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[mournful instrumental music]

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- [Female Reporter] The
president, keeping his word

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on one of his campaign promises

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to ban Muslims from immigrating
to the United States.

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- Tonight, a federal judge
just a short time ago

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has blocked President
Trump's new travel ban

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before it could go into effect.

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This is now the second major defeat

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for the Trump White House
on their proposed bans.

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The president retweeted videos

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that are inflammatory
anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant.

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- A lot of us here are
using either pig's blood

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or bacon grease on our bullets,
packing it in the middle,

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so that when you shoot a Muslim
they go straight to hell.

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The next step in jihad does not involve

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random, sporadic attacks.

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They start killin' people.

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They start slaughterin' people wholesale.

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Do you really expect me to stand here

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and wait till we get to that point?

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I'm not going to wait
till we get to that point.

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I'm gonna start doing
something about it now.

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[gunshots]

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- If it was up to me, have
to completely wipe out ISIS

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with the civilians and the children,

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'cause those baby ISIS children are gonna

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be even more vicious than their fathers.

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[sorrowful violin music]

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- My full name is Ali Khalaf Mashhour.

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I was born in 1985 in Goshen, Indiana.

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My father is Palestinian,
from the West Bank,

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on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

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My mother is born and
raised in Goshen, Indiana.

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They meet up and they get married.

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My mother actually converted to Islam

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maybe five or six years
after they got married,

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and here I come along.

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At the age of five or six I was sent

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to Palestine to learn Arabic.

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Nobody for an entire year
spoke any English to me.

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So when I came back I
had to relearn English

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which makes English my
first and third language.

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I would go back and forth to Palestine

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throughout those years,
spend my summer breaks there.

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But the bulk of my time was spent

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as your average boy in the Midwest.

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When I was a kid growing up,

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I felt something pulling
me to New York City.

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I don't know why.

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And I remember when 9/11
happened, I was very upset.

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The way we were seeing it on the news,

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it looked like the whole city was on fire,

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and I thought to myself, "They
went and ruined the city."

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But I've always been a drifter.

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I've always been somebody that, you know,

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goes where the wind takes me.

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And so I came to New York.

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[gentle orchestral music]

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[beeping]

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- [Ali] Good morning.

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[speaking in Arabic dialect]

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- [Mohammed] How are you?

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[speaking in Arabic dialect]

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So glad to see you.

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Let me ask you, originally
you are from Indiana.

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Is that what I'm hearing?

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- [Ali] I was born in Indiana, yeah.

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- Indiana.

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So from Indiana, you came to,
I guess, New York, like when?

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- [Ali] 2006.

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- And you got married in...?

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- [Ali] I got married in
2010 in Trinidad and Tobago.

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- [Mohammad] I gotcha, three, married.

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Any kids yet?

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- Yeah, two kids.

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- Two kids.

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Now talk to me about your case.

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When did you apply?

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And all this stuff happened?

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- Well, I don't know.

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I'm extremely naive on these issues.

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You know, before I was, like, religious--

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before I was Muslim actually,

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because I actually officially
accepted Islam when I was 19.

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Before that, I didn't have any problems

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with the government at all.

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But after I, you know, accepted Islam

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and went to Hajj, which was in Palestine,

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that was the last time I've
ever been to Palestine.

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And after that time,

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everything just started to get really bad.

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- Gotcha.

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[airplane engines roaring]

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- My travel history has
always been terrible.

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I remember as a child going
back and forth to Palestine

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and being subjected to
all kinds of searches

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and things because of
my Palestinian origins.

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I was always subjected to
special scrutiny in airports,

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and it has only gotten worse.

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When I come to the ticket counter,

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I tell them "Yeah, you might want to get

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"another agent out here, because
this is gonna take awhile,"

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because they cannot board me

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without calling National Security

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and asking permission to board me.

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And it's gotten to the point

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where if I want to rush through,

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I don't carry luggage, I don't.

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Usually I'll just take like a
book bag and a few essentials,

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just so I can get through easy.

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The biggest problem is when I'm coming

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back into the country.

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They'll search me with
everybody at the TSA

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and then they'll search me again

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as I go into the plane.

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And sometimes they'll
search me a third time.

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They'll wait till I'm seated in the plane

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and then come just as the
plane is gonna pull off,

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pull me out of the plane,
take me back to the TSA place,

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search me again and then
if I miss my flight,

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I miss my flight.

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I have to wait for another one.

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They've done that one before, too.

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And, you know, trying to get
answers from these people

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is like trying to talk
to a door, you know.

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Is there anything wrong?

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"No, no."

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They tell me, "Oh, Mr. Mashhour,

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"you have been randomly chosen for",

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yeah, yeah, yeah, I know,
I know, it's very random.

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Every time I come up
they say, "Mr. Mashhour,"

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I say, "Wait, let me guess.

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"I've been randomly selected."

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They say, "Yeah, how did you know?

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"You've done this before?"

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I say, "Only about seven
million times I've done this."

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You know, it's embarrassing,
it's humiliating.

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- My son, whenever he's traveling,

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the Homeland Security
personnel come right up to him

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and they start asking questions.

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- When I come back,
sometimes they'll have FBI

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waiting for me at the plane gate.

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But they always will have
two officers, at least,

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escort me from the plane door to the...

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whatever that room is.

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I've also had them
approach me in the street.

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Ah, this is about faulty intelligence,

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incompetent people that are
just looking for a paycheck.

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And so if you shake hands
with someone who remotely,

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in some way, said some thing
or didn't say something,

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you have now been incriminated by that.

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One of the things that upsets me,

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assign one agent to my case all the time.

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Let me deal with him only.

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They don't do that.

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Every time it's like jack-in-the-box,

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I don't know who's gonna, you know,

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I don't know who's gonna show up.

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Sometimes the FBI,
sometimes Homeland Security,

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sometimes it's, you know,

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somebody from the Department of Defense.

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But unfortunately, it's
just mindless antagonizing.

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I am totally head-over-heals
in love with my wife.

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We got married in 2010.

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We have two children.

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She's a wonderful mother.

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Her father was an imam in Trinidad,

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but when she married me is
when she got more serious

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about practicing Islam.

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Before that she practiced recreationally,

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perhaps we could say, yeah.

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We registered the marriage immediately

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with the government of Trinidad and Tobago

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and with the government in America.

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We applied for a visa, a tourist visa

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because I wanted to take her immediately,

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in 2011, in about January,
to meet my parents.

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That was rejected.

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She was turned down a visa.

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So we decided, well let's go
in for the residency, you know.

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So we applied for that

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and it took them four years to respond.

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A very monotonous four years.

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"Bring this paper."

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"Oh, this expired. You
need to get another one."

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"Get this physical, get that,"

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and thousands and thousands of dollars.

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Finally after four years
we were served papers

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that she has been permanently banned

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from entering the country,

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and she can never even
reapply for residency again.

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And they gave it to me in writing.

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"Possible or suspected of having links

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"with terrorist organizations
or inciting terrorism."

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So I have this job here in
New York, and they're there.

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So here we are, a bit of a pickle.

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A kosher pickle, a halal pickle, right?

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So this is the refusal.

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So now I have no idea what is
happening with my life now.

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You understand what I'm saying?

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So I'm here working in the mosque.

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- [Mohammad] Oh my god.

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- But every two to three months

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I can go down there for two weeks.

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- And then you have to come back.

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- And come back.

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- Oh man, and that is a
financial burden itself.

[00:11:55.09]
I think we will get to the bottom of it.

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At least we can find out,

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and then address it accordingly.

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- All I'm looking for, really,

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is what's their problem with me,

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so that I can understand, like,

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what am I doing or not doing.

[00:12:12.07]
What's going on with my wife?

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I'm the American citizen
paying taxes all these years

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and I get, you know,
ostracized from my own country.

[00:12:23.09]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:12:42.05]
- Being a Muslim has made me
scared to be in my own country.

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I feel scared to take the subway.

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I feel scared getting gas.

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I am looking around in
my rear view mirrors

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to make sure that no one
is approaching the car.

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I also feel

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that I take my fear out on my kids.

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Perhaps I'm too hard with
them when we're out in public.

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If they do something
any normal kid would do,

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I feel like this is what
people will think of us.

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And it will unfortunately,
for certain people,

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perpetuate this negative stereotype.

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I sort of feel like every day I go out

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I'm on a PR campaign.

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Every trip to the grocery
store, when I go to the DMV.

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And I think naturally I am a
cheery, happy, positive person,

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but I feel like I now
have a specific mission

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of letting people know
that there are Muslims

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in our community, and we're normal.

[00:14:16.00]
[somber instrumental music]

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[percussive music]

[00:14:32.08]
I met my husband in Mauritania

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in the village where he grew up.

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I was a Peace Corp
volunteer for agriculture.

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I remember seeing him and
thinking, "Wow," you know?

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The attraction was mutual,
and we talked a lot.

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We met up on the dunes behind the village

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and fell in love.

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When Cheikh Ahmed came to the U.S.,

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my dad thought he was a terrorist.

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He says, "You don't know him!"

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And I said, "But, yes, I do."

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But he didn't-- but my dad was just being,

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you know, a good dad.

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When we realized that we
wanted to stay together,

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he said, "I would like you to convert.

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"And I won't get married to you

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"unless you convert."

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At that point I didn't have
a particular spiritual path.

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I was brought up Catholic,
baptized, confirmed.

[00:15:36.05]
But there were aspects
about Islam that I loved.

[00:15:42.07]
[chanting in Arabic dialect]

[00:15:46.02]
I remember praying when I was

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a volunteer with my host family.

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I remember praying and
feeling so much at peace.

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For the first 10 years of our marriage

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I didn't cover my head, I
didn't have a head scarf.

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And I don't think I took
my commitment seriously.

[00:16:09.00]
But as the boys got older, I figured

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if I'm going to say that I'm Muslim,

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I need to, you know,
start making that real.

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That was sort of probably
when I first became--

[00:16:22.00]
when I started practicing
walking the walk,

[00:16:24.06]
walking the talk.

[00:16:27.02]
- In several U.S. cities,
investigations are underway

[00:16:30.02]
into possible hate crimes against Muslims.

[00:16:32.05]
- [Reporter 1] In Minneapolis
police are investigating

[00:16:34.03]
the recent shooting of two Muslim men

[00:16:36.02]
as a possible hate crime.

[00:16:38.01]
- [Reporter 2] Tampa fire
investigators are saying

[00:16:39.07]
arson is to blame for a fire

[00:16:41.06]
that started inside a local
mosque earlier this month.

[00:16:45.08]
- In Mauritania I did not
grow up as a minority.

[00:16:52.09]
So I didn't have to
grow up being looked at

[00:16:55.00]
in a way that is
different or not pleasing.

[00:17:01.03]
Here, I'm not targeted unless I speak,

[00:17:04.08]
because I call my accent

[00:17:09.01]
my turban or my hijab.

[00:17:12.00]
- [Reporter] Surveillance
video shows a suspect

[00:17:14.01]
punching, kicking and stomping

[00:17:16.01]
on a Muslim teenager
in Brooklyn, New York.

[00:17:18.09]
The beating took place outside a mosque

[00:17:20.09]
during a midnight prayer service.

[00:17:22.06]
The mosque is urging police

[00:17:23.08]
to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

[00:17:29.09]
- I am the executive director

[00:17:32.04]
of the Islamic Leadership
Council of New York.

[00:17:36.08]
We represent the Muslim community

[00:17:39.08]
and have access to all of
the pain that it feels.

[00:17:43.08]
- [Reporter] A place of
worship now a murder scene.

[00:17:46.07]
Residents of Queens in New York gathered

[00:17:49.00]
at the mosque where just hours earlier

[00:17:50.09]
an imam and his assistant were shot dead.

[00:17:53.07]
Members of the American
Muslim community...

[00:17:56.05]
- Based on the work I do,

[00:17:58.03]
I know some communities are hit hard.

[00:18:01.00]
They are negatively impacted in a way

[00:18:03.03]
that is a lot more remarkable
than the way we are impacted.

[00:18:07.07]
[crowd cheering and yelling]

[00:18:09.03]
The contributions from
non-Muslim Americans

[00:18:14.01]
is perhaps what would help more than

[00:18:16.08]
what the Muslims themselves will do.

[00:18:19.03]
[Crowd] This is what democracy looks like!

[00:18:22.01]
- [Cheikh] Because of the fear of this

[00:18:23.06]
spilling out to other communities,

[00:18:26.00]
the moment one community is targeted

[00:18:28.05]
and cornered and vilified,

[00:18:32.05]
other communities now
have this lack of immunity

[00:18:35.03]
from this kind of problem.

[00:18:38.02]
So there is a lot of support
from the Jewish community,

[00:18:41.07]
from all minorities, and from Americans--

[00:18:46.02]
white Americans who don't accept

[00:18:48.07]
that very extreme right side.

[00:18:51.06]
So we're not alone in this.

[00:18:54.04]
- [Crowd] No hate, no fear,
refugees are welcome here!

[00:18:58.06]
No hate, no fear...

[00:19:02.04]
- The boys have never come home and said

[00:19:06.03]
that someone said something to them.

[00:19:08.04]
So for that I'm grateful.

[00:19:11.03]
I hope that they would tell
me if something did happen.

[00:19:15.08]
At our local mosque, I was working

[00:19:19.07]
with a group of teenage girls.

[00:19:24.00]
They are in public schools
wearing a head scarf.

[00:19:28.02]
They are called terrorists.

[00:19:30.09]
They are called ISIS.

[00:19:33.02]
They don't want to tell their parents.

[00:19:35.01]
They want to take care of it

[00:19:36.08]
but they don't want to draw attention.

[00:19:40.09]
I think certain parts of
the Muslim community--

[00:19:43.05]
probably the older generation,

[00:19:45.03]
probably the generation
that came here to the U.S.

[00:19:48.04]
20, 30 years ago-- still feel,

[00:19:52.08]
"Let's be quiet and it'll
all roll over," you know.

[00:19:58.01]
"Let me continue to work
hard and accumulate wealth

[00:20:01.05]
"and that will protect me."

[00:20:04.00]
You know, there's a certain
part of the Muslim community

[00:20:07.01]
that is still racist, homophobic.

[00:20:11.00]
We don't want to recognize

[00:20:12.09]
that we are prejudiced as well as victims.

[00:20:20.06]
[speaking in Arabic dialect]

[00:20:28.09]
- I wasn't Muslim at
9/11, but other Muslims

[00:20:33.09]
say that what they did was not something

[00:20:37.04]
that any Muslim would ever do.

[00:20:39.05]
[chanting in Arabic dialect]

[00:20:45.05]
If you identify yourself as a Muslim,

[00:20:47.04]
I can't come and tell you,
"No, you're not Muslim."

[00:20:50.07]
I don't have that right.

[00:20:53.05]
But I can see your actions
and hear your words

[00:20:57.09]
and say, "That's not
what a Muslim would do,

[00:21:00.02]
"that's not what a Muslim would say."

[00:21:02.03]
So within the Muslim community,
we have to acknowledge

[00:21:06.08]
that there's the whole spectrum of people

[00:21:09.09]
who will identify themselves as Muslim

[00:21:13.02]
but their actions are not consistent.

[00:21:18.01]
These terrorists did this horrible thing

[00:21:21.05]
that tarnishes me.

[00:21:25.07]
- When the World Trade
Center came tumbling down

[00:21:29.03]
and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey

[00:21:32.04]
where thousands and thousands
of people were cheering.

[00:21:36.09]
I have a window in my apartment

[00:21:39.02]
that specifically was aimed
at the World Trade Center

[00:21:41.07]
because of the beauty of the
whole downtown Manhattan.

[00:21:44.09]
And I watched as people jumped.

[00:21:47.06]
- Politicians use 9/11 as a rallying cry

[00:21:53.02]
for everyone who's Islamophobic, bigoted,

[00:21:56.07]
racist, they're gonna use that,
just the way that they use--

[00:22:01.01]
You know, if an undocumented immigrant

[00:22:05.03]
kills or robs a store, you know,

[00:22:10.02]
there's this rallying cry
that we have to sort of

[00:22:12.04]
keep all of these folks
out of this country.

[00:22:16.03]
You know, your average American,

[00:22:18.00]
that's the seed that's
planted in their brain.

[00:22:20.06]
And there's nothing else

[00:22:21.09]
that is offering another powerful image.

[00:22:25.03]
Nothing.

[00:22:26.06]
- OK, we have a problem in this country.

[00:22:29.05]
It's called Muslims.

[00:22:31.00]
We know our current president is one.

[00:22:33.08]
We have training camps growing

[00:22:36.08]
where they want to kill us.

[00:22:38.08]
That's my question, when
can we get rid of them?

[00:22:41.05]
- We're gonna be looking at
a lot of different things

[00:22:43.01]
and you know, a lot of
people are saying that...

[00:22:45.03]
- To me, Trump is a temporary thing.

[00:22:48.00]
Yes, there will be big damage

[00:22:50.04]
to specifically the Muslim
community, I would say,

[00:22:54.02]
more than any other community.

[00:22:56.06]
And maybe you can say
the Latino community.

[00:23:02.02]
But he's a phenomena that will disappear.

[00:23:05.09]
Trump himself doesn't have the depth

[00:23:09.00]
to set up now, stage for 20 years to come

[00:23:13.07]
or 30 years to come of Trumpism.

[00:23:18.00]
No.

[00:23:21.03]
He's in violation of all of the values

[00:23:23.07]
based on which the country is built.

[00:23:28.04]
I would say that he would
have been more dangerous

[00:23:31.01]
if he tried to do all of
what he said secretly.

[00:23:37.06]
Nobody knows about it.

[00:23:39.05]
That would be dangerous.

[00:23:41.03]
But something in the open like he does,

[00:23:44.07]
it becomes some bubbles and they will--

[00:23:48.02]
it will be taken care of.

[00:23:49.09]
- God bless you, thank you.

[00:23:51.06]
Thank you very much.

[00:23:52.06]
[crowd applauding and clapping]

[00:23:58.03]
- Cheikh Ahmed's family
has extended themselves

[00:24:02.04]
and I feel so much love
and warmth from them.

[00:24:06.09]
And I think it's been
harder for my family.

[00:24:11.00]
I remember my older brother saying,

[00:24:14.01]
"If I can't have a beer with him,

[00:24:17.02]
"I can't trust him",

[00:24:20.05]
or something like that.

[00:24:24.06]
I remember we were up in
Maine for a family reunion,

[00:24:28.06]
and I was aware of how hard it might be

[00:24:31.09]
for them to see their daughter
wearing the head scarf.

[00:24:35.00]
Normally when we would go to visit,

[00:24:36.06]
if I was wearing the
head scarf in the car,

[00:24:39.02]
you know, as soon as I
was getting into the house

[00:24:42.02]
I would take it off.

[00:24:44.08]
So we were all going out to breakfast

[00:24:47.07]
and the question for myself was,

[00:24:49.05]
was I gonna wear a hijab
to this little diner

[00:24:52.09]
up in Portland, Maine?

[00:24:55.02]
And I felt like in order for me

[00:24:57.07]
to feel consistent with myself,

[00:25:00.06]
this is now part of me.

[00:25:04.03]
But I also realized that my boys needed

[00:25:08.03]
to see their mom be consistent.

[00:25:12.05]
I didn't want to have them question,

[00:25:14.04]
"Well, why is Mom doing it at home?"

[00:25:16.09]
You know, I saw it as a
time for me to fully embrace

[00:25:19.07]
this new part of me.

[00:25:21.09]
I think it went over fine.

[00:25:23.05]
I think that-- we have
this now family picture

[00:25:27.01]
of all of us, and I'm in the hijab,

[00:25:29.00]
and they have it in their different homes.

[00:25:32.09]
So I do believe people can change,

[00:25:35.07]
but it doesn't happen
easily or by accident.

[00:25:45.06]
[singing in Arabic dialect]

[00:26:03.07]
- Historically, an imam is
someone who leads the prayer.

[00:26:08.04]
And the criteria for leading prayer

[00:26:11.03]
is that a person be most well-versed

[00:26:13.06]
and well-recited in the Quran.

[00:26:15.09]
Because that's really
what all the prayer is,

[00:26:18.06]
it's a build-up to the
recitation of God's words

[00:26:23.04]
and then a build-up to asking of God.

[00:26:27.00]
That's really what the
prayer revolves around.

[00:26:30.07]
[Ali speaking in Arabic dialect]

[00:26:38.08]
And the other duties that
I do would be counseling,

[00:26:44.03]
performing marriages, reviewing
applications for charity

[00:26:49.05]
and so forth, so those are
more or less my duties.

[00:26:57.08]
But because the mosque is no longer

[00:27:01.04]
just the place where we go to pray,

[00:27:03.06]
I have a lot of other
duties that I perform.

[00:27:08.06]
People come through the
mosque at 96th Street

[00:27:11.04]
on average at least a
thousand people a day.

[00:27:14.02]
Fridays is gonna be between
3,000 and 3,500 people.

[00:27:20.09]
For the major holidays like Eid,

[00:27:23.09]
that'll usually be anywhere
from 12,000 to 14,000 people.

[00:27:29.04]
At least half of those numbers

[00:27:31.03]
I will come into some kind
of personal contact with,

[00:27:36.03]
whether it be counseling

[00:27:38.04]
or whether it be teaching,
lecturing, et cetera.

[00:27:43.09]
[instrumental oud music]

[00:28:01.09]
[Ali chanting in Arabic dialect]

[00:28:08.05]
In this country, I have, I would say,

[00:28:11.07]
one of the most prestigious
jobs or positions

[00:28:15.09]
of imam in the country, in the West.

[00:28:23.07]
So if I am labeled really absolutely

[00:28:27.03]
a threat to national security,

[00:28:29.09]
having me in a position that I am in

[00:28:31.06]
is a very serious liability, clearly.

[00:28:35.07]
It would just be silly.

[00:28:36.08]
I have a lot of influence
over a lot of people.

[00:29:00.05]
- Alright, well this
basically is where we're at

[00:29:03.02]
in the immigration process.

[00:29:06.03]
She was refused for a
non-immigrant visa in 2011.

[00:29:13.00]
Then we applied for the immigration visa

[00:29:17.01]
and we got this response in 2015.

[00:29:22.05]
- This should have been
addressed right away.

[00:29:24.04]
"Whoa, how do you come to
this conclusion," you know?

[00:29:29.07]
Did she ever live in any of the hotspots?

[00:29:32.04]
- Live in the hotspots?

[00:29:33.06]
No, she lived in Egypt

[00:29:35.02]
for a few years.
- In Egypt for a few years.

[00:29:37.05]
- Yeah, growing up.

[00:29:38.08]
- Growing up, did she
belong to any organization?

[00:29:41.00]
- No.

[00:29:41.09]
- These are all of the
questions we need to find out.

[00:29:44.04]
And it's mind-boggling,

[00:29:46.00]
because to make that kind of determination

[00:29:48.01]
that someone provided material support

[00:29:51.06]
to the enemy or to a
terrorist organization,

[00:29:54.07]
in essence you have to have
something to back that up.

[00:29:58.00]
- She's never been questioned in her life

[00:30:02.01]
by any government,

[00:30:07.01]
you know, intelligence, ever.

[00:30:12.00]
Whether it be American or otherwise,

[00:30:13.09]
she's never been detained, anything, ever,

[00:30:17.06]
not even at the local level
in Trinidad and Tobago.

[00:30:21.08]
She's never been arrested.

[00:30:24.03]
- Sometimes issues like these

[00:30:27.02]
you can solve it administratively.

[00:30:30.01]
So we talk later and we
see what can be done,

[00:30:34.01]
what cannot be done.

[00:30:36.06]
- [Mohammad] First let's get
the application from his wife.

[00:30:39.08]
As soon as you get that paperwork,

[00:30:41.06]
I'll sit down with Babatunde,

[00:30:43.06]
draft a letter denying the accusations.

[00:30:47.05]
After we do that, then
we go to the congressman

[00:30:50.03]
and get assistance.

[00:30:52.06]
- [Babatunde] You don't have to wait

[00:30:53.06]
until you write the letter

[00:30:55.00]
to get a congressman
involved in your case.

[00:30:58.00]
- [Mohammad] OK.

[00:30:58.08]
- The more you wait, you know.

[00:31:01.01]
- [Mohammad] Gotcha.

[00:31:02.05]
Alright, so we're gonna do this,

[00:31:03.06]
we're gonna do things simultaneously then.

[00:31:06.00]
So simultaneously is
gonna be he's gonna ask

[00:31:08.05]
for the paperwork and I'm
gonna make an arrangement

[00:31:10.04]
for him to meet with the congressman.

[00:31:12.06]
And then as we get the paperwork,

[00:31:15.03]
then we'll draft a letter also.

[00:31:17.02]
Sounds good?

[00:31:18.02]
- That's good.

[00:31:19.01]
- [Mohammad] And then we'll
have a conversation again,

[00:31:21.03]
what's the next step.

[00:31:22.05]
- OK.

[00:31:23.03]
- Does that sound good?

[00:31:24.02]
- Sounds good.

[00:31:25.06]
- Alright, thank you Babatunde.

[00:31:27.01]
- Good.

[00:31:27.09]
- Wonderful, thank you.

[00:31:28.08]
You're the man.

[00:31:34.01]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:31:58.05]
- Prior to 9/11, what Mr. Shahid
Ali Khan and his family did

[00:32:02.06]
was do a check-in with INS--

[00:32:05.02]
like annual check-in, putting in paperwork

[00:32:07.05]
and filing for extensions.

[00:32:23.03]
- When 9/11 happened, you had

[00:32:24.08]
to special register with INS and FBI.

[00:32:28.00]
He was a visitor here from Pakistan,

[00:32:31.00]
and Pakistan was on a list,

[00:32:32.08]
so he went to special register right here,

[00:32:34.09]
as a matter of fact, in this building.

[00:32:57.02]
- [Mohammad] But for some reason this year

[00:32:59.01]
when they went for a
check-in, they said "No.

[00:33:01.04]
"We're going to put you in
deportation proceedings,

[00:33:02.09]
"the whole family."

[00:33:05.01]
What they're doing is,

[00:33:05.09]
they're basically
throwing the book at them.

[00:33:43.06]
- [Interviewer] Were you
relieved when you saw him?

[00:33:45.06]
[both laughing]

[00:33:49.02]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:34:01.03]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:35:56.07]
[Mansoor sounding out English words]

[00:36:17.07]
- The Empire State Building.

[00:37:10.09]
Yes or no.

[00:37:27.02]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:37:37.08]
- We just came out of the
deportation unit of immigration.

[00:37:42.03]
This family was reporting regularly.

[00:37:45.01]
Now they're told that
they don't have to report

[00:37:48.09]
until such time as the
stay is adjudicated.

[00:37:52.06]
That sounds like it's very good news

[00:37:54.08]
but it basically is a state of limbo,

[00:37:58.03]
because technically they can get picked up

[00:38:01.04]
at any time since they
don't have any protection.

[00:38:04.06]
And until I have that stay
I don't know where we're at.

[00:38:09.02]
Since we have a new president,

[00:38:11.05]
many people who have
been reporting for years

[00:38:14.01]
are suddenly being picked up

[00:38:15.08]
and being removed.

[00:38:17.04]
Doesn't matter what type of ties

[00:38:19.08]
they have to the United States,

[00:38:21.05]
how many American citizen
children they have,

[00:38:24.03]
it doesn't matter particularly

[00:38:26.08]
whether they have criminal issues.

[00:38:28.09]
They're getting picked up and removed.

[00:38:36.09]
- I mean there were dozens of
families that were up there,

[00:38:38.06]
who were just sitting
there and sitting there

[00:38:40.05]
and just waiting and waiting and waiting.

[00:38:42.05]
- Not really knowing
what's going to happen.

[00:38:44.03]
- Exactly.

[00:38:45.01]
- And a lot of them don't
have representation,

[00:38:47.03]
so they're just there.

[00:38:50.01]
This is not a New York problem.

[00:38:51.07]
This is a national problem.

[00:38:53.06]
It's happening everywhere
throughout the nation.

[00:38:57.02]
Families who have been
here a real long time,

[00:39:00.02]
a couple of U.S. citizen children,

[00:39:02.03]
law-abiding, tax-paying people

[00:39:05.01]
and now they're subject
to this kind of behavior,

[00:39:09.04]
this kind of behavior on
the part of the U.S.C.I.S.

[00:39:14.09]
- It is happening more now
because of the government,

[00:39:17.02]
it's happening more now because
of the current president.

[00:39:19.07]
And these policies and initiatives

[00:39:21.05]
are not going to help the people.

[00:39:23.02]
He's just putting the
fear on these families.

[00:39:26.08]
- This is not what we're
supposed to be about.

[00:39:32.02]
[pensive instrumental music]

[00:40:24.06]
- Right after 9/11, our
fellow Americans looked

[00:40:28.00]
at the Muslim community that
was living here as the enemy.

[00:40:32.03]
[imam speaking Arabic dialect]

[00:40:39.00]
They said the Muslim community

[00:40:40.09]
was linked to terrorist attacks.

[00:40:45.02]
Just right in this neighborhood,

[00:40:46.01]
over 500 individuals were rounded up.

[00:40:49.06]
If there was a person they were
looking, for Mohammad Khan,

[00:40:52.00]
it didn't matter, if Mohammad Khan

[00:40:54.02]
was 30 years old or 60 years old.

[00:40:56.06]
They just came and just
looked for Mohammad Khan,

[00:40:59.06]
because it matched up in a database.

[00:41:03.03]
When 9/11 happened, believe me,

[00:41:05.05]
I was living that American
dream and I'm still living it.

[00:41:07.06]
I was doing great.

[00:41:09.09]
My father was the first grocery
store owner on the block,

[00:41:13.04]
and the mom-and-pop stores
in these ethnic communities

[00:41:16.07]
are the social service agency providers.

[00:41:19.06]
My dad still has a book

[00:41:21.09]
where a person who did
not get his paycheck said,

[00:41:24.04]
"Can you give me some food
till the end of the week,

[00:41:27.07]
"so then I'll give you when I get paid?"

[00:41:30.05]
"I'm looking for a job."

[00:41:32.09]
And other people who
had jobs, they're like,

[00:41:35.01]
"I'm looking for a person to hire."

[00:41:36.09]
My dad always wrote this down
and tried to help the people.

[00:41:41.01]
So because of that, right after 9/11,

[00:41:45.00]
people came to my store.

[00:41:46.08]
They said, "My husband's arrested,

[00:41:48.05]
"my brother's arrested,
my cousin's arrested.

[00:41:50.08]
"What do I do?"

[00:41:53.04]
As an American who grew up here,

[00:41:55.04]
as an individual who studied here,

[00:41:57.08]
I was like, "No, you have rights."

[00:42:00.02]
I realized this is
something we need to do.

[00:42:02.02]
We need to help everyone.

[00:42:04.06]
So I opened this office, COPO,

[00:42:06.06]
Council Of Peoples Organization,

[00:42:09.00]
just temporary for six months.

[00:42:10.07]
Let me get these individuals
the help that they need,

[00:42:13.07]
the free legal services, then OK

[00:42:15.07]
and I'll go back to my fabric store.

[00:42:18.05]
It never happened.

[00:42:20.03]
And all I'm doing is
running this organization,

[00:42:24.02]
understanding the system,
working with law enforcement,

[00:42:27.08]
working with the FBI, working with NYPD.

[00:42:31.06]
This is my calling, this
is what I'm gonna do.

[00:42:40.06]
- This one is so cute.

[00:42:42.00]
- [Woman] Oh my god.

[00:42:42.09]
- I thank God for my little baby, mwah!

[00:42:45.03]
[speaking in Arabic dialect]

[00:42:49.03]
[baby laughing]

[00:42:57.05]
- [Woman 1] Cheese!

[00:42:59.07]
Thank you.

[00:43:00.07]
- [Woman 2] No problem.

[00:43:01.05]
- [Woman 3] We prayed a lot for you.

[00:43:04.07]
- So I was born in
Pakistan and I came here,

[00:43:08.03]
I was about six and a half years old,

[00:43:10.03]
and grew up in Brooklyn.

[00:43:12.02]
So I was 18 years old, I went
back home and I met her again

[00:43:15.07]
and one thing leads to another

[00:43:17.02]
and that's how we got married.

[00:43:22.02]
So we are cousin, we're family,
like I married my family.

[00:43:26.01]
He saw me, he loved me and you know,

[00:43:28.03]
the parents said, "Do you like this guy?

[00:43:30.04]
"Do you agree with it?"

[00:43:31.04]
I say, "OK, he's a cool guy,

[00:43:33.07]
"let me get married with him, that's it."

[00:43:36.03]
Basically the parents,
they choose the girl or boy

[00:43:40.01]
and let the girl or boy know,
"OK this is the good for you.

[00:43:44.01]
"This is, you know, your life's going

[00:43:45.09]
"to be very happy with this guy.

[00:43:48.03]
"He can give you love and
support you in everything,

[00:43:51.05]
"whatever you need in life.

[00:43:53.06]
"Now you can choose
and you can decide it."

[00:43:57.01]
That's the arranged, because
the parents they decided it

[00:44:01.01]
and then the final
decision has to be them.

[00:44:05.02]
- When me and my wife met,
there were other proposals.

[00:44:10.08]
However, I felt, you know,
I was most comfortable

[00:44:12.09]
and she was most
comfortable with each other.

[00:44:16.00]
And same thing with Faizan and Aasah.

[00:44:19.01]
- We had an arranged
love marriage, I guess.

[00:44:24.02]
And I have a son and he's 13 months.

[00:44:28.04]
[baby laughing]

[00:44:33.00]
- Trump did not start all this.

[00:44:36.03]
9/11 had happened, and I had
been through a tough time.

[00:44:42.04]
I had a boy pull off my hijab
while I was switching classes.

[00:44:49.09]
I've had another student cut up my abaya,

[00:44:54.04]
I used to wear an abaya to school.

[00:44:57.03]
And I've gotten pushed
at, I've gotten beaten up.

[00:45:02.02]
Out on the street
waiting at the bus stop--

[00:45:06.01]
and this was just in
fifth and sixth grade--

[00:45:09.08]
the kid sitting next to me in fifth grade

[00:45:12.02]
would say that my father is a terrorist

[00:45:14.07]
and that I should go back to my country.

[00:45:18.02]
I was born and raised in Brooklyn

[00:45:20.06]
and I was born in Coney
Island Hospital, you know?

[00:45:24.01]
I don't know how much
more American you can get.

[00:45:28.07]
[people screaming]

[00:45:34.01]
- I did have people say to
me, "You fuckin' Muslim,

[00:45:37.01]
"go back to your country",
things like that.

[00:45:39.06]
I didn't personally
have someone attack me,

[00:45:43.06]
but I did see it happen
to a lot of people.

[00:45:47.08]
There is a time when I was in 10th grade

[00:45:50.04]
and we were sitting in the classroom,

[00:45:53.00]
and there's only me and
probably one other boy

[00:45:55.09]
within 30 kids who are Muslim.

[00:45:58.09]
And the teacher puts
on this video showing--

[00:46:01.05]
I don't know, I don't even
want to call them Muslims--

[00:46:03.04]
crazy people, just attacking,
like, the American flag

[00:46:07.01]
and just talking bad about America.

[00:46:11.00]
When he shut the video
off, nobody said a word.

[00:46:14.02]
And I'm just sitting there and I'm like,

[00:46:15.08]
OK, I wish I can just,
like, go into a little rock

[00:46:17.09]
and just hide myself because everybody

[00:46:19.03]
in this class knows I'm Muslim

[00:46:20.06]
and just had to see this video

[00:46:22.03]
that had nothing to do with Muslims.

[00:46:26.01]
Miss Razvi needs to get
dressed for the party!

[00:46:29.02]
I'm in 10th grade, I'm not even thinking

[00:46:30.08]
about ever being a teacher,

[00:46:31.07]
but I did believe what
he did was a mistake.

[00:46:34.06]
That's where hate comes from.

[00:46:36.02]
That's where it comes from.

[00:46:40.09]
- One thing that we learn,
even in Islamic school,

[00:46:44.01]
is God accepts everyone
and God loves mankind--

[00:46:48.02]
everyone, every single human being.

[00:46:50.07]
My father never said, "Don't
hang out with these people."

[00:46:53.06]
It's hate that's being taught.

[00:46:55.08]
In this growing world,
in this diverse world,

[00:46:58.02]
our prophet always teaches us

[00:47:00.02]
that we should accept every single person,

[00:47:02.07]
we should live by example,

[00:47:05.02]
we should do things in such a way

[00:47:07.08]
where we're not being
considered, you know,

[00:47:11.05]
"Oh, they don't like us
so we won't like them."

[00:47:13.07]
We should never do that.

[00:47:14.08]
Islam means, "I Shall Love All Mankind."

[00:47:18.02]
- We're always talking about advocacy

[00:47:20.00]
and, like, how important it is.

[00:47:22.01]
I know what I've been through,

[00:47:23.09]
I felt I didn't have a voice,

[00:47:26.06]
and now I want to teach girls and boys

[00:47:28.05]
that, no, they do have the voice.

[00:47:31.01]
It's scary, the trend is really scary.

[00:47:33.03]
I mean even today,
there are at times where

[00:47:35.04]
I'll have to have a
conversation with my father,

[00:47:37.04]
"Hey, Dad, how do I take
care of this situation?

[00:47:41.01]
"I don't know."

[00:47:41.09]
But I just hope that I'm able

[00:47:44.04]
to become a powerful voice for them

[00:47:47.03]
and teach them different
skills, different types,

[00:47:50.09]
so they are able to
advocate for themselves.

[00:47:54.09]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:47:57.02]
- When you get good
feedback from the community

[00:48:00.01]
and they will stop you or thank you,

[00:48:01.08]
"You helped me with this,
you helped me with that,"

[00:48:04.04]
it's amazing.

[00:48:07.01]
And if you promote this
better in the community,

[00:48:12.04]
it will be like a flower
which is becoming a good fruit

[00:48:17.04]
for the next generation
and then next generation.

[00:48:20.04]
And it would be a good place for everyone.

[00:48:23.01]
- In our culture, in Islam itself,

[00:48:25.08]
if you hurt one human being

[00:48:28.02]
it's as if you hurt all of mankind.

[00:48:31.04]
If you help one human being,

[00:48:34.05]
it's as if you helped all of mankind.

[00:48:38.01]
- After medical school,
after working for awhile,

[00:48:41.01]
I want to help my dad
advance his endeavor.

[00:48:45.04]
I'd like to believe that
modeling myself after my father,

[00:48:49.01]
it's a great way to give
back to the community

[00:48:52.04]
and a great way to protect my generation.

[00:48:54.06]
If I can, you know, take all that hate,

[00:48:56.05]
if I can stand in front of, you know,

[00:48:58.06]
all the shouting
individuals, the protests,

[00:49:00.00]
or you've had election day or anywhere,

[00:49:03.08]
then it's OK.

[00:49:05.01]
I will take that sacrifice

[00:49:06.06]
just to protect my future generation

[00:49:08.07]
and their generation to come.

[00:49:12.00]
[pensive instrumental music]

[00:49:23.09]
[tranquil instrumental music]

[00:50:25.00]
[tranquil instrumental music]

[00:51:06.06]
[waves lapping]

[00:52:19.08]
[pensive instrumental music]

[00:52:44.08]
- [Child] I get to say nothing.

[00:52:48.06]
- You'll be OK.

[00:52:49.08]
Mommy's just telling Daddy goodbye, OK?

[00:52:56.03]
[child sobbing]

[00:53:00.02]
You'll be alright.

[00:53:01.01]
He said his goodbyes already to you.

[00:53:09.07]
- [Ali] Alright, well.

[00:53:11.01]
- Give me a hug.

[00:53:27.07]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:53:54.00]
[speaking in Arabic dialect]

[00:53:57.05]
- [Mir] Anytime, anywhere
I go, people ask,

[00:54:00.02]
"Where you come from?" or say
that "You are not part of us.

[00:54:05.08]
"Muslims don't belong here."

[00:54:13.00]
That kind of message I never
heard in the last 35 years.

[00:54:18.00]
After 9/11 it was bad, but
not as bad as it is now.

[00:54:27.01]
Lately it's becoming part
of our daily routine.

[00:54:34.08]
One day I was in shopping,
some lady came over and says,

[00:54:39.05]
"Get out of this country,
you don't belong here."

[00:54:43.06]
So that hurt me a lot.

[00:54:48.03]
- Even though we're becoming more

[00:54:49.09]
of a political influence,

[00:54:51.01]
racism and Islamophobic
are a big issue for us.

[00:54:54.07]
With Donald Trump saying
what he's saying, you know,

[00:54:56.05]
it's not really helping out a lot.

[00:54:58.07]
It's making things even worse.

[00:55:00.02]
It's marginalizing us.

[00:55:01.03]
It's making us seem
like we're the targets.

[00:55:05.02]
- According to Pew research, among others,

[00:55:08.05]
there is a great hatred toward Americans

[00:55:12.01]
by large segments of
the Muslim population.

[00:55:17.03]
- Muslims were pretty quiet
when we came to America.

[00:55:20.04]
Like, if we leave other people
alone, they won't bother us.

[00:55:24.00]
And they don't realize that
that's not the case anymore.

[00:55:26.04]
We gotta start standing
up against injustice.

[00:55:28.08]
- The Muslims pose a threat.

[00:55:30.02]
Not all Muslims, but you can't tell

[00:55:31.08]
the good ones from the bad ones.

[00:55:33.01]
It's the Muslims that
are killing Americans

[00:55:34.09]
right now, isn't it?

[00:55:35.08]
- I don't have a racist bone in my body.

[00:55:37.06]
I'm not-- I'm not that way.

[00:55:39.07]
I just think we need to vet
people a little bit better

[00:55:42.00]
and find out why they're here.

[00:55:43.09]
- You are terrorists.

[00:55:45.00]
Every one of you are terrorists.

[00:55:46.06]
I don't care what you say.

[00:55:47.08]
- I don't appreciate that I have to be

[00:55:51.07]
not safe in my own country

[00:55:53.01]
because there are some
tenets of their religion

[00:55:56.08]
that basically teach that
they're going to kill people

[00:56:00.00]
who don't believe what they believe.

[00:56:01.09]
- I don't feel safe.

[00:56:03.07]
And I think a lot of the
country feels the same way.

[00:56:10.02]
- The real task of a Muslim is
to reach out to non-Muslims.

[00:56:15.06]
My understanding of American people

[00:56:18.05]
is that if you reach
out to American people,

[00:56:20.03]
they will come.

[00:56:22.02]
In that respect, if we
as Muslims goes out,

[00:56:26.00]
make a friend of non-Muslims,

[00:56:28.00]
make a friend of our neighbors,

[00:56:29.08]
make a friend of an outsider,

[00:56:32.06]
then they will see the
good part of Muslims.

[00:56:36.03]
- We started getting involved
in politics, because that's

[00:56:38.04]
the only way you can get
things changed nowadays--

[00:56:41.01]
if you get involved.

[00:56:42.08]
And I feel like that's the
best way to combat Islamophobia

[00:56:46.08]
or any kind of phobia.

[00:56:50.00]
- I've been working with my community,

[00:56:51.07]
especially after 9/11,
because I was attacked

[00:56:56.01]
by some random police officer.

[00:57:00.02]
So after that I've been working

[00:57:01.07]
with the police department very closely,

[00:57:04.01]
because I wanted to
trust police department

[00:57:06.09]
and police department
can come and, you know,

[00:57:10.04]
have a good communication
with my community.

[00:57:18.06]
- Myself, my brother and
my dad were coming back

[00:57:20.06]
from a campaign that we
were doing in Queens.

[00:57:23.04]
A police officer pulled us over

[00:57:25.07]
and asked for our
license and registration.

[00:57:29.03]
My dad likes to keep all the
registrations of all the cars

[00:57:31.09]
from the past couple years in the car,

[00:57:33.08]
so I always tell my dad,

[00:57:35.04]
"Just make sure you give
them the right one."

[00:57:36.07]
And in pure English, my dad's like,

[00:57:38.07]
"Yeah, here's the right one."

[00:57:39.06]
And the police officer was like,

[00:57:40.06]
"Speak English like an
educated human being."

[00:57:43.04]
And then we're like,

[00:57:45.01]
my dad's got a master's
degree from Baruch.

[00:57:48.08]
We were, like, really
surprised that, y'know,

[00:57:50.07]
why would someone be
saying something like that?

[00:57:53.02]
- [Interviewer] I know
some of you were born here,

[00:57:54.09]
but those of you who were not,

[00:57:56.06]
what country do you come from?

[00:57:58.07]
- From Bangladesh.

[00:58:00.02]
- [Interviewer] You too?

[00:58:01.00]
- I'm from Bangladesh as well.

[00:58:02.09]
- [Interviewer] And how
long have you been here?

[00:58:07.09]
- 36 years in this country.

[00:58:10.06]
- And I'm 33, almost 34 years.

[00:58:14.07]
- [Interviewer] And how
long have you been married?

[00:58:16.09]
- 23 years.

[00:58:18.06]
- Almost 24.

[00:58:21.08]
- [Interviewer] And you met here?

[00:58:23.01]
- [Both] Yes.

[00:58:24.01]
- She was from Washington,
I was in New York,

[00:58:26.02]
so that would introduce a
very close friend of ours.

[00:58:32.02]
[gentle piano music]

[00:58:42.06]
- After 9/11, I was supposed
to get some printing done.

[00:58:50.00]
My printer, he was a very close friend,

[00:58:54.04]
but he refused to print any of my work

[00:58:57.08]
because of the U.S. war with the Muslims.

[00:59:02.00]
And he did not do anything anymore for me.

[00:59:06.00]
No calls received, nothing.

[00:59:09.08]
So good thing happened
that I find other printer,

[00:59:13.01]
but I lost a friend.

[00:59:24.08]
- My son, he was in first
grade when 9/11 happened.

[00:59:28.09]
And the teacher asked all the students

[00:59:32.08]
what could prevent the
Twin Tower not falling,

[00:59:37.01]
so we can have our Twin Tower remain.

[00:59:40.00]
And everybody, they draw
something, they write something.

[00:59:44.02]
So-- and they called me from the school,

[00:59:48.00]
they say my son did something.

[00:59:52.08]
He wants to destroy Twin Tower.

[00:59:58.03]
They took him on the side,

[01:00:00.02]
and some big people was around him,

[01:00:03.09]
and he gets so scared and shaky

[01:00:06.06]
because they ask him many questions

[01:00:09.00]
and they scared him so much.

[01:00:11.01]
He was in a trauma by
the time I hold his hand.

[01:00:14.06]
He was shaking.

[01:00:17.01]
And then I asked him why
he draw that picture,

[01:00:21.06]
and then he say, "I want to
make sure nobody hit Twin Tower

[01:00:27.05]
"and break our Twin Tower a second time.

[01:00:30.00]
"I want to make sure the
Twin Tower remain forever.

[01:00:33.04]
"If it's a horizontal level Twin Town,

[01:00:36.01]
"then nobody can destroy it.

[01:00:37.03]
"It's not gonna fall, nobody's gonna die."

[01:00:40.02]
That's why he draw that picture.

[01:00:44.03]
And I kept that picture with me,

[01:00:46.06]
because I want to pass
that to my grandchildren,

[01:00:49.02]
my next generation.

[01:00:51.08]
That is very important.

[01:00:56.08]
[gentle instrumental music]

[01:01:00.09]
- I went to Japan on a fully
funded trip with Global Kids.

[01:01:04.07]
They're a youth empowerment organization

[01:01:06.05]
that I work with very, very closely.

[01:01:09.03]
And despite being different--

[01:01:11.08]
Like, everyone knew we were American

[01:01:13.04]
and everyone looked at us, like--

[01:01:15.00]
They stared at us but
it was like, "Oh, OK,"

[01:01:18.02]
and then they continued.

[01:01:19.01]
You know, I wasn't treated differently,

[01:01:21.06]
versus here in my own country

[01:01:23.02]
there are times that people look at me

[01:01:25.00]
and they're like "Uh,"

[01:01:26.07]
and they'll have this kind of tone--

[01:01:28.02]
they'll change the tone of their voice

[01:01:30.02]
or they'll act differently
around me versus

[01:01:32.05]
I'm in a completely foreign country,

[01:01:35.08]
and I'm being treated
better there than I am here.

[01:01:38.05]
Yeah.

[01:01:44.00]
- After 9/11, we've been through a lot,

[01:01:47.03]
especially the woman wearing hijab.

[01:01:50.09]
The first pin.

[01:01:53.02]
Then I have to make sure I have enough.

[01:01:57.00]
But just simply, it is getting worse.

[01:02:01.02]
Any place I go, I could be target.

[01:02:06.01]
Three weeks ago a Muslim
woman got stabbed in Queens.

[01:02:11.09]
So it's all the time we're in fear,

[01:02:15.08]
me and the other women
that look like Muslim.

[01:02:22.07]
- I just do that,

[01:02:25.08]
and then I kind of frame my face.

[01:02:29.04]
The style of your hijab...

[01:02:31.00]
And then I pin it right here.

[01:02:32.03]
...it's not a one-size-fits-all
kind of thing.

[01:02:35.05]
It's like you find what fits your face.

[01:02:37.05]
And then I take the left side

[01:02:41.09]
and I just go around, and this
is kinda just to add volume.

[01:02:46.04]
Everyone experiments.

[01:02:48.03]
Sometimes it's a disaster.

[01:02:51.01]
You look back at old
pictures and you're like,

[01:02:52.06]
"Why did I do that?"

[01:02:55.07]
And then I pin it once here.

[01:02:57.08]
But then when you find
the style of your hijab,

[01:03:00.00]
like that style that will
always come through for you.

[01:03:02.01]
That's one thing you can depend on.

[01:03:06.01]
That is it, I'm done.

[01:03:08.04]
[crowd cheering]

[01:03:10.01]
- We have everything here today.

[01:03:12.05]
We have Hindus here.

[01:03:13.07]
We have Jews.

[01:03:15.04]
We have Christians.

[01:03:16.02]
We have Catholics.

[01:03:17.04]
We have atheists.

[01:03:18.04]
We have America here today!

[01:03:21.06]
This is beautiful!

[01:03:23.00]
[crowd cheering]

[01:03:32.07]
- I'm actually here because
my wife is an immigrant.

[01:03:35.09]
She came here when she was six,

[01:03:37.07]
couldn't speak English at all.

[01:03:39.04]
But I'm here for all the
other girls that are here

[01:03:42.01]
who can't speak English,
just so they can be amazing

[01:03:46.04]
to somebody else someday
like she's amazing to me.

[01:03:48.09]
- This is America.

[01:03:50.06]
The president doesn't represent us.

[01:03:52.04]
And I think it's absolutely deplorable

[01:03:54.03]
that Muslims are being
attacked and targeted.

[01:03:59.00]
We're citizens of the world.

[01:04:00.04]
We're gonna stay that way.

[01:04:01.03]
We're going forward, we're
not going back anywhere,

[01:04:03.05]
whatever that's supposed to mean.

[01:04:05.00]
- Xenophobia, just trying
to build up support

[01:04:08.03]
on the basis of people's fears,

[01:04:10.09]
and so that is what I object to.

[01:04:14.09]
- I want to be part of this movement.

[01:04:17.05]
I want to be part of this group.

[01:04:19.03]
I want to be part of this great day.

[01:04:22.04]
I don't want anybody else,

[01:04:24.01]
we suffer like what we are suffering,

[01:04:26.02]
what the Jewish people have suffered

[01:04:28.00]
or the Japanese have suffered,

[01:04:29.07]
or the blacks have suffered.

[01:04:31.04]
We want to be have this the end of it,

[01:04:33.08]
So no more should the
United States of America,

[01:04:37.03]
this should be the end of all the racism.

[01:04:41.03]
[crowd yelling and cheering]

[01:04:48.06]
[gentle instrumental music]

[01:04:55.09]
- I really want Donald
Trump and his supporters

[01:04:59.00]
to know about Islam and Muslims.

[01:05:02.02]
We are American Muslims.

[01:05:04.02]
We are like others, everything is same.

[01:05:07.01]
We have good day, bad day, we love,

[01:05:09.05]
we have family, we have
neighbor, we have pets.

[01:05:13.06]
Islam is-- the faith is for universal,

[01:05:18.07]
and if I do not love other faith

[01:05:22.02]
and other books I'm
not an American Muslim.

[01:05:25.07]
So this is Islam.

[01:05:27.08]
Islam is not something fear of it.

[01:05:30.03]
It shouldn't be phobia of it.

[01:05:32.00]
It shouldn't be hate of it.

[01:05:33.02]
It should be included
with all other faiths.

[01:05:45.04]
[pensive instrumental music]

[01:06:08.01]
- It's always like the first
time, every time it happens.

[01:06:15.05]
They call me up front

[01:06:16.07]
and they're not letting
anybody get off the plane

[01:06:19.04]
until I maneuver my way to
the front and then come out.

[01:06:22.09]
You know, and everybody's
staring at me like I'm--

[01:06:26.00]
like I'm guilty of something,
like I'm some fugitive

[01:06:28.08]
that has now been caught.

[01:06:30.05]
That's what everybody's thinking,

[01:06:31.07]
because they don't see
me again after that.

[01:06:34.00]
I go into some abyss, into some room

[01:06:36.08]
and that's it, everybody goes home

[01:06:38.04]
and basically says, "Wow,
we saw this Muslim guy,

[01:06:42.01]
"he got called to the front

[01:06:43.04]
"and then they just took him away."

[01:06:44.07]
And what does that mean?

[01:06:46.00]
That means you're guilty of something.

[01:06:51.00]
Leaving this time definitely
was heart wrenching,

[01:06:54.05]
to say the least.

[01:06:56.00]
Yesterday was bad, it wasn't good at all.

[01:07:00.04]
Yesterday was a very silent
day, which is worrisome.

[01:07:04.09]
Cold silence is a very dangerous thing

[01:07:09.04]
and it has a tendency
to atrophy compassion

[01:07:14.06]
between the spouses, so.

[01:07:18.07]
But, y'know, we left on a good note

[01:07:20.03]
and I guess you just do what you can.

[01:07:22.04]
And there's not much
else I can do right now.

[01:07:33.06]
Y'know, now I'm just
gonna call the family,

[01:07:35.06]
let 'em know I'm back.

[01:07:38.00]
I'm back into the grind again,
y'know, until next time.

[01:07:42.08]
You know, it's a frustrating situation,

[01:07:46.04]
but if I dwell on it too much

[01:07:48.07]
it's just gonna drive me insane.

[01:07:50.09]
So it's better that I just
smile and wave, y'know?

[01:07:56.08]
[bird wings fluttering]

[01:08:01.08]
- [Announcer] You ready?

[01:08:03.02]
Alright, here we go!

[01:08:04.02]
[audience applauding]

[01:08:05.05]
You're gonna love this next lady.

[01:08:06.06]
She is hilarious.

[01:08:07.07]
I saw her last night, she
brought the house down.

[01:08:10.00]
She's also Palestinian.

[01:08:11.03]
Please welcome to the stage, Suzi Afridi!

[01:08:14.01]
[audience applauding and whooping]

[01:08:25.04]
Salaam alaikum.

[01:08:28.03]
Hi guys, my name is Suzi.

[01:08:31.06]
I'm Palestinian, but I'm
married to a Pakistani.

[01:08:35.01]
[audience member cheering]

[01:08:35.09]
Well, OK.

[01:08:40.08]
You know how most people
confuse Palestine with Pakistan?

[01:08:45.00]
What I found really offensive

[01:08:47.00]
is when they confuse
Palestinians with Pakistanis,

[01:08:50.00]
because we're very different
kinds of terrorists, right?

[01:08:53.06]
[audience laughing]

[01:08:54.05]
I mean, you know, the
difference is obvious, right?

[01:08:56.06]
My people were on the
first season of Homeland.

[01:08:59.03]
[audience laughing and applauding]

[01:09:04.06]
The Pakistanis came on the fourth season.

[01:09:06.03]
[audience laughs]

[01:09:11.05]
[somber violin music]

[01:09:18.05]
[Suzi] We've been married for...

[01:09:20.04]
- [Saks] 15 years.

[01:09:21.03]
- 15 years, yeah.

[01:09:23.07]
We met at this picnic, like
an Arab salvation picnic,

[01:09:28.03]
and I was hesitant about going.

[01:09:31.03]
As soon as I walked in, I
meet, like, all these guys.

[01:09:34.02]
There were all these Gulf
Arab guys, like, you know,

[01:09:37.05]
Saudis-- were they Saudis or Kuwaitis?

[01:09:40.02]
- Both.

[01:09:41.01]
- Yeah, and I could tell right away,

[01:09:42.07]
because I'm not racist
but, like, I stereotype.

[01:09:47.05]
And so I was like, "Gulf
Arab, Gulf Arab, Gulf Arab."

[01:09:49.05]
And then I meet him, and
he totally stood out.

[01:09:52.07]
And then it was love at
first sight, I think.

[01:09:56.02]
For him mostly.

[01:09:57.03]
[both laughing]

[01:09:59.06]
We thought-- at the
time that we got married

[01:10:01.05]
we thought that we would--
people thought or we thought

[01:10:03.09]
that we would be fighting about religion,

[01:10:05.05]
like what religion, what
faith are we gonna practice.

[01:10:08.07]
- Well, we fought that battle early on.

[01:10:10.06]
We won that battle, really.

[01:10:11.05]
- [Suzi] Yeah, we settled on Islam.

[01:10:12.08]
- We moved on to the
more important battles.

[01:10:14.02]
- Yeah, yeah, we settled on Islam.

[01:10:15.06]
And the thing that I say
is that I converted, like,

[01:10:18.09]
I converted but I don't practice.

[01:10:21.05]
So I feel like I downloaded the app,

[01:10:23.05]
but I haven't really played with it.

[01:10:27.00]
- [Both] Hi!

[01:10:28.05]
- [Suzi] Hello, hello.

[01:10:29.03]
- How are you?

[01:10:30.02]
- How are you?

[01:10:31.00]
A long time!

[01:10:31.09]
Hi, it's so good to see you!

[01:10:33.03]
- [John] Hey brother, how are you?

[01:10:35.00]
- Good to see you.

[01:10:35.08]
- [Suzi] You know that
I speak Urdu, right?

[01:10:37.02]
- [Saks] We have water,
white wine, red wine.

[01:10:41.00]
- This is haram.

[01:10:41.08]
We hare having white
wine in red wine glasses.

[01:10:44.09]
- That's haram.

[01:10:46.03]
- Saks has not given me a glass.

[01:10:48.01]
- Oh, there's not one in front of you?

[01:10:49.08]
- [Suzi] There should
be a fatwa against us.

[01:10:55.08]
- Nice.

[01:10:56.07]
- [Suzi] So we're gonna scoop the bottom.

[01:10:59.06]
I hope you all eat lamb.

[01:11:00.05]
I didn't even ask.

[01:11:01.05]
- Amazing!
- Yes!

[01:11:02.07]
- [Suzi] Maqluba is a Palestinian dish,

[01:11:04.08]
and it basically means "upside down,"

[01:11:06.05]
'cause you put the vegetables,
the meat and the rice

[01:11:08.09]
all in one dish and
you let it slowly cook.

[01:11:11.01]
This is from the days when they
could only afford one fire.

[01:11:13.07]
- [Homa] Ah, OK.

[01:11:17.07]
- So we've been married a long time

[01:11:18.09]
and I've noticed there's a

[01:11:20.03]
major cultural difference between us.

[01:11:22.01]
Like he is Asian, so he
has that Asian work ethic.

[01:11:26.04]
You know what that is.

[01:11:27.06]
If one can do it than I can do it, right?

[01:11:31.06]
If no one can do it, then I must do it.

[01:11:35.02]
And I have the Arab work ethic, you know,

[01:11:38.07]
which is, if one can do it, let him do it.

[01:11:41.09]
[audience applauding]

[01:11:47.08]
And if no one can do it,
habibi how can I do it?

[01:11:53.07]
Being Palestinian, I
think you're always aware

[01:11:56.00]
of who you are.

[01:11:57.01]
You know that people
think you're a terrorist,

[01:11:59.00]
but you know who you are.

[01:12:00.05]
- I think when you grow up here,

[01:12:01.09]
you're really aware of differences

[01:12:04.08]
because everyone's from somewhere else.

[01:12:06.07]
- It's an interesting time
now, I think, in that...

[01:12:12.05]
Our level of comfort for discussing race,

[01:12:15.05]
I feel like has gone
in the other direction.

[01:12:18.03]
Y'know, we talk about America
becoming a non-white nation,

[01:12:22.01]
but that we will continually reinvent

[01:12:24.02]
the notion of whiteness
so that white people

[01:12:26.04]
are in majority or at least hold power.

[01:12:29.05]
- It's not that race created racism,

[01:12:32.04]
it's that racism created
the concept of race.

[01:12:35.02]
So our phenotypes, like what
we physically look like,

[01:12:38.04]
like in terms of, like, DNA,

[01:12:40.08]
what separates somebody who might

[01:12:42.03]
look extremely different from another

[01:12:44.07]
is, like, a minuscule
fraction of a percent.

[01:12:47.07]
- The issue to me is, like,

[01:12:49.05]
why is one thing better
than another thing?

[01:12:51.06]
We're same enough that we
can talk to each other.

[01:12:54.00]
We can, like, use words and
smiles and body language

[01:12:58.06]
to try to understand each other.

[01:13:00.02]
But no one really tries.

[01:13:02.04]
Put your energy in being
nice to each other.

[01:13:06.02]
- I grew up being part of a community.

[01:13:09.04]
Saks grew up being part of a community.

[01:13:11.05]
And we wanted our son to be exposed

[01:13:14.02]
to the right kind of Islam.

[01:13:15.07]
And we're not-- we don't practice enough

[01:13:19.09]
to be able to teach him at
home, and we wanted him--

[01:13:23.04]
I kind of, personally as a convert,

[01:13:25.03]
I wanted to learn with him.

[01:13:27.05]
I remember once my mother-in-law was over,

[01:13:30.01]
when he was really little,
and she was praying

[01:13:32.07]
and he said, "Oh Nana, you're doing yoga.

[01:13:35.02]
"I'll do yoga with you."

[01:13:36.05]
And then she said, "You
have taught him nothing!"

[01:13:39.03]
And so that-- there was a
little bit of guilt there.

[01:13:44.00]
We decided to send our
son to Sunday school.

[01:13:48.08]
You know, we were very specific

[01:13:50.04]
about what the values and the morals

[01:13:52.07]
and the beliefs of the
Sunday school that we wanted.

[01:13:54.06]
And we were so happy
to find Cordoba House.

[01:13:58.04]
The imam of the school,
who is Imam Feisal,

[01:14:00.07]
is trying to redefine what it means

[01:14:02.07]
to be an American Muslim.

[01:14:04.07]
So he takes into consideration, you know,

[01:14:07.02]
the way we are vilified on TV

[01:14:09.04]
and he also takes into
consideration, you know,

[01:14:12.06]
what it means to be Muslim after 9/11.

[01:14:14.08]
It's very hard to sort of say to yourself,

[01:14:18.02]
"I'm gonna claim this thing
that is vilified on TV."

[01:14:21.07]
I think it's easy for
completely secular Muslim

[01:14:24.08]
or ex-Muslim-- like, I have
a friend who's ex-Muslim--

[01:14:26.08]
to say, "I want nothing to do with that."

[01:14:29.00]
It's easy.

[01:14:30.03]
And it's very hard to say,
"No, I want to claim this,"

[01:14:32.07]
because being Arab and being Muslim is--

[01:14:36.09]
There's so much, there's so much culture

[01:14:39.01]
and tradition and history there

[01:14:42.04]
and it's-- you know, you have to just

[01:14:44.08]
kind of teach your kids,
we have to teach our son

[01:14:47.00]
that yes, you know, this
is the narrative on TV

[01:14:50.06]
but we are not that.

[01:14:52.04]
[audience laughing]

[01:14:54.07]
So I grew up in the West
Bank and most people wonder

[01:14:58.04]
if my real name is like Fatima Adijah,

[01:15:00.05]
but it's actually Suzi.

[01:15:02.03]
[audience laughing]

[01:15:04.02]
My sister, who looks
way more Arab than I do,

[01:15:06.07]
her name is Jane but-- Jane.

[01:15:09.08]
But her eyebrows alone speak Arabic.

[01:15:12.06]
[audience laughing]

[01:15:16.01]
This is-- a fun fact about me

[01:15:18.07]
is that I have spent more
money on facial hair removal

[01:15:21.08]
than I did on college.

[01:15:23.07]
[audience laughing]

[01:15:26.02]
- Oh my god, I feel like
I've been waiting for it

[01:15:28.05]
to happen my whole life, in a weird sense.

[01:15:30.08]
I've been waiting for some
sort of, like, crisis where--

[01:15:36.03]
- [Saks] Right, major crackdown.

[01:15:37.06]
- A major crackdown of some sort

[01:15:39.02]
where one's identity was
going to be important,

[01:15:44.01]
and that you had to choose some side

[01:15:46.07]
that you didn't ever really
necessarily think about.

[01:15:50.05]
Or if you did it wasn't necessarily like--

[01:15:52.09]
- One of the first things my parents said

[01:15:55.08]
when they saw this tattoo on my arm is,

[01:15:59.00]
"Now everybody's gonna
know you're Pakistani."

[01:16:04.00]
And I said, "Yeah, OK.

[01:16:05.06]
"So what's wrong, are you saying

[01:16:07.04]
"there's anything wrong with that?

[01:16:08.05]
"Is there anything wrong with being

[01:16:10.07]
"sort of like that I'm originally

[01:16:12.03]
"from Pakistan or anything?"

[01:16:14.01]
They said, "No, but you're
just labeling yourself

[01:16:16.09]
"very clearly, and what
if there's like some nut

[01:16:19.02]
"or psycho that sees
that and attacks you?"

[01:16:22.03]
- There's been a tension my whole life

[01:16:23.09]
that feels like something's gonna happen.

[01:16:27.00]
Like whenever I watch movies

[01:16:28.06]
that have any sort of political disruption

[01:16:33.07]
that happens all of a sudden, y'know,

[01:16:36.03]
and then there's suddenly these
sides that have to be taken,

[01:16:40.00]
or I hear about it actually
happening in other places,

[01:16:42.09]
I associate with it.

[01:16:44.04]
- John, you're the guy,
like, if something happens

[01:16:46.07]
and, like, there's a
holocaust against Muslims,

[01:16:48.08]
we will hide at your place.

[01:16:50.06]
You will protect us.

[01:16:54.07]
I want to know, Omar, what was it like

[01:16:56.07]
when you can out to your parents?

[01:16:58.04]
- I think I must have been in--

[01:17:01.03]
what was it, 9th grade or something?

[01:17:04.09]
So I think we were coming into the city,

[01:17:07.00]
my mother and I, so
sometime in high school,

[01:17:09.01]
and I told her, I said,
"Listen, what I do know is

[01:17:11.07]
"that I don't think that I'm straight."

[01:17:14.09]
And so she was pretty cool.

[01:17:16.00]
She was like, "Listen,
you know I have concerns

[01:17:17.07]
"for you in terms of, I don't want you

[01:17:19.08]
"to have something about you

[01:17:22.02]
"that would make your
life more difficult."

[01:17:24.01]
But any case, she was
fairly cool about it.

[01:17:25.08]
My father, I think my
father had a tougher time.

[01:17:31.04]
And so I also told him, I said
"Look, you know I have love,

[01:17:34.04]
"affection and sexual attraction
with men and also women."

[01:17:38.09]
So I think he chose to
focus on the women part.

[01:17:42.03]
- [Saks] There is a chance!

[01:17:43.01]
- Yeah, exactly.

[01:17:44.08]
- So you're very lucky that your parents

[01:17:47.06]
were calm about it.

[01:17:51.01]
- Yeah, I'm grateful that we
just came from a place of,

[01:17:54.08]
you know, self-knowledge and sort of

[01:17:56.09]
ease in one's own identity in that sense.

[01:18:00.02]
- So Amy Schumer has
this joke that I love,

[01:18:02.07]
she says, "I'm not a feminist,

[01:18:04.06]
"but feminists are in good hands with me."

[01:18:07.09]
And so after I did the Muslim Funny Fest,

[01:18:10.07]
a woman came up to me and said,

[01:18:11.09]
"You know, you're not really Muslim."

[01:18:13.02]
I said, "You know, you might not claim me

[01:18:15.06]
"but I think Muslims are
in good hands with me."

[01:18:17.08]
Like I'm only gonna sort
of improve the narrative.

[01:18:22.04]
And I think that that's what Muslim needs.

[01:18:24.03]
I think Muslims need
more Arabs and Muslims

[01:18:28.06]
and people of color in media

[01:18:30.01]
so that we can change the narrative

[01:18:33.01]
through our storytelling.

[01:18:36.02]
So to summarize for you guys--

[01:18:38.01]
this is like the TED
Talk portion of my show--

[01:18:40.03]
basically, when a Christian Arab girl

[01:18:42.05]
falls in love with a Muslim,
she's either disowned

[01:18:45.04]
or her mother gets a heart attack

[01:18:47.01]
or her father kills her
in an honor killing.

[01:18:49.06]
So you can imagine how hard it was for me

[01:18:51.03]
when I fell in love with a Pakistani.

[01:18:52.07]
It wasn't easy.

[01:18:53.08]
And I'm actually writing
a book about my experience

[01:18:56.08]
and it's titled, "I Married
a Muslim and No One Died".

[01:19:00.07]
[audience laughing and applauding]

[01:19:02.05]
You guys have been
amazing, thank you so much!

[01:19:05.03]
[audience applauding]

[01:19:14.09]
[instrumental oud music]

[01:19:26.09]
- The reason why it would seem

[01:19:33.04]
like I have little interest
to bring my wife to America

[01:19:37.08]
is 'cause it's been in limbo so long,

[01:19:40.03]
I'm just exhausted, y'know?

[01:19:43.08]
And I turned down a lot of opportunities.

[01:19:47.09]
I, y'know, made a lot of silly choices

[01:19:51.06]
banking on this happening.

[01:19:59.09]
It just turned out to be
endless hours of waiting

[01:20:02.09]
and filling out forms and
going here and going there

[01:20:07.04]
and, y'know, just deciding

[01:20:10.01]
to just throw the whole issue out.

[01:20:13.06]
I'm getting ready, I'm thinking
about just changing jobs,

[01:20:16.05]
changing countries, changing
nationalities, I don't know.

[01:20:20.09]
Everything, y'know?

[01:20:23.02]
I'm not expecting to be here much longer.

[01:20:26.00]
Not at this center, not in this country.

[01:20:28.06]
I just don't have much zeal to, y'know,

[01:20:34.04]
push for anything anymore,
in that respect, y'know?

[01:20:45.04]
If we can't see a light
at the end of the tunnel,

[01:20:47.09]
it makes it very difficult to proceed.

[01:20:52.09]
So, even if a person has a tragedy

[01:20:56.09]
or has prison time or something--

[01:21:00.01]
but they have a definite time--

[01:21:02.08]
they can look forward to
that, they can deal with it.

[01:21:05.08]
But this doesn't seem like it's gonna

[01:21:08.05]
work itself out any time soon, y'know?

[01:21:13.03]
It's just, y'know, so--

[01:21:16.09]
I don't know.

[01:21:18.06]
It's a real pain in the
neck, the whole thing.

[01:21:27.06]
Even if my particular
situation isn't fixed,

[01:21:31.05]
at least we can see one part of the puzzle

[01:21:34.03]
of what our direction is as a country.

[01:21:38.03]
Maybe we should do some
introspection, maybe, you know?

[01:21:44.08]
It's a lot bigger than just me.

[01:21:46.06]
I mean there are a lot of
worse things have happened

[01:21:49.02]
to a lot better people.

[01:21:52.07]
For myself, we're gonna just
settle down outside of America

[01:21:57.08]
and move on like that,

[01:22:02.01]
just to be reunited with my wife and kids,

[01:22:04.07]
keep my family together and
not end up in some divorce

[01:22:08.08]
or some irreparable emotional damage.

[01:22:14.02]
That's my ideal plan.

[01:22:21.06]
[sighing]

[01:22:29.06]
[crowd chatting]

[01:22:38.04]
- Which color's good for me?

[01:22:39.07]
What do you think?

[01:22:40.09]
Alright.

[01:22:45.03]
- No, actually that's like
my favorite color too.

[01:22:46.09]
Like teal-ish, teal-ish blue.

[01:22:49.06]
- No, I'm admiring you, yeah.

[01:22:51.02]
I'm admiring, yeah.

[01:23:03.05]
- Thank you very much.

[01:23:04.09]
- You're welcome.

[01:23:11.05]
- There we go.

[01:23:12.03]
- [Woman 1] Thank you.

[01:23:13.06]
- I feel like I have all
these sisters with me.

[01:23:16.05]
I don't have any sisters.

[01:23:18.06]
- [Woman] Today we're your sisters.

[01:23:22.00]
- She's gonna give me a sexy Turkish one.

[01:23:26.08]
If we're gonna do hijab
we might as well go sexy.

[01:23:29.09]
- You want it turban tied?

[01:23:30.09]
- Yeah, turban tied.

[01:23:33.04]
Whatever is sexier.

[01:23:35.01]
- Yeah, why not?

[01:23:37.09]
You like it?

[01:23:38.08]
- [Woman] It's nice to meet you.

[01:23:42.00]
[pensive instrumental music]

[01:23:48.01]
[crowd chatting]

[01:24:59.08]
[somber flute music]

[01:25:16.07]
[instrumental piano music]

[01:25:19.08]