16]happening to us or to people that we consider to be part

[7:22]of that group so if we are syrians we are only to

[7:24]care about syrians if we are Palestinians we are to care about

[7:27]Palestinians if we are black We Care about black people this sisters

[7:34]and brothers has never existed in Islam Islam was a religion that

[7:40]brought all of us together regardless of race regardless of geography regardless

[7:45]of gender Islam was a religion that United us all under the

[7:50]love of our prophet and under one God and only one God

[7:55]so we have to start emulating what our actual faith is and

[7:59]start stop Pres presenting something that actually is not our faith people

[8:05]say to me sister Linda you're Palestinian you're Arab you're from New

[8:10]York you're Muslim what is this black civil rights issues that you

[8:16]work on why do you do this black lives matter work it

[8:18]doesn't have anything to do with you and I say to those

[8:23]people if you don't believe that black lives matter or the civil

[8:26]rights of black people in America has nothing to do with me

[8:30]then we all need to go back to the Masid we all

[8:33]need to open the Quran we need to understand the of the

[8:37]prophet and then we want to come back and dialogue about where

[8:39]black lives matter belongs in our community our Prophet was one of

[8:51]The Originators of black lives matter Islam is a religion that always

[8:54]said that black lives matter we didn't make that up last year

[8:59]or two years ago we follow a faith that is a faith

[9:02]of racial Justice we say our Prophet said that an Arab is

[9:07]not more Superior than a black person a black person is not

[9:10]more Superior than an Arab or a white person that is our

[9:12]faith sisters and brothers so what does that look like when we

[9:17]actually live it in life in public that means that when we

[9:24]hear about a 12-year-old boy named Tamir rice who's playing with a

[9:27]toy gun in a park think about the sisters and brothers how

[9:30]many of you during Eid have ever bought your child a toy

[9:34]gun to play with imagine your child on your front steps or

[9:38]in a local park playing with his friends with a toy gun

[9:42]and a local neighbor calls the police police ride up they don't

[9:45]get out of the car and within two seconds in that video

[9:49]a 12-year-old boy is shot dead sisters and brothers that is our

[9:52]issue because when you allow a 12-year-old black boy to die in

[10:00]his own Community when you don't give him CPR when you don't

[10:05]call the EMT when you don't let his sister come to touch

[10:09]him as he's dying on the ground then you open the pathway

[10:10]for that to happen to our children so sisters and brothers when

[10:16]we as Muslims see ourselves in other people when we see our

[10:20]children in each other this sisters and brothers is the activism that

[10:25]I work from and that is the activism of my Prophet my

[10:28]beloved prophet them but it is also in the teachings of the

[10:33]very faith that we all follow on April 13th of last year

[10:44]I left my family for nine days and I marched from Staten

[10:48]Island New York where a grandfather a father named Eric Garner many

[10:54]of you saw his video on YouTube according to the police department

[10:59]he was selling uh sleuth cigarettes on the street and he was

[11:07]taken down by police officers this is all on video millions of

[11:11]viewers have watched this video choking him and he asked hism Brothers

[11:22]11 times in that video he said I can't breathe I can't

[11:24]breathe I can't breathe where was the Rah from that police officer

[11:30]when he heard a man calling for breath and he continued to

[11:32]choke him till Eric Garner died that story moved me sisters and

[11:38]brothers because if we allow people in our society in our neighborhoods

[11:44]in our communities to be killed on video and to ask to

[11:46]breathe and for us not to give them that breath and not

[11:50]to call an EMT officer no ambulance came to try to save

[11:52]Eric Garner I was moved by that because if we let that

[11:57]happen to Eric Garner we're going to allow that to happen to

[11:58]any one of us on the streets so on April 13th of

[12:05]last year I left my family I joined a 100 people and

[12:12]I started in Staten Island New York and for nine days I

[12:15]marched on Route One from Staten Island New York all the way

[12:19]to Washington DC five states 250 miles only six people of the

[12:28]hundred people were Muslim and I thought about it I said how

[12:33]am I going to show these hundred people and all of these

[12:36]people watching us March from New York City to Washington DC how

[12:38]I was how was I going to use this as an opportunity

[12:41]to show them the beauty of my faith that my faith is

[12:46]a religion of justice and I was not just marching because I

[12:49]as an individual cared about ending police brutality or because I care

[12:53]about racial Justice I wanted them to understand that I was moved

[12:58]to do this because I knew that my prophit would be proud

[13:00]of us to do this that he would say that we would

[13:05]be following in the Ceda of the Prophet by being part of

[13:06]entities and and actions and opportunities like these so I went to

[13:16]Philadelphia so we got to Philadelphia I found a Masjid in Philadelphia

[13:20]of course every evening we had to find a place to sleep

[13:25]we had to find a place maybe to shower maybe not to

[13:27]shower sometimes we didn't have showers some of the churches that we

[13:32]slept at they didn't have showers for us in Philadelphia we went

[13:36]to stay at a Masjid called alh Center and just the beauty

[13:39]of its name alh the gift and the Masjid was is is

[13:44]run by uh Palestinian immigrants and the majority of the people that

[13:48]I was marching with were non-muslim and they were black and Latino

[13:52]we go to the Masid sisters and brothers and our community so

[13:57]beautiful allum welcome opened the doors to a beautiful Masid they had

[14:03]a beautiful kitchen people from the Masjid cooked this elaborate meal that

[14:08]they had seen at no other place that we went to they

[14:11]brought them into the Masjid and they said we have showers here

[14:16]at the Masjid we have computers for use what do you need

[14:19]and my people looked at me and said wow the Imam actually

[14:26]his English wasn't even very good he had a hard time articul

[14:29]ating but he didn't need to articulate he didn't really need to

[14:36]say much his hospitality and welcoming these people into the Masid and

[14:40]feeding them and giving them a place to sleep was enough for

[14:43]them to understand the Beauty and the essence of our faith and

[14:47]then that night it was 11 o'clock at night the Imam and

[14:52]his board members and his everybody left and everybody looked at me

[14:55]and said but where are the people I said well the people

[14:57]have families they probably went home to sleep with their their families

[15:00]they said what do you mean Linda you mean that the people

[15:04]at this mosque just left 100 strangers in the Masid I said

[15:08]yes because they trust you because they know from the virtue of

[15:13]the very act that you are doing that you are good people

[15:15]and that this house is a house of God and it welcomes

[15:21]all of God's creations including you that's why you are in this

[15:25]bid and for now the am the the security of this mosque

[15:29]is in your hands now for the night that you are sleeping

[15:31]here we woke up in the morning and we found the same

[15:36]beautiful faces we heard an Anan it was like 5:00 in the

[15:38]morning and everybody got up and they heard the Adan in the

[15:42]Masid and there were people that were telling me sister I've never

[15:45]felt so peaceful in my heart what is that beautiful sound I

[15:50]said that is a call to prayer and we stood up and

[15:54]we went to the kitchen and we had breakfast with everyone we

[15:56]went back out and we had a c go that takes our

[16:01]stuff that holds our luggages and holds our stuff and you see

[16:03]our sisters and brothers with boxes of bananas and 500 cases of

[16:10]water this is for you to take with you on the rest

[16:14]of your journey sisters and brothers you want to know how to

[16:19]combat islamophobia these hundred people that slept at Al hia Center in

[16:22]Philadelphia are going to be the most staunch supporters of the American

[16:27]Muslim Community they will will be the first to stand up in

[16:31]front of the opposition because they have experienced our love and our

[16:36]compassion and the Very Beauty and Hospitality of our faith that is

[16:39]the Islam that they are going to remember there is a very

[16:48]famous black American woman poet that recently passed away her name is

[16:54]Maya Angelo and she says people barely remember anything that you told

[17:01]them but they always remember how you made them feel so when

[17:07]you have interactions with other sisters and brothers don't Focus too much

[17:12]on the details of the words focus on how did you make

[17:17]those people feel when they came to the Masjid and the reason

[17:20]why I tell you this story is because I'm telling you about

[17:22]people who are not from our community the question is how do

[17:28]we make people feel within our own community how do we make

[17:31]how do I make my Shia sisters and brothers feel comfortable when

[17:35]they come into a space that is my community how do my

[17:38]Shia sisters and brothers make people like me feel comfortable when I

[17:42]come into your space and alhamdulillah I've had only the most wonderful

[17:45]experiences amongst my Shia sisters and brothers how do we make our

[17:48]black sisters and brothers in the Muslim Community feel safe and feel

[17:54]welcomed and embraced when they come to our spaces this sisters and

[17:58]brothers is Islam the m mid they don't belong to board members

[18:01]they don't belong to imams they don't belong to the people and

[18:07]the donors our mid belong to Allah these are the houses of

[18:10]God so every single person that walks through our doors Muslim non-muslim

[18:14]regardless of race sect has to feel loved because Allah loves all

[18:22]of his creations and this is the thing that we have to

[18:25]think about when we think about islamophobia I don't care about the

[18:29]Islam phobia on the outside I care about creating a United steadfast

[18:34]community that is so interconnected that no matter what anybody tries to

[18:42]do nobody can break us down nobody can break those ties between

[18:44]us that sisters and brothers is where that Focus needs to be

[18:53]I watch Dearborn from New York City I watched Chicago from New

[18:58]York City I watched Tennessee I watch all the communities I watch

[19:01]how different people respond to different things and I just want to

[19:06]offer some thoughts and this is not about Dearborn alone this happens

[19:08]in New York City it happens in many places sisters and brothers

[19:13]I'm tired of people asking us questions that are so rooted in

[19:17]bigotry amongst us but we still feel the need to answer these

[19:21]questions people will ask us where is the Muslim Community on Isis

[19:29]and I tell people I am not going to answer your question

[19:34]because I am offended by your question that you would think that

[19:38]American Muslims or any Muslim or any human being would actually support

[19:44]the atrocious and horrific acts of groups like Isis that you would

[19:50]even think that you would have to ask me a question like

[19:52]that sisters and brothers we have Scholars renowned Scholars from all over

[19:58]the world that have written directly to people like Al bagadi if

[20:04]you Google this is very simple sisters and brothers if we say

[20:08]Muslims condemn Isis Muslims condemn terrorism Muslims condemn 911 Wallah you would

[20:14]be on the internet for the next two weeks just going through

[20:16]Page by page of how many people and how many leaders and

[20:22]how many organizations have condemned all forms of terrorism sisters and brothers

[20:28]if we are going to be in the business of condemning Isis

[20:37]and condemning Muslims who commit terrorist attacks I'm cool with that let's

[20:45]do that but I want the same people our community to also

[20:50]condemn the terrorism that is inflicted Upon Our Muslim sisters and brothers

[20:55]in the Muslim world how many Muslim sisters and brothers have we

[20:59]killed in unjust Wars that we pay for and our taxpayer dollars

[21:05]what we have to make sure that people understand is that Muslims

[21:10]are consistent in our outrage of terrorism regardless of who is committing

[21:15]that terrorism I am just as outraged when an American is killed

[21:18]by ISIS as when a Muslim is killed by ISIS and you

[21:23]know for a fact that Isis has killed more Muslims than they

[21:27]have killed non-muslims where is the outrage for that when we only

[21:31]condemn terrorism that is committed by Muslims immediately what you have done

[21:35]sisters and brothers is you have Associated yourselves with those people those

[21:39]people don't belong to us we never expect this from any other

[21:43]community don't allow anybody to expect that from our community we send

[21:50]the wrong message to our young people we have nothing to apologize

[21:54]for sisters and brothers we have contributed to this nation we have

[21:58]built this nation we have doctors and engineers and entrepreneurs and business

[22:03]owners we have we are on the college campuses we are organizers

[22:07]we are the best that this country has to offer and we

[22:11]always have to remember that and remind our children every day you

[22:14]have nothing to apologize for you have nothing to be ashamed of

[22:19]it is because of you that a nation like this exists it

[22:21]is Islam in America that is part of the fabric of the

[22:27]society and do not ever let anyone tell you to go back

[22:29]to your country because my country is Brooklyn New York your country

[22:34]is Dearborn or whatever part of Michigan that you are from moving

[22:40]forward sisters and brothers I call on all of us and this

[22:48]requires us to go to a very deep place when we think

[22:54]about islamophobia when we hear the stories of massag that are being

[22:58]vandalized or the uh death threats to the mosqu OR women being

[23:03]harassed in the street for wearing hijab or our kids being bullied

[23:07]one thing that we could benefit from is that islamophobes are very

[23:10]uneducated and misinformed when a man attacks a woman on the streets

[23:17]that is Muslim they do not know if she's Sunni or Shia

[23:20]when our kids are being bullied they don't know what sect of

[23:25]Islam their families follow they just know that that kid is Muslim

[23:29]when our Mass are being attacked nobody does their research to figuring

[23:33]out who the Imam is and where he came from or what

[23:36]medb they just know that you're Muslim we have to start operating

[23:42]in the same way that the islamophobes operate We Are One sisters

[23:47]and brothers all we have right now in our community is each

[23:50]other we cannot count on anyone else outside of our community to

[23:56]stand with us if we don't stand with each other if we

[24:00]are not sincere in calling ourselves sisters and brothers in Islam then

[24:08]we are not to be mad at Ted Cruz and Donald Trump

[24:10]and Rubio and Pamela Geller and uh Terry Jones because they hear

[24:17]about the things in our community one thing that we're not good

[24:21]at in our community is that we are very public with our

[24:27]uh divisions our opposition sisters and brothers they have a lot of

[24:33]Divisions they don't agree all the time either but they are united

[24:37]around evil evil unites them us sisters and brothers we have an

[24:41]opportunity to unite around the values and the principles that we all

[24:47]share in this room and that is our beloved prophet mamamad this

[24:59]work that I personally do sisters and brothers when I think about

[25:03]our beloved Prophet our Prophet was a racial Justice activist he was

[25:09]a human rights activist he cared about the environment he was an

[25:12]environmental justice activist our Prophet there's a Hadith that says our Prophet

[25:21]said pay the worker pay the worker before the sweat on his

[25:26]forehead Drive dries that tells me that that our Prophet was for

[25:31]workers rights that he would be leading the campaign to raise the

[25:38]living wage but our Prophet was also a feminist our Prophet always

[25:45]uplifted women around him whether they were his wives or his daughters

[25:49]so if our profit was for women's rights if our Prophet was

[25:55]for black rights and immigrant rights and workers rights and our prophet

[25:59]cared about how we took care of the environment of the Earth

[26:02]around us then who are we not to be those things if

[26:04]we're following in the seat of the Prophet so when people say

[26:08]to me why do you do this I say to people why

[26:15]aren't you doing this the question is not for me and I

[26:20]also want to challenge this notion because I get challenged so I'm

[26:22]going to be honest in this room a lot of people say

[26:25]to me sister Linda sometimes you are aggressive you are angry Ang

[26:29]I always tell people please don't ask me why I'm angry I

[26:34]want to know why you're not angry there are injustices happening all

[26:40]around us Islamic relief I was at a fundrais and I remember

[26:44]last year I spoke we were raising money to build wells in

[26:47]Africa I was very proud I was like I was like my

[26:51]group we're going to build our own well that's what we're going

[26:56]to do that's in Africa and we should do that and I

[26:58]and I and I encourage you and recommend you that you do

[27:02]that and you support our sisters in Africa to make sure they

[27:04]have access to clean water but did you know sisters and brothers

[27:09]right here in Flint Michigan your fellow Americans are being poisoned by

[27:14]the water they can't even cook or take baths or drink water

[27:20]not in Africa in the greatest nation on Earth in the most

[27:23]wealthiest Nation on Earth you have people right here in your own

[27:25]State who don't have access to clean water I remember just last

[27:32]year right here in Michigan the electricity Department was like turning people's

[27:37]electricity and water off because they couldn't pay their bills that poverty

[27:42]poverty causes people to not have access to water how does that

[27:49]make sense how do how how is that okay for us to

[27:50]be living in a state or in a country when our neighbors

[27:55]10 miles away 15 miles away don't have access to clean water

[28:00]these are the kind of places where Muslims need to show up

[28:06]this is the time for us to say not in our state

[28:11]not on our watch because maybe they might not be a lot

[28:15]of Muslims that live in Flint but what if that were to

[28:18]happen here in Dearborn who's going to come stand with Dearborn if

[28:21]Dearborn wasn't standing with people in Flint this is what it means

[28:25]to build alliances and to show up for other people not just

[28:29]just from a place of humanity but from a place of Islam

[28:31]because this is exactly what our faith teaches us I want to

[28:41]conclude by saying sisters and brothers again once again that I am

[28:43]very honored and privileged to be here in this space and I

[28:49]am invested in progress of our community I am invested in particular

[28:56]to young people say Hassan kazini said this it is you who

[29:02]are going to write the history books for generations to come and

[29:06]I want you to ask yourself a question what are you going

[29:11]to write about what is going to be your legacy what is

[29:14]our Legacy what are we leaving for our great great grandchildren to

[29:17]come are we going to write a story of division are we

[29:24]going to write a story of weakness are we going to write

[29:29]a story story of defeat that's not the story sisters and brothers

[29:32]that I'm going to write I'm going to write a story of

[29:34]unity across Race Across geography in the United States across gender across

[29:42]sect of Islam I want to write a story of Victory I

[29:45]want people to talk about the victories of the Muslims who were

[29:51]living in 2015 and 16 and 17 people who lived in the

[29:53]22nd century that's the story that I want to write sisters and

[29:56]brothers and I want you young people to know there is nothing

[30:01]special or extraordinary about me I am a mother I have a

[30:05]16-year-old son a 15-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old daughter I work a

[30:09]nonprofit I'm barely making it in a place like New York City

[30:13]but what I have sisters and brothers is something that we should

[30:19]all have in this room I have no fear the only thing

[30:21]that I fear is I fear Allah and that is it so

[30:25]no Islam there is no Islam phobe that I am afraid of

[30:31]I am not afraid of losing my job I'm not afraid of

[30:34]poverty I'm not afraid of the rooms that invite me then disinvite

[30:36]me I don't worry about all that all I know is that

[30:42]I am setting an example for my children and it is up

[30:47]to us to ensure that we we are when we are all

[30:48]not on this Earth anymore and death is inevitable for all of

[30:52]us we are all going to meet it one day that it

[30:55]is our responsibility for generations to come that they continue to want

[31:00]to be Muslim and continue to want to be publicly Muslim and

[31:04]to continue our beautiful faith in this country the United States of

[31:09]America where it has never existed without Islam and we want to

[31:16]make sure that it stays that that way Salam alaykum thank you

[31:19]so much sisters and brothers very humbled and honored to be here

[31:22]in this space with you all

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التالي

Linda Sarsour - 2016 MYC Birth of the Prophet Dinner

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

يرجى ملاحظة أنه إذا كان عمرك أقل من 18 عامًا ، فلن تتمكن من الوصول إلى هذا الموقع.

التالي

Linda Sarsour - 2016 MYC Birth of the Prophet Dinner

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

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