Examines the effects of hate speech and bigotry on the lives of Muslim-Americans.
Muslim in America: Trump's Legacy of Fear
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Since 2015, anti-Muslim hate groups, conspiracy theories and hate crimes have risen in the United States. In this Peabody Award-winning exposé, Deeyah Khan explores the connections between this increase in hate-driven incidents and state-endorsed racism and investigates what it's like to be Muslim in a country where many people feel they don’t belong.
Filmed before and during the coronavirus pandemic and while events following the death of George Floyd unfolded around her in America, Khan meets ordinary Muslims whose lives have been shattered by violence and intolerance, activists trying to combat a rising tide of hatred, armed militia who believe Islam is infiltrating the U.S., and lawmakers who have themselves been the target of vitriolic rhetoric, such as Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Deploying her uniquely intimate filming style, Deeyah seeks to get to the heart of the Muslim experience - providing a vivid insight into the experiences of alienation, of rejection, and the daily struggles of keeping faith in both Islam and the American Dream.
Citation
Main credits
Khan, Deeyah (film director)
Smith, Andrew (film producer)
Prindle, Darin (film producer)
Other credits
Music, Danny Farrant, Nick Kinglsey.
Distributor subjects
Arab; Diversity; Racism; Islam; Human Rights; Politics; ReligionKeywords
00:00:07.996 --> 00:00:10.780
(calm music)
00:00:10.780 --> 00:00:12.770
- To be Muslim today,
00:00:12.770 --> 00:00:17.770
it feels that you have
a target on your back.
00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:20.320
- It feels like you're not seen.
00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:26.200
It feels like you're never
gonna be good enough.
00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:29.260
- When you have so much
hatred coming your way,
00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:32.580
so many people telling
you that you don't belong,
00:00:32.580 --> 00:00:35.890
it makes me wanna not exist in this world.
00:00:35.890 --> 00:00:38.100
- [Deeyah] America has seen 20 years,
00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:42.433
of terrorist attacks and
war, stretching back to 9/11.
00:00:43.750 --> 00:00:46.183
Hatred and extremism has grown,
00:00:47.310 --> 00:00:51.360
bringing fear and violence
to ordinary American Muslims.
00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:55.337
- Then he mumbled a question,
"Where are you from?"
00:00:55.337 --> 00:00:58.230
And before I could finish my sentence,
00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:00.770
he pulled the trigger
from pointblank range.
00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:04.000
- Move.
(tensed music)
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.370
- [Deeyah] Under Donald
Trump's presidency,
00:01:06.370 --> 00:01:08.793
America's divisions widened.
00:01:09.880 --> 00:01:11.510
- Donald J. Trump is calling,
00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:14.270
for a total and complete shutdown,
00:01:14.270 --> 00:01:17.020
of Muslims entering the United States.
00:01:17.020 --> 00:01:19.820
All I'm saying is if they
wanna leave, they can leave.
00:01:19.820 --> 00:01:22.680
They can leave, but they
have to love our country.
00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.773
(crowd shouting)
00:01:25.773 --> 00:01:27.540
- People have threatened,
00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:30.810
to throw me off the Empire State Building.
00:01:30.810 --> 00:01:34.360
They have threatened to put
a bullet through my skull.
00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:36.816
- [Deeyah] Conspiracy
theories are spreading fear.
00:01:36.816 --> 00:01:38.350
(gun blasting)
00:01:38.350 --> 00:01:40.860
- Over 80% of mosques in the US,
00:01:40.860 --> 00:01:43.060
preaching and advancing jihad.
00:01:43.060 --> 00:01:46.060
- We are at war, whether
we recognize it or not,
00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:48.760
we are at war because our
enemy has declared war on us.
00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.440
- Islam versus the West, create an enemy,
00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:55.290
and say that they're coming to
get us and then attack them.
00:01:55.290 --> 00:01:56.760
- There's gonna come a time,
00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.150
when we are gonna have to
stop putting up with it.
00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:02.793
- [Deeyah] Ordinary people
are becoming terrorists.
00:02:02.793 --> 00:02:05.970
- [Man] Accused planning to
blow up an apartment complex,
00:02:05.970 --> 00:02:07.430
in Garden City.
00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:09.011
- [Patrick] There's only one
good fucking kind of Muslim
00:02:09.011 --> 00:02:11.143
and that's a dead
motherfucker, straight up.
00:02:11.143 --> 00:02:13.063
Fucking goddamn cockroaches.
00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:15.220
- The one thing that I wanna say,
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is it could happen to anybody.
00:02:16.993 --> 00:02:19.537
(sobbing)
00:02:19.537 --> 00:02:21.620
- [Deeyah] What it is like to be told,
00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:24.130
you're not welcome in your own country?
00:02:24.130 --> 00:02:26.210
- I've come to the conclusion
that the only sense of home,
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that I've ever had is my parents.
00:02:29.214 --> 00:02:33.353
That's the only concern
I have. (tensed music)
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- There's a beautiful side to America,
00:02:39.335 --> 00:02:41.387
and there's an ugly side to America.
00:02:41.387 --> 00:02:43.603
That's the ugly part of America.
00:02:44.999 --> 00:02:47.582
(gun blasting)
00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.603
- [Deeyah] Let's just start
with you coming to America.
00:02:57.730 --> 00:03:01.700
- Well, I was born and
raised in Bangladesh,
00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:03.840
and had a dream to be an air force pilot.
00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:05.670
And after attending that
military boarding school,
00:03:05.670 --> 00:03:09.030
for six years, I joined
the Bangladeshi Air Force,
00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:10.563
to fulfill my childhood dream.
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But after graduating as a pilot officer,
00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:16.820
I didn't feel my destiny was there.
00:03:16.820 --> 00:03:19.260
And when I got a chance to
come to the United States,
00:03:19.260 --> 00:03:22.710
for additional higher
education, I took it,
00:03:22.710 --> 00:03:25.800
while also hoping to
experience the American dream.
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And I moved to Dallas in May, 2001.
00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:31.520
And during the summertime,
my friend and I,
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:33.113
we opened a gas station.
00:03:37.380 --> 00:03:41.210
On September 21st, 10 days
of the 9/11 terrorist attack,
00:03:41.210 --> 00:03:45.800
a customer walked in
wearing bandana, sunglasses,
00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:46.633
and a baseball cap,
00:03:46.633 --> 00:03:49.120
holding your sort of
double-barrel shotgun.
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.390
So I opened the cash register,
00:03:51.390 --> 00:03:54.453
placed all the money on the
counter and offered him.
00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:57.240
But he wasn't looking
at the money, though.
00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.651
He was looking at me and
then he mumbled a question,
00:04:01.651 --> 00:04:03.440
"Where are you from?"
00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:06.010
And before I could finish my sentence,
00:04:06.010 --> 00:04:08.960
he pulled the trigger
from point blank range.
00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:11.780
I looked onto the floor
and saw blood pouring,
00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:14.540
like an open faucet from
the right side of my head.
00:04:14.540 --> 00:04:18.830
And I remember myself screaming,
"Mom" top of my voice.
00:04:18.830 --> 00:04:21.400
And I placed my hands in my head,
00:04:21.400 --> 00:04:23.950
thinking I had to keep my
brain from spilling out.
00:04:23.950 --> 00:04:25.900
When I touched my face,
00:04:25.900 --> 00:04:29.680
I can feel all those gun, all the pellets.
00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:30.530
- [Deeyah] Still?
00:04:30.530 --> 00:04:34.920
- Still I have more than three
dozen embedded in my face.
00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:39.053
Once you're hurt, you need
a shoulder to lean on.
00:04:40.270 --> 00:04:43.763
You need someone to hold you, to hug you,
00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:50.300
to tell you that things will get better.
00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:52.883
(somber music)
00:04:56.210 --> 00:04:58.670
- [Deeyah] Racist attacker
was a white supremacist,
00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:01.630
and gang member, Mark Stroman.
00:05:01.630 --> 00:05:03.710
He told the court, he shot him,
00:05:03.710 --> 00:05:05.563
because he was of Muslim descent.
00:05:07.521 --> 00:05:11.220
After he shot Rais, he walked
into another gas station,
00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:14.810
and murdered Vasudev
Patel, a Hindu immigrant,
00:05:14.810 --> 00:05:17.087
thinking he was also Muslim.
00:05:17.087 --> 00:05:19.234
(gun blasting)
(screaming)
00:05:19.234 --> 00:05:22.331
(door opening)
(sobbing)
00:05:22.331 --> 00:05:26.460
(car engine starting)
(car tires squeaking)
00:05:26.460 --> 00:05:28.990
- [Deeyah] Rais has now
become a community activist,
00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:30.283
tackling hate crime.
00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:35.950
- So much trauma, so
much hate and violence,
00:05:35.950 --> 00:05:40.950
going on in this world
because of ignorance,
00:05:41.870 --> 00:05:43.573
because of fear.
00:05:44.530 --> 00:05:46.440
What inspired him to take up arms,
00:05:46.440 --> 00:05:48.700
against innocent human beings?
00:05:48.700 --> 00:05:49.991
What triggered him?
00:05:49.991 --> 00:05:52.991
(suspenseful music)
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- [Deeyah] I started making
this film in the summer of 2019,
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.720
the last year of Donald
Trump's presidency.
00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:03.460
I wanted to find out,
00:06:03.460 --> 00:06:06.730
what's it like to be a Muslim in America.
00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:10.017
I wanted to try to find an
answer to racist question,
00:06:10.017 --> 00:06:13.040
"What triggers someone to
attack a fellow American,
00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:14.930
just because they're Muslim?"
00:06:14.930 --> 00:06:17.090
(suspenseful music)
(sirens wailing)
00:06:17.090 --> 00:06:21.050
In the years after 9/11 America
fought a series of wars,
00:06:21.050 --> 00:06:23.420
against Muslim countries.
00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:25.020
Violence and instability,
00:06:25.020 --> 00:06:27.910
spread across parts of the Middle East.
00:06:27.910 --> 00:06:31.640
By September, 2015, the Syrian Civil War,
00:06:31.640 --> 00:06:34.640
had created a gigantic refugee crisis,
00:06:34.640 --> 00:06:38.143
with more than 4 million
people flooding across borders.
00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:42.250
America committed to take in,
00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:44.683
at least 10,000 refugees a year.
00:06:46.780 --> 00:06:50.910
Then in December, 2015, came
the worst terrorist attack,
00:06:50.910 --> 00:06:53.500
on US soil since 9/11.
00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:56.580
Two jihad extremists
attacked the Christmas party,
00:06:56.580 --> 00:06:59.780
being held in San Bernardino, California.
00:06:59.780 --> 00:07:02.290
- [Reporter] Syed Farook
and his wife Tashfeen Malik,
00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:04.100
fired 100 rounds.
00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:07.250
Three victims rushed them,
but couldn't stop them.
00:07:07.250 --> 00:07:09.840
- [Deeyah] The terrorists
shot 14 people dead,
00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:12.700
and 22 were seriously injured.
00:07:12.700 --> 00:07:14.300
The attack raised questions,
00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:16.800
about the vetting of Muslim immigrants.
00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.240
- [Reporter] Malik made radical
postings on social media,
00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.360
as far back as 2012, two
years before she moved,
00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.510
to the United States and married Farook.
00:07:25.510 --> 00:07:27.540
- [Deeyah] A few days after the attacks,
00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:30.140
Donald Trump, who was
running for president,
00:07:30.140 --> 00:07:33.870
announced a new policy
on Muslim immigration.
00:07:33.870 --> 00:07:38.870
- Our country cannot be the
victim of horrendous attacks,
00:07:39.990 --> 00:07:44.420
by the people that believe only in jihad.
00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:47.140
These are people only believe in jihad.
00:07:47.140 --> 00:07:48.490
They don't want our system.
00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:51.040
They don't want our system.
00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.600
These are people that are here by the way.
00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:54.534
People are here.
00:07:54.534 --> 00:07:57.370
(crowd booing)
00:07:57.370 --> 00:07:58.720
They wanna change your religion.
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I don't think so. I don't think so.
00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:03.180
I don't think so. Not gonna happen.
00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:04.770
It's gonna get worse and worse.
00:08:04.770 --> 00:08:07.560
You're gonna have more
World Trade Centers.
00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:09.720
It's gonna get worse and worse folks.
00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:14.120
Donald J. Trump is calling for
a total and complete shutdown
00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:17.160
of Muslims entering the United States,
00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:22.100
until our country's
representatives can figure out,
00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:24.390
what the hell is going on.
00:08:24.390 --> 00:08:25.930
- [Deeyah] In the years since he started,
00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:27.790
making speeches like this,
00:08:27.790 --> 00:08:32.410
the number of far-right hate
groups has increased by 20%,
00:08:32.410 --> 00:08:34.490
and hate crimes against Muslims,
00:08:34.490 --> 00:08:37.202
have increased by around 75%.
00:08:37.202 --> 00:08:40.202
(suspenseful music)
00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:45.471
The hatred has reached every
corner of this country.
00:08:45.471 --> 00:08:48.760
(suspenseful music continues)
00:08:48.760 --> 00:08:52.494
I'm in Southwest Kansas
to meet the Stein family.
00:08:52.494 --> 00:08:54.550
(door opening)
00:08:54.550 --> 00:08:57.000
- Hello dear, come in.
00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:58.750
Welcome.
00:08:58.750 --> 00:09:01.450
- [Deeyah] For decades,
they've lived peaceful lives,
00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:02.940
as farmers here,
00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:06.540
but just before the
presidential election in 2016,
00:09:06.540 --> 00:09:08.563
their world was ripped apart.
00:09:10.050 --> 00:09:12.060
- Three men are doing court on Monday,
00:09:12.060 --> 00:09:13.590
after federal investigators,
00:09:13.590 --> 00:09:16.360
say they broke up a
right-wing militia plot.
00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:18.250
- [Reporter] Three men are
accused of planning to blow up,
00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:20.923
an apartment complex in Garden City.
00:09:22.140 --> 00:09:24.260
- [Reporter] The FBI
says this was the target,
00:09:24.260 --> 00:09:27.110
an apartment complex
housing about 120 people,
00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:29.820
mostly Muslim Somali refugees.
00:09:29.820 --> 00:09:31.850
- They're anti-government,
they're anti-immigrant,
00:09:31.850 --> 00:09:33.670
and they're anti Muslim.
00:09:33.670 --> 00:09:36.300
- [Deeyah] Their son, Patrick,
was one of the men convicted
00:09:36.300 --> 00:09:37.720
for the plot.
00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.563
He's now serving 30 years in prison.
00:09:42.950 --> 00:09:45.483
The family has never
given an interview before.
00:09:48.030 --> 00:09:51.573
- Patrick was extremely loyal,
00:09:52.640 --> 00:09:56.490
would do anything to to help anyone.
00:09:56.490 --> 00:09:58.990
He was passionate about his country.
00:09:58.990 --> 00:10:02.090
He was passionate about his family.
00:10:02.090 --> 00:10:07.090
It makes very homesick
for him, for that Patrick.
00:10:07.160 --> 00:10:09.530
That's the one that we know.
00:10:11.448 --> 00:10:13.615
(sobbing)
00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:19.340
- [Deeyah] Patrick
developed long-term drink,
00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:20.750
and drug addictions.
00:10:20.750 --> 00:10:23.903
His marriage failed, and
his business collapsed.
00:10:25.390 --> 00:10:28.270
He joined a right-wing
armed militia group,
00:10:28.270 --> 00:10:30.910
one of many that exist across America.
00:10:30.910 --> 00:10:34.340
- Pat was always looking
for a place to belong.
00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:37.030
It was like he had finally found people,
00:10:37.030 --> 00:10:40.660
that believed the way he believes.
00:10:40.660 --> 00:10:43.500
- [Deeyah] The family say that
after joining the militia,
00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:45.750
he became more and more convinced,
00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:48.293
the country was under threat from Muslims.
00:10:49.435 --> 00:10:53.900
- I think his understanding of Sharia law,
00:10:55.530 --> 00:11:00.340
what that meant to him, he was
worried about this country,
00:11:00.340 --> 00:11:02.920
starting to operate under Sharia law.
00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:06.540
I think he was terrified of
the safety of his country,
00:11:06.540 --> 00:11:09.630
his family, the farm.
00:11:09.630 --> 00:11:11.070
- [Deeyah] Patrick became immersed,
00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:13.370
in right-wing news and websites.
00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:18.370
- His fear and his passion
and his vulnerability,
00:11:19.040 --> 00:11:23.410
were fueled and exploited and groomed.
00:11:23.410 --> 00:11:26.920
- I want surveillance of
certain mosques, okay?
00:11:26.920 --> 00:11:29.793
If that's okay, I want surveillance.
00:11:30.660 --> 00:11:34.040
- [Deeyah] When Donald Trump
launched his campaign in 2015,
00:11:34.040 --> 00:11:37.730
Patrick became obsessed with
his speeches about Muslims.
00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:39.690
- They're trying to
take over our children,
00:11:39.690 --> 00:11:42.640
and convince them how wonderful ISIS is,
00:11:42.640 --> 00:11:44.830
and how wonderful Islam is.
00:11:44.830 --> 00:11:48.110
We have to look at the Muslims
and we have to do something.
00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:50.063
- Donald Trump spoke to Patrick,
00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.120
I mean, not literally, but
his words and his message,
00:11:56.120 --> 00:12:00.640
spoke to people who were already afraid.
00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:04.030
- You have people coming
out of mosques with hatred,
00:12:04.030 --> 00:12:08.460
and with death in their
eyes and on their minds.
00:12:08.460 --> 00:12:10.660
We're gonna to have to do something.
00:12:10.660 --> 00:12:15.660
- 24 hour Internet social media rhetoric,
00:12:17.290 --> 00:12:21.623
was changing his belief system.
00:12:22.670 --> 00:12:24.340
- [Deeyah] Unknown to Patrick,
00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:25.970
a fellow member of the militia,
00:12:25.970 --> 00:12:28.510
had become alarmed at his statements,
00:12:28.510 --> 00:12:31.313
and was by now an informant for the FBI.
00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:35.680
Whenever Patrick and
two of his friends met,
00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:37.970
the informant came along too,
00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:40.920
and covertly recorded
their conspiracy theories.
00:12:40.920 --> 00:12:42.610
- [Patrick] The goddamn religion of Islam,
00:12:42.610 --> 00:12:47.610
their fucking orgasm would
be they control the world.
00:12:47.660 --> 00:12:50.570
Their objective is to
breed you out of existence,
00:12:50.570 --> 00:12:53.400
to get into the school board,
00:12:53.400 --> 00:12:57.840
every city council, the police
force, you know, No-Go-Zones,
00:12:57.840 --> 00:12:59.840
and then they declare Sharia law.
00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:01.660
- [Deeyah] It took a terrorist atrocity,
00:13:01.660 --> 00:13:04.665
to spur Patrick and his
friends into action.
00:13:04.665 --> 00:13:05.498
(gun blasting)
- [Woman] Oh, my God!
00:13:06.680 --> 00:13:07.730
- [Reporter] A volley of gunshots,
00:13:07.730 --> 00:13:09.740
in the night carnage bouncing inside,
00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:12.060
the injured on the ground outside.
00:13:12.060 --> 00:13:16.430
- [Deeyah] In June, 2016, a man
pledging allegiance to ISIS,
00:13:16.430 --> 00:13:18.810
attack the gay nightclub in Orlando,
00:13:18.810 --> 00:13:23.620
shooting 49 people dead
and wounding 53 more.
00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:26.100
Patrick and his friends made a decision.
00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:28.770
They would form their own
breakaway militia group,
00:13:28.770 --> 00:13:30.193
called The Crusaders.
00:13:31.270 --> 00:13:35.500
They started discussing a plan
to bomb an apartment block,
00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:39.270
in Garden City, Kansas,
which housed Somali refugees.
00:13:39.270 --> 00:13:40.253
- [Patrick] If I can get hold of some RPG,
00:13:40.253 --> 00:13:43.070
I'll blow every goddamn
building up right there.
00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:43.903
Boom, I'm out of there.
00:13:43.903 --> 00:13:46.550
Fact of matter is there
is no fucking good Muslim.
00:13:46.550 --> 00:13:48.150
There's only one good fucking kind Muslim,
00:13:48.150 --> 00:13:50.150
that's a dead motherfucker, straight up.
00:13:52.450 --> 00:13:56.100
- [Deeyah] The FBI fitted
a call with secret cameras,
00:13:56.100 --> 00:13:59.060
and filmed Patrick as he
took undercover agents,
00:13:59.060 --> 00:14:02.943
to Garden City to show them the
buildings he wanted to bomb.
00:14:04.660 --> 00:14:05.810
- Yeah, this one?
00:14:05.810 --> 00:14:07.160
This end on that side.
00:14:07.160 --> 00:14:08.730
- [Man] So the spiral into
the white truck (mumbles)
00:14:08.730 --> 00:14:10.230
- This is their fucking mosque.
00:14:10.230 --> 00:14:13.710
That's where they pray to fucking Haji.
00:14:13.710 --> 00:14:16.023
See that whole apartment
complex right there,
00:14:17.370 --> 00:14:18.710
that's all that's in there.
00:14:18.710 --> 00:14:19.760
Fucking goddamn--
00:14:19.760 --> 00:14:21.750
- [Man] Really?
- Yep, cockroaches.
00:14:21.750 --> 00:14:24.200
Our initial plan was to
get them at their mosque.
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:30.840
Secondary plan was to
kick fucking doors in,
00:14:31.290 --> 00:14:33.030
with a fucking silencer on them,
00:14:33.030 --> 00:14:35.970
and just cap every
motherfucker in the place.
00:14:35.970 --> 00:14:38.260
Take everything we can, if
there's anything of value,
00:14:38.260 --> 00:14:39.093
'cause I know--
00:14:39.093 --> 00:14:40.750
- [Man] You're gonna get
caught fast doing that bro.
00:14:40.750 --> 00:14:41.583
- Do you think?
00:14:41.583 --> 00:14:43.280
- [Man] Oh yeah.I don't think
that's a good idea, bro.
00:14:43.280 --> 00:14:44.880
- Okay
00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:46.153
- [Man] Let's focus on this one,
00:14:46.153 --> 00:14:48.310
then after that we can do something else.
00:14:48.310 --> 00:14:50.520
- You have no idea how much
I'm looking forward to this.
00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:52.020
- [Man] You're not alone, man.
00:14:54.040 --> 00:14:57.447
- I'd give anything to have
a camera set up, you know,
00:14:57.447 --> 00:15:02.447
wifi that shit to me so I
could watch it live. (laughs)
00:15:02.615 --> 00:15:05.505
- [Man] We can arrange that. (laughing)
00:15:05.505 --> 00:15:07.724
(soft music)
00:15:07.724 --> 00:15:10.750
- [Deeyah] The content of the
FBI recordings came as a shock
00:15:10.750 --> 00:15:12.240
to Patrick's family.
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.660
- Seeing that and hearing
that is horrifying.
00:15:19.830 --> 00:15:21.930
There is a certain accountability
and responsibility,
00:15:21.930 --> 00:15:24.830
that he needs to take for
the words that he spoke,
00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:27.140
for the hatred that he's spread.
00:15:27.140 --> 00:15:28.240
- It's not who we are.
00:15:29.310 --> 00:15:33.253
It's not who we believed he was either.
00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:36.240
- [Deeyah] As well as being radicalized,
00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.860
by far-right websites and
Donald Trump's speeches,
00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:42.210
the family believe
Patrick was led further,
00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:46.123
into extremist thought by
the FBI informant himself.
00:15:48.050 --> 00:15:49.980
But the jury rejected his defense,
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:51.700
that he had been entrapped,
00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:54.543
and he was sentenced to
three decades in prison.
00:15:56.250 --> 00:15:57.440
- The one thing that I wanna say,
00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.660
is that could happen to anybody.
00:15:59.660 --> 00:16:04.660
And if it can happen on our
beautiful Southwest Kansas farm,
00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:09.010
in the middle of nowhere, in
a quiet rural lovely community
00:16:10.170 --> 00:16:11.433
it can happen to anybody.
00:16:15.336 --> 00:16:16.220
- [Deeyah] I want to find out,
00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:18.693
how Patrick turned towards extremism.
00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:21.120
The family had told me,
00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:23.890
that he'd become more
paranoid about Muslims,
00:16:23.890 --> 00:16:26.230
after he joined a local militia,
00:16:26.230 --> 00:16:28.810
which was part of a loose Confederacy,
00:16:28.810 --> 00:16:31.221
called the Three Percent Security Force.
00:16:31.221 --> 00:16:33.888
(drums beating)
00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:37.704
This is one of their recruitment videos.
00:16:37.704 --> 00:16:40.704
(suspenseful music)
00:16:43.040 --> 00:16:47.010
They say they're anti-government,
Christian and right-wing,
00:16:47.010 --> 00:16:50.230
dedicated to preserving
the American constitution,
00:16:50.230 --> 00:16:53.566
against what they call,
enemies foreign and domestic.
00:16:53.566 --> 00:16:56.810
(suspenseful music continues)
00:16:56.810 --> 00:17:00.040
The overall head of the
Three Percent Security Force,
00:17:00.040 --> 00:17:03.650
calls himself General Blood Agent.
00:17:03.650 --> 00:17:07.535
In this video, he issues a threat to ISIS.
00:17:07.535 --> 00:17:10.480
- We are the predators, you the prey.
00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.090
The rivers will run red,
00:17:12.090 --> 00:17:15.420
with the blood of those
who target Americans.
00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:17.240
- [Deeyah] After months of trying,
00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:20.130
I get permission to meet
General Blood Agent,
00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:21.640
and the militia he leads,
00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:24.282
the Georgia Three Percent security Force.
00:17:24.282 --> 00:17:28.115
(suspenseful music continues)
00:17:30.690 --> 00:17:34.103
I'm told to wait at a gas
station outside Atlanta.
00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:38.420
(car horn honking)
00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:39.721
- Hello. Good morning.
00:17:39.721 --> 00:17:41.045
- [Deeyah] Good morning. How are you?
00:17:41.045 --> 00:17:42.241
- I'm good, I'm good.
00:17:42.241 --> 00:17:44.040
- [Deeyah] Militiaman Michael Bogus,
00:17:44.040 --> 00:17:45.733
has been sent to pick me up.
00:17:47.410 --> 00:17:50.830
- We're gonna do a little
shooting, a little training.
00:17:50.830 --> 00:17:54.380
I've been with the Patriot
Movement for a few years now.
00:17:54.380 --> 00:17:56.440
It's a brotherhood, really.
00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:57.316
- [Man On Phone] is Just
gonna walk you guys,
00:17:57.316 --> 00:17:58.722
and just followed him.
00:17:58.722 --> 00:17:59.913
- 'Aite, copy that.
00:18:00.810 --> 00:18:01.643
Leigrow.
00:18:07.739 --> 00:18:10.322
(gun blasting)
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:15.284
- It's a brotherhood.
00:18:15.284 --> 00:18:18.297
(gun blasting)
00:18:18.297 --> 00:18:19.380
- Move, move.
00:18:21.617 --> 00:18:24.950
(indistinct chattering)
00:18:30.049 --> 00:18:31.716
- [Man] Move in now.
00:18:36.738 --> 00:18:39.347
- How are you doing?
- Good.
00:18:39.347 --> 00:18:40.943
- [Deeyah] I meet General Blood Agent.
00:18:40.943 --> 00:18:42.390
Good morning.
- Good morning.
00:18:42.390 --> 00:18:43.828
- [Deeyah] How are you?
- I'm good, you?
00:18:43.828 --> 00:18:45.238
- [Deeyah] Good. Good to see you.
00:18:45.238 --> 00:18:46.738
- Good to see you.
00:18:47.840 --> 00:18:50.613
- Hey, you're one third the way through.
00:18:52.550 --> 00:18:54.583
- [Deeyah] His real name is Chris Hill.
00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:58.160
And after the training, he
agrees to sit down with me.
00:18:59.550 --> 00:19:01.130
I tell him, I'm trying to find out,
00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:03.390
how people like Patrick Stein,
00:19:03.390 --> 00:19:07.240
who joined a Three Percent, a
militia, became radicalized.
00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:10.300
He tells me the militias
are defensive only.
00:19:10.300 --> 00:19:13.750
He never knew Patrick and the
militias are totally opposed,
00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:17.040
to the kind of terrorism
which Patrick was planning.
00:19:17.040 --> 00:19:18.680
- They're a part of the fringe,
00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:20.710
very small part of the fringe.
00:19:20.710 --> 00:19:24.090
I think they have a warped
sense of how to go about,
00:19:24.090 --> 00:19:28.300
combating these fears and
these beliefs that they have.
00:19:28.300 --> 00:19:30.250
We don't things like that, you know.
00:19:30.250 --> 00:19:33.998
We don't advocate death or killing,
00:19:33.998 --> 00:19:37.210
especially of innocent people
or anything like that, right?
00:19:37.210 --> 00:19:38.520
We're at all don't wanna kill,
00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:40.970
or do anything like that at all.
00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:45.970
- [Deeyah] Why do you think
there is quite a lot of,
00:19:46.110 --> 00:19:50.853
anti-Muslim sentiments
within the various militias?
00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:54.750
- I'm guessing, but I'm guessing,
00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:57.240
it probably does have
something to do with,
00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.200
that terrorist attacks inside
the United States of America.
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:01.920
Being real, I mean, we have people,
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:04.560
that would love to
destroy our way of life.
00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:09.120
That is what in essence
a lot of Islam is about.
00:20:09.120 --> 00:20:12.970
Is about dare I say
conquest, but taking over,
00:20:12.970 --> 00:20:16.090
not really coming to participate,
but coming to take over.
00:20:16.090 --> 00:20:19.850
So I think there's some very
satanic powers in place,
00:20:19.850 --> 00:20:23.740
to help effectuate that.
00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:24.970
I mean, I've heard that everywhere,
00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:26.490
you hear the Islamic call to prayer,
00:20:26.490 --> 00:20:30.330
that's Islamic territory,
everything within earshot of it.
00:20:30.330 --> 00:20:33.730
You know, there could be a
mosque five miles down the road.
00:20:33.730 --> 00:20:35.720
And you mean to tell me if I hear it,
00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:37.420
if it comes through my ears,
00:20:37.420 --> 00:20:42.420
then I'm in and Islamic
territory or controlled area?
00:20:43.890 --> 00:20:45.360
Screw that!
00:20:45.360 --> 00:20:46.253
- [Man] Come to me.
00:20:47.280 --> 00:20:48.760
Set, moving through.
00:20:48.760 --> 00:20:50.720
- [Deeyah] I spend more
time with Chris Hill,
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.743
and his fellow militiaman known as K2.
00:20:54.600 --> 00:20:55.870
I asked them what they mean,
00:20:55.870 --> 00:21:00.000
by defending America against
enemies of foreign or domestic.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.570
- It don't matter what category,
00:21:02.570 --> 00:21:04.580
foreign or domestic enemies fall into.
00:21:04.580 --> 00:21:08.730
If your end game is to
overthrow the constitution,
00:21:08.730 --> 00:21:09.930
of the United States of America,
00:21:09.930 --> 00:21:12.770
you are an enemy of this country.
00:21:12.770 --> 00:21:17.020
And once you move to effectuate
those ideals and beliefs,
00:21:17.020 --> 00:21:18.900
then you are a target.
00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:21.680
- [Deeyah] And you feel
like the ideals and morals,
00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:25.420
that Muslims carry are
not compatible with your--
00:21:25.420 --> 00:21:26.380
- Absolutely not.
00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:28.770
Sharia law is illegal.
00:21:28.770 --> 00:21:29.653
It is illegal in this country,
00:21:29.653 --> 00:21:31.820
because it is counter to the constitution.
00:21:31.820 --> 00:21:33.910
It is counter to our laws in our country.
00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:34.790
- [Deeyah] Do you think Sharia law,
00:21:34.790 --> 00:21:36.240
is being practiced in this country?
00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:37.600
- Absolutely. It's being practiced,
00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:38.790
in some areas of this country.
00:21:38.790 --> 00:21:40.050
It is being practiced.
- [Deeyah] Like where?
00:21:40.050 --> 00:21:41.940
- Well, New York.
00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:43.020
New York, it's being practiced.
00:21:43.020 --> 00:21:45.920
They actually have Sharia police.
00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:47.740
They're out there enforcing Sharia law.
00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:50.763
There's no-go zones in this
country that, you know,
00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:53.700
we can't go as Christians.
00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.750
I don't think it's all
Muslims planning the attack,
00:21:56.750 --> 00:22:00.870
but we're planning to
subvert the constitution,
00:22:00.870 --> 00:22:02.670
but there's large pockets of them,
00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:07.670
that want to fundamentally
change this country.
00:22:07.748 --> 00:22:09.910
(gun blasting)
00:22:09.910 --> 00:22:12.360
- [Deeyah] I'm hearing the
same conspiracy theories,
00:22:12.360 --> 00:22:14.730
that Patrick's family said he absorbed,
00:22:14.730 --> 00:22:16.900
when he was with the militia.
00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:18.317
So what's the truth?
00:22:18.317 --> 00:22:21.760
- The truth is our country's
under attack from within,
00:22:21.760 --> 00:22:24.590
trying to destroy
Christianity in this country.
00:22:24.590 --> 00:22:29.590
There's gonna come a
time when we as a nation,
00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:32.350
are gonna have to stop putting up with it.
00:22:32.350 --> 00:22:34.000
It'll probably lead to bloodshed.
00:22:35.140 --> 00:22:36.920
- [Deeyah] You think it's
going to require violence?
00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:40.040
- I think the tree of
Liberty must be refreshed,
00:22:40.040 --> 00:22:42.660
from time to time by the blood of tyrants,
00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:43.860
and Patriots alike.
00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:47.200
This country is so divided right now,
00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.930
that all it takes is one spark, one spark,
00:22:50.930 --> 00:22:54.308
one match thrown on the
gasoline and it's up in flames.
00:22:54.308 --> 00:22:56.725
(indistinct)
00:23:00.287 --> 00:23:02.230
- Hi Deeyah.
- [Deeyah] Hi.
00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:03.063
- So good to se you.
00:23:03.063 --> 00:23:04.250
How are you?
- [Deeyah] Good. How are you?
00:23:04.250 --> 00:23:05.720
- Such a pleasure.
00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:07.830
- [Deeyah] I'm in Washington DC.
00:23:07.830 --> 00:23:09.573
I'm meeting Baktash Ahadi.
00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:13.060
I'm trying to find out what
it's like to be a Muslim,
00:23:13.060 --> 00:23:14.750
in Trump's America,
00:23:14.750 --> 00:23:17.251
a country divided by rising intolerance.
00:23:17.251 --> 00:23:20.084
(soft calm music)
00:23:22.120 --> 00:23:24.640
Baktash was born in Afghanistan.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:27.393
His parents fled war
when he was just a child.
00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.430
- My family landed in a small
little town in Pennsylvania,
00:23:31.430 --> 00:23:32.880
called Carlisle, Pennsylvania
00:23:33.930 --> 00:23:38.870
In a pre 9/11 world, we
are simply seen as others.
00:23:38.870 --> 00:23:41.240
I used to get beat up on
the playground as a kid,
00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:43.650
when I was in elementary school.
00:23:43.650 --> 00:23:46.400
And what's really interesting
about that experience is,
00:23:49.800 --> 00:23:52.790
I used to get beat up and
I felt like I deserved it.
00:23:52.790 --> 00:23:54.330
- [Deeyah] Why do you say that?
00:23:58.090 --> 00:24:00.520
- 'Cause there was an
obvious physical difference,
00:24:00.520 --> 00:24:01.520
between me and them.
00:24:03.083 --> 00:24:04.410
There was something internal to me,
00:24:04.410 --> 00:24:09.410
that made me feel that that
was my truth so to speak.
00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.770
All I wanted to do is
find a sense of belonging.
00:24:13.770 --> 00:24:17.027
All I wanted to do was forget
the place that I came from,
00:24:17.027 --> 00:24:18.943
and I wanted to find a sense of home.
00:24:21.300 --> 00:24:22.740
What's really curious about it, still,
00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:23.600
what's really interesting about it,
00:24:23.600 --> 00:24:27.120
is that I've served, not only
as a peace corps volunteer,
00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:28.810
but I also served as a
military interpreter,
00:24:28.810 --> 00:24:30.630
with the Marines for three years,
00:24:30.630 --> 00:24:32.893
on the front lines
against Islamic terrorism.
00:24:34.050 --> 00:24:36.997
The individuals that helped
and harbored Al Qaeda,
00:24:36.997 --> 00:24:38.850
who attacked the United States,
00:24:38.850 --> 00:24:40.473
a country that I love very much.
00:24:42.250 --> 00:24:44.300
And what's interesting is I never thought,
00:24:44.300 --> 00:24:48.707
that I'd deal with a
sense of unwantedness,
00:24:50.560 --> 00:24:52.383
after coming home from Afghanistan.
00:24:57.530 --> 00:24:59.030
It feels like you're not seen.
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.523
It feels like you're never
gonna be good enough.
00:25:05.560 --> 00:25:06.560
And I've come to the conclusion,
00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:08.260
that the only sense of
home that I've ever had,
00:25:08.260 --> 00:25:09.203
is my parents.
00:25:10.650 --> 00:25:12.200
That's the only concern I have.
00:25:20.410 --> 00:25:23.380
As it pertains to Islamophobia,
it's become something that,
00:25:23.380 --> 00:25:28.380
people can attach themselves
to essentially have a target,
00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:31.240
for the things that are not
working out in their lives.
00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:32.853
They have somebody to blame.
00:25:34.140 --> 00:25:37.070
And now we are the victims of that.
00:25:37.070 --> 00:25:39.950
Islamophobia in many ways has come back,
00:25:39.950 --> 00:25:44.620
and what's heightened now has
been the Trump administration.
00:25:44.620 --> 00:25:47.210
His rhetoric is the catalyst for people,
00:25:47.210 --> 00:25:51.360
feeling like they can implement
the things that he's saying.
00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:53.540
Essentially it's used as
ammunition for the beliefs,
00:25:53.540 --> 00:25:56.340
that they already have
to othering Muslims,
00:25:56.340 --> 00:25:59.840
who they believe to be the
enemy of the United States,
00:25:59.840 --> 00:26:02.710
who they believe don't have
a stake or an ownership,
00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:05.287
or a sense of belonging
here in the United States.
00:26:08.868 --> 00:26:11.701
(soft slow music)
00:26:18.780 --> 00:26:20.400
- [Deeyah] I've come to Minnesota,
00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:22.240
a state which is now within the center,
00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:24.799
of religious and community
tensions in America.
00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:28.200
(soft slow music continues)
00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:30.780
I'm visiting the Dar
Al-Farooq Islamic Center,
00:26:30.780 --> 00:26:31.723
in Bloomington.
00:26:33.120 --> 00:26:36.780
It has a large congregation of
mostly East African Muslims,
00:26:36.780 --> 00:26:38.210
who have settled in the area.
00:26:38.210 --> 00:26:42.043
(singing in foreign language)
00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.120
- Most of us, when we came here,
00:26:46.120 --> 00:26:48.710
we were brought as a refugees,
00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:51.670
and we were grateful to come here,
00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:54.820
because we came from a war torn countries.
00:26:54.820 --> 00:26:58.140
So coming here and building lives,
00:26:58.140 --> 00:27:00.936
and starting a new life was something,
00:27:00.936 --> 00:27:02.856
that we were looking forward.
00:27:02.856 --> 00:27:05.630
Like that was the hope and dreams.
00:27:05.630 --> 00:27:08.780
- [Deeyah] But in 2014,
the mosque was caught up,
00:27:08.780 --> 00:27:10.303
in a global crisis.
00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:14.260
The rise of ISIS in Syria
and images like these,
00:27:14.260 --> 00:27:17.254
sent shock waves around the world.
00:27:17.254 --> 00:27:19.837
(tensed music)
00:27:20.790 --> 00:27:23.310
Some Muslims from across
Western countries,
00:27:23.310 --> 00:27:25.290
went to join the jihadi group,
00:27:25.290 --> 00:27:27.303
in their fight to establish a caliphate.
00:27:29.270 --> 00:27:33.420
And then it emerged that as
many as 15 Somali-Americans,
00:27:33.420 --> 00:27:36.840
had flown from Minnesota
to fight with ISIS.
00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:39.030
There were allegations
of a terrorist pipeline,
00:27:39.030 --> 00:27:42.800
from Minnesota to Syria,
and the media reported,
00:27:42.800 --> 00:27:44.460
that some of the men had worshiped,
00:27:44.460 --> 00:27:46.980
at the Dar Al-Farooq mosque.
00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:50.420
The mosque says it's always
been opposed to ISIS,
00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:54.003
and had banned a worshiper for
expressing extremist views.
00:27:55.150 --> 00:27:58.510
Just two days before the 2016 election,
00:27:58.510 --> 00:28:00.920
Donald Trump visited Minnesota,
00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:04.379
and raised fears about Muslim
immigrants and terrorism.
00:28:04.379 --> 00:28:07.070
(tensed music continues)
00:28:07.070 --> 00:28:08.150
- Here in Minnesota,
00:28:08.150 --> 00:28:11.070
you've seen firsthand the problems caused,
00:28:11.070 --> 00:28:14.530
with large numbers of Somali refugees,
00:28:14.530 --> 00:28:17.370
coming into your state
and with some of them,
00:28:17.370 --> 00:28:20.950
then joining ISIS and spreading
their extremist views,
00:28:20.950 --> 00:28:23.190
all over our country
and all over the world.
00:28:23.190 --> 00:28:28.190
Oh, Minnesota, oh, Minnesota,
you know what's going on,
00:28:28.870 --> 00:28:30.910
you know what I'm talking about.
00:28:30.910 --> 00:28:33.410
- [Deeyah] Nine months after this speech,
00:28:33.410 --> 00:28:36.063
Dar Al-Farooq mosque was attacked.
00:28:36.970 --> 00:28:39.380
- That morning, it was a Saturday morning.
00:28:39.380 --> 00:28:40.980
I was in this room.
00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:43.850
They threw the bomb and
the bomb landed just here.
00:28:43.850 --> 00:28:46.050
And also the entire roof got, you know,
00:28:46.050 --> 00:28:48.211
most of the roots got collapsed.
00:28:48.211 --> 00:28:50.080
(bomb exploding)
00:28:50.080 --> 00:28:53.030
- [Deeyah] Someone had thrown
a pipe bomb into the mosque,
00:28:53.030 --> 00:28:56.173
as worshipers gathered for
the first prayers of the day.
00:29:00.010 --> 00:29:02.763
Through sheer luck, no one was hurt.
00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:05.570
- I was in a state of shock.
00:29:05.570 --> 00:29:08.040
I didn't know where to go, what to do.
00:29:08.040 --> 00:29:10.260
When I think sometimes, the flash memory,
00:29:10.260 --> 00:29:13.360
I get it could have been worse,
00:29:13.360 --> 00:29:15.833
and it could have been
go this way and that way.
00:29:17.270 --> 00:29:19.323
Environment that we live in today,
00:29:20.590 --> 00:29:22.900
this is the country my kids were born,
00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:24.500
and I am afraid for my children.
00:29:27.090 --> 00:29:28.900
- [Deeyah] It turned out that the bombing,
00:29:28.900 --> 00:29:31.543
had been carried out by
members of another militia.
00:29:33.490 --> 00:29:36.980
- We're speaking to you
members of the White Rabbit,
00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:41.090
Three Percent Illinois Patriot
Freedom Fighters militia.
00:29:41.090 --> 00:29:44.570
- [Deeyah] In 2019, 3 members
of the White Rabbits militia,
00:29:44.570 --> 00:29:47.643
from Illinois, were arrested
for bombing the mosque.
00:29:49.410 --> 00:29:52.830
Two pleaded guilty and the
ringleader Michael Hari,
00:29:52.830 --> 00:29:56.340
was found guilty and
faces a mandatory minimum,
00:29:56.340 --> 00:29:58.193
35 years in prison.
00:29:59.390 --> 00:30:02.610
- This guy who's in the court
right now, who bumped us,
00:30:02.610 --> 00:30:06.220
feels like he had points and
reasons why he bombed us.
00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:11.220
This government is emboldened
and helping this narrative,
00:30:11.800 --> 00:30:14.363
and this campaign of
white supremacy to grow.
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:17.330
- [Deeyah] Attacks like these,
00:30:17.330 --> 00:30:20.800
create a constant atmosphere
of fear and intimidation,
00:30:20.800 --> 00:30:22.623
for many Muslims in America.
00:30:23.610 --> 00:30:25.330
It can be a frightening prospect,
00:30:25.330 --> 00:30:27.133
to draw attention to yourself,
00:30:28.210 --> 00:30:31.790
but some Muslim figures
have not been silenced.
00:30:31.790 --> 00:30:34.470
(crowd applauding)
00:30:34.470 --> 00:30:37.430
A feature of the political
scene in Minnesota,
00:30:37.430 --> 00:30:41.353
has been the rise of the
Democrat politician, Ilhan Omar.
00:30:42.300 --> 00:30:45.010
Born in Somalia, she came with her family,
00:30:45.010 --> 00:30:46.623
to America as a teenager.
00:30:47.780 --> 00:30:49.820
In November, 2018,
00:30:49.820 --> 00:30:52.269
she was elected a
Congresswoman for Minnesota.
00:30:52.269 --> 00:30:53.960
(crowd cheering and applauding)
00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:57.700
- I stand here before you tonight,
00:30:57.700 --> 00:31:01.665
the first woman of color to
represent our state in Congress.
00:31:01.665 --> 00:31:02.592
(crowd cheering)
00:31:02.592 --> 00:31:05.124
The first woman to wear a hijab
to represent us in Congress.
00:31:05.124 --> 00:31:08.720
(crowd cheering and applauding)
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.136
The first refugee ever
elected to Congress.
00:31:12.136 --> 00:31:13.580
(crowd cheering and applauding)
00:31:13.580 --> 00:31:18.220
And one of the first Muslim
women elected to Congress.
00:31:18.220 --> 00:31:20.125
We're going to Washington everyone.
00:31:20.125 --> 00:31:22.430
(crowd cheering)
00:31:22.430 --> 00:31:23.640
- [Deeyah] But it wasn't long,
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:27.023
before she became embroiled
in a major political route.
00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:30.930
- A freshman lawmaker is
taking heat for a marks,
00:31:30.930 --> 00:31:32.890
that critics are calling antisemitic.
00:31:32.890 --> 00:31:36.150
In a tweet, Minnesota democratic
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar,
00:31:36.150 --> 00:31:39.000
suggested that Republican
support for Israel,
00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:42.480
is fueled by money,
specifically by donations,
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:45.000
from a pro Israel lobbying group.
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:47.070
- [Deeyah] Ilhan apologized
for her comments,
00:31:47.070 --> 00:31:48.170
but the episode brought her,
00:31:48.170 --> 00:31:50.930
to the center of national controversy.
00:31:50.930 --> 00:31:55.450
Then in July, 2019, Donald
Trump launched an attack on her,
00:31:55.450 --> 00:31:58.120
and three other Congress women of color.
00:31:58.120 --> 00:32:01.090
He claimed they'd made
anti-American statements,
00:32:01.090 --> 00:32:04.920
and tweeted that they should
go back to their own countries.
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:08.220
- These are people that in
my opinion, hate our country.
00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:10.010
Now, you can say what you want,
00:32:10.010 --> 00:32:13.000
but get a list of all of
the statements they've made.
00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.160
And all I'm saying that
if they're not happy here,
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:16.993
they can leave.
00:32:16.993 --> 00:32:19.150
They can leave and you know what?
00:32:19.150 --> 00:32:23.433
I'm sure that there'll be many
people that won't miss them.
00:32:24.380 --> 00:32:28.130
But they have to love our country.
00:32:28.130 --> 00:32:29.759
- [Deeyah] It caused a political storm.
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:32.509
(crowd shouting)
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:37.450
- This is the agenda
of white nationalists,
00:32:37.450 --> 00:32:40.310
whether it is happening in chat rooms,
00:32:40.310 --> 00:32:43.920
or it's happening on national TV,
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:48.323
and now it's reached
the White House garden.
00:32:49.410 --> 00:32:51.360
- [Deeyah] During his term of office,
00:32:51.360 --> 00:32:53.570
Donald Trump regularly attacked Ilhan.
00:32:53.570 --> 00:32:58.350
- Ilhan Omar (crowd booing)
00:32:59.544 --> 00:33:04.070
Ilhan Omar is going to
be very much involved,
00:33:04.070 --> 00:33:05.633
in a Biden government.
00:33:06.560 --> 00:33:11.560
They will put this hate filled
America bashing socialist,
00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:16.810
front and center to make the
government of our country,
00:33:16.810 --> 00:33:21.783
just like the country from
where she came, Somalia.
00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:24.860
- [Deeyah] Since then, Ilhan has received,
00:33:24.860 --> 00:33:26.553
multiple death threats.
00:33:28.580 --> 00:33:33.073
- I feel like I'm a vessel
for, you know, his hate.
00:33:40.570 --> 00:33:43.430
People have threatened to throw me off,
00:33:43.430 --> 00:33:45.683
the Empire State Building,
00:33:47.560 --> 00:33:51.370
where they have threatened to
put a bullet through my skull.
00:33:51.370 --> 00:33:56.370
And last summer a man sent a letter,
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.300
saying he was going to kill me,
00:33:59.300 --> 00:34:02.640
at the State Fair in Minnesota,
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:05.120
and kill everyone else who was there.
00:34:05.120 --> 00:34:09.990
What we are speaking about
is a group of people,
00:34:09.990 --> 00:34:14.990
who have been singled
out to be dealt with.
00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:21.100
And his foot soldiers
are hearing that call,
00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:29.840
and they are being
mobilized to terrorize us,
00:34:31.340 --> 00:34:36.340
to victimize us and to
brutalize our community.
00:34:38.240 --> 00:34:40.870
- How the hell did Minnesota elect her?
00:34:40.870 --> 00:34:43.280
What the hell is wrong with you people.
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:47.969
- He picked the wrong
target because, you know,
00:34:47.969 --> 00:34:50.680
I was made for this moment,
00:34:50.680 --> 00:34:53.360
and I've never been bullied by anyone,
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:56.103
and I will certainly not be bullied,
00:34:57.390 --> 00:35:01.793
by a very fearful pathetic tyrant.
00:35:04.980 --> 00:35:07.000
- [Deeyah] In April, 2019,
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.490
One of the people who
threatened Ilhan Omar,
00:35:09.490 --> 00:35:11.963
was arrested in a raid in New York state.
00:35:13.643 --> 00:35:15.000
- [Reporter] A Steuben
County man has been arrested,
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.280
after allegedly threatening
to kill a Congresswoman.
00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:19.970
55 year old Patrick Carlineo Jr,
00:35:19.970 --> 00:35:21.420
lives in the town of Addison.
00:35:21.420 --> 00:35:22.740
Prosecutors say he threatened,
00:35:22.740 --> 00:35:25.880
to shoot representative
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota,
00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:28.778
while speaking to one of her
staff members over the phone.
00:35:28.778 --> 00:35:30.550
(tensed music)
00:35:30.550 --> 00:35:32.810
- [Deeyah] At the trial
of Patrick Carlineo,
00:35:32.810 --> 00:35:36.523
details emerged which gave
clues about his mindset.
00:35:36.523 --> 00:35:39.820
(tensed music continues)
00:35:39.820 --> 00:35:42.610
He told the FBI, he was a Patriot,
00:35:42.610 --> 00:35:44.100
that he loves the president,
00:35:44.100 --> 00:35:46.593
and he hates radical
Muslims in the government.
00:35:47.890 --> 00:35:50.600
It was reported that he'd
shared conspiracy theories,
00:35:50.600 --> 00:35:52.960
on Facebook that Muslims were creating,
00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:54.820
no-go-zones in America,
00:35:54.820 --> 00:35:57.610
and that Somalis were
taking over Minnesota,
00:35:57.610 --> 00:36:01.460
saying, "We should send
them home in boxes."
00:36:01.460 --> 00:36:03.073
He was imprisoned for a year.
00:36:06.070 --> 00:36:08.000
Over the past 10 years,
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.900
this kind of paranoia
and fear about Muslims,
00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:13.763
has spread like wildfire
across the Internet.
00:36:14.730 --> 00:36:17.920
It's said to have been fueled
by right-wing bloggers,
00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:20.710
and media commentators,
who talk about the threat,
00:36:20.710 --> 00:36:23.960
that Muslims pose to Western society.
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:26.930
One very prominent
blogger is Pamela Geller,
00:36:26.930 --> 00:36:28.710
who runs an organization called,
00:36:28.710 --> 00:36:31.093
Stop Islamization of America.
00:36:32.200 --> 00:36:34.120
It said it's a human rights organization,
00:36:34.120 --> 00:36:35.540
promoting freedom of speech,
00:36:35.540 --> 00:36:38.100
freedom of conscience and equal rights.
00:36:38.100 --> 00:36:40.290
- Muslims are unique group.
00:36:40.290 --> 00:36:43.380
They're the only immigrant
group that come to the West,
00:36:43.380 --> 00:36:45.670
with a ready-made model of society,
00:36:45.670 --> 00:36:49.740
that they believe to be superior
and they seek to impose it.
00:36:49.740 --> 00:36:52.850
- [Deeyah] Another popular
figure is Brigitte Gabriel,
00:36:52.850 --> 00:36:56.970
a Christian Lebanese American
who runs Act For America,
00:36:56.970 --> 00:36:59.500
which says its aim is to defend America,
00:36:59.500 --> 00:37:02.030
against foreign and domestic threats,
00:37:02.030 --> 00:37:04.820
promote free speech and oppose extremism.
00:37:04.820 --> 00:37:09.090
- We're talking about 1.2 billion
Muslims in the world today
00:37:09.090 --> 00:37:11.917
15 to 25% are radicalized according to--
00:37:11.917 --> 00:37:14.337
- [Interviewer] These
are 400 million, maybe--
00:37:14.337 --> 00:37:17.377
- We're talking about 300 million people,
00:37:17.377 --> 00:37:19.750
who are ready to drop bombs on our bodies,
00:37:19.750 --> 00:37:21.640
and blow us all up to smithereens.
00:37:21.640 --> 00:37:23.790
- [Deeyah] Wajahat Ali is
an attorney and writer,
00:37:23.790 --> 00:37:26.890
who has studied this
online anti-Islam movement.
00:37:26.890 --> 00:37:28.930
- There is an ideological infrastructure,
00:37:28.930 --> 00:37:31.330
that has been mainstreamed and globalized,
00:37:31.330 --> 00:37:35.430
in the past 10 years that has
promoted anti-Muslim tropes,
00:37:35.430 --> 00:37:37.540
and talking points that have been used,
00:37:37.540 --> 00:37:39.990
by European and American politicians,
00:37:39.990 --> 00:37:42.280
and media personalities
and that have seeped,
00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:45.710
into white supremacist literature
and conspiracy theories.
00:37:45.710 --> 00:37:48.820
- We should not let to any
refugees into the country,
00:37:48.820 --> 00:37:51.700
not when we have killers already
embedded in these refugees,
00:37:51.700 --> 00:37:54.580
who are telling us exactly what
they want to do, and that is
00:37:54.580 --> 00:37:56.880
they want to come here
and they want to kill us.
00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:01.880
- This is the most reckless
civilizational suicide policy,
00:38:02.100 --> 00:38:04.290
ever enacted in this country.
00:38:04.290 --> 00:38:07.740
- Muslims, being a fifth column, invaders,
00:38:07.740 --> 00:38:09.250
never loyal to their country,
00:38:09.250 --> 00:38:12.250
they create no-go-zones
in the UK and in America,
00:38:12.250 --> 00:38:15.190
where the implement Sharia,
and no one else can come in.
00:38:15.190 --> 00:38:17.740
- Over 80% of mosques in the US,
00:38:17.740 --> 00:38:20.020
preaching and advancing jihad.
00:38:20.020 --> 00:38:21.040
- We are at war.
00:38:21.040 --> 00:38:23.810
Whether we recognize it
or not, we are at war,
00:38:23.810 --> 00:38:26.010
because our enemy has declared war on us.
00:38:26.010 --> 00:38:29.670
- Islam versus the West, create an enemy,
00:38:29.670 --> 00:38:32.400
and say that they're coming to
get us and then attack them.
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:34.450
- We are facing a clash of civilization.
00:38:34.450 --> 00:38:38.590
- It ends up word for word
in the mouths of politicians,
00:38:38.590 --> 00:38:41.350
seeking to be the president of
the United States of America.
00:38:41.350 --> 00:38:43.540
- Do you think Islam is
at war with the west?
00:38:43.540 --> 00:38:46.900
- I think Islam hates us.
00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:51.030
There's something there
that is a tremendous hatred.
00:38:51.030 --> 00:38:54.333
- It always works to
gin up money and votes.
00:38:55.243 --> 00:38:57.120
(upbeat music)
00:38:57.120 --> 00:39:00.080
- [Deeyah] Searching on Facebook,
it's not hard to find out,
00:39:00.080 --> 00:39:01.960
how anti-Muslim misinformation,
00:39:01.960 --> 00:39:04.793
and conspiracy theories circulate online.
00:39:05.660 --> 00:39:08.620
This is the Facebook
page of Michael Bogus.
00:39:08.620 --> 00:39:09.980
I've already met him.
00:39:09.980 --> 00:39:12.010
He's a militiaman with the Georgia,
00:39:12.010 --> 00:39:13.763
Three Percent Security Force.
00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:18.180
He spends his weekend training,
00:39:18.180 --> 00:39:20.460
and he also broadcast video talks,
00:39:20.460 --> 00:39:22.770
promoting his American patriot views,
00:39:22.770 --> 00:39:24.840
for around 1000 followers.
00:39:24.840 --> 00:39:29.687
- I'm calling all Three
Percenters, all militia,
00:39:31.780 --> 00:39:36.760
all constitutionalist,
anybody is just pissed off.
00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:39.078
- On Facebook, he shares this video.
00:39:39.078 --> 00:39:41.860
(upbeat music continues)
00:39:41.860 --> 00:39:44.150
It's about a place called Dearborn,
00:39:44.150 --> 00:39:46.620
a suburb of Detroit in Michigan,
00:39:46.620 --> 00:39:49.853
and a favorite target
of conspiracy theorists.
00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:53.620
It's estimated that around
a third of the population,
00:39:53.620 --> 00:39:55.990
of Dearborn is Arab-American,
00:39:55.990 --> 00:39:58.700
and it's home to the
biggest mosque in America.
00:39:58.700 --> 00:40:00.700
The video which Michael shares,
00:40:00.700 --> 00:40:03.330
claims there are so many
Muslims in Dearborn,
00:40:03.330 --> 00:40:04.950
they're taking over.
00:40:04.950 --> 00:40:07.930
- [Michael] You go into places
like Dearborn, Michigan,
00:40:07.930 --> 00:40:11.280
you don't feel like you're
an American anymore.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:13.920
- [Deeyah] The video has 11 million hits,
00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:17.130
and features Brigitte
Gabriel of Act For America.
00:40:17.130 --> 00:40:19.560
- In my first book titled,
"Because They Hate"
00:40:19.560 --> 00:40:21.670
I discuss hate teachings in the mosque.
00:40:21.670 --> 00:40:23.660
And part of what they're
teaching them in the mosque,
00:40:23.660 --> 00:40:26.760
is "Do not assimilate with the Americans.
00:40:26.760 --> 00:40:28.780
They are your enemies."
00:40:28.780 --> 00:40:30.870
- [Deeyah] Next, he shares this video,
00:40:30.870 --> 00:40:33.034
which has nearly 4 million hits.
00:40:33.034 --> 00:40:35.730
(mumbles)
00:40:35.730 --> 00:40:37.890
It claims to be filmed in Dearborn,
00:40:37.890 --> 00:40:39.250
and says it shows Muslims,
00:40:39.250 --> 00:40:41.711
parading a picture of a beheaded Jesus.
00:40:41.711 --> 00:40:44.820
(speaking in foreign language)
00:40:44.820 --> 00:40:47.270
- [Deeyah] A few days
after sharing these videos,
00:40:47.270 --> 00:40:49.130
Michael announces he's going to join,
00:40:49.130 --> 00:40:52.656
an anti-Sharia demonstration
being organized in Dearborn.
00:40:52.656 --> 00:40:55.810
(speaking in foreign language)
00:40:55.810 --> 00:40:59.037
- Y'all tired of all this
fucking Muslim bullshit,
00:40:59.037 --> 00:41:00.300
that's going on,
00:41:00.300 --> 00:41:05.100
and we shouldn't be allowing
Sharia law in our country.
00:41:05.100 --> 00:41:09.150
Foreign invaders and now
I'm gonna call them now.
00:41:09.150 --> 00:41:11.550
- Our land has been taken over.
00:41:11.550 --> 00:41:12.810
- [Deeyah] His online activity,
00:41:12.810 --> 00:41:14.900
generates some hateful comments,
00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:17.433
one of which he likes on Facebook.
00:41:17.433 --> 00:41:20.433
(suspenseful music)
00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:30.710
It's the day of the
demonstration at Dearborn,
00:41:30.710 --> 00:41:33.160
and I decided to join the protestors.
00:41:33.160 --> 00:41:35.720
They gather across the
road from the mosque.
00:41:35.720 --> 00:41:39.333
And I start to hear lines, which
are becoming very familiar.
00:41:40.858 --> 00:41:44.250
- There are certain
Muslim populated cities,
00:41:44.250 --> 00:41:46.410
where they have their own
local police department,
00:41:46.410 --> 00:41:48.860
and their own Sharia police department.
00:41:48.860 --> 00:41:51.740
- [Deeyah] Where is that?
- This city right here.
00:41:51.740 --> 00:41:55.350
- They're getting into our
government offices and positions,
00:41:55.350 --> 00:41:58.093
and then we have to
worry about Sharia law.
00:41:59.560 --> 00:42:00.750
- Rock and roll.
00:42:00.750 --> 00:42:03.620
- Obama brought them in
by hundreds of thousands,
00:42:03.620 --> 00:42:04.453
in the middle of the night.
00:42:04.453 --> 00:42:07.320
He brought in 90,000 Somalias--
00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:09.735
- But the media is not broadcasting that.
00:42:09.735 --> 00:42:10.767
- [Deeyah] Where are you finding out,
00:42:10.767 --> 00:42:12.340
all of this information?
00:42:12.340 --> 00:42:14.380
- All over the Internet, the news.
00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:16.290
- I'm like really afraid.
00:42:16.290 --> 00:42:20.507
I am so scared for my
children, their future,
00:42:20.507 --> 00:42:22.680
and what's gonna happen.
00:42:22.680 --> 00:42:24.280
- [Deeyah] I track down Michael.
00:42:25.160 --> 00:42:27.230
Despite his online activism,
00:42:27.230 --> 00:42:30.553
it's the first time he's
actually been to Dearborn.
00:42:31.967 --> 00:42:33.650
- Oh, I wanna see for myself,
00:42:33.650 --> 00:42:36.040
if it's as bad as they're saying.
00:42:36.040 --> 00:42:37.370
- [Deeyah] So what have you heard,
00:42:37.370 --> 00:42:40.150
about Dearborn before today?
00:42:40.150 --> 00:42:43.130
- That they were stoning
Christians out here.
00:42:43.130 --> 00:42:44.530
They had a festival or something,
00:42:44.530 --> 00:42:46.203
they stoned rocks at Christians.
00:42:47.170 --> 00:42:48.410
- [Deeyah] The protesters hang around,
00:42:48.410 --> 00:42:50.700
near the mosque for a few hours,
00:42:50.700 --> 00:42:55.700
and of course the inevitable
happens, absolutely nothing.
00:42:56.240 --> 00:42:59.730
No one attacks them, and no
one makes them feel unwelcome.
00:42:59.730 --> 00:43:02.460
- I wanted to see if it was true,
00:43:02.460 --> 00:43:04.720
if they was gonna be out
here throwing rocks at us.
00:43:04.720 --> 00:43:08.460
And right now, from what I can tell,
00:43:08.460 --> 00:43:09.680
there's nothing going on.
00:43:09.680 --> 00:43:11.010
- [Deeyah] So would you
say that everything,
00:43:11.010 --> 00:43:12.180
that you've seen on the Internet,
00:43:12.180 --> 00:43:14.437
is pretty much not accurate?
00:43:16.580 --> 00:43:18.800
- From everything that
I've seen on the videos,
00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:21.800
pointing to this place, I hadn't
seen anything actually yet.
00:43:23.431 --> 00:43:25.640
- [Deeyah] So what does that tell you?
00:43:25.640 --> 00:43:28.194
- You can't believe what
you see on the Internet.
00:43:28.194 --> 00:43:32.320
(motorcycle engines roaring)
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:34.830
- [Deeyah] In fact,
Michael has been fooled,
00:43:34.830 --> 00:43:37.143
by a classic piece of fake news.
00:43:38.350 --> 00:43:42.350
This event did take place
in Dearborn in 2009,
00:43:42.350 --> 00:43:44.843
but it isn't Muslims insulting Jesus.
00:43:45.950 --> 00:43:49.410
It's actually a mainstream
sheer ceremony of mourning,
00:43:49.410 --> 00:43:51.880
in memory of an important
figure in the history,
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.373
of the religion called Imam Hussein.
00:43:58.460 --> 00:44:00.593
I meet Michael again at his home.
00:44:02.470 --> 00:44:04.300
- [Deeyah] So you collect swords?
00:44:04.300 --> 00:44:06.370
- No, my friend made me this.
00:44:06.370 --> 00:44:08.940
It's from 170 year old wagon wheel.
00:44:08.940 --> 00:44:11.704
This one I got from my birthday.
00:44:11.704 --> 00:44:13.300
(gun magazine clicking)
00:44:13.300 --> 00:44:14.133
There you go.
00:44:16.570 --> 00:44:17.670
Just a little Beretta.
00:44:20.020 --> 00:44:23.060
- [Deeyah] He tells me he's
never met a Muslim before.
00:44:23.060 --> 00:44:26.100
And he says he gets most of
his information about Muslims,
00:44:26.100 --> 00:44:27.680
from social media.
00:44:27.680 --> 00:44:31.950
What kind of information do
you see about Muslim people?
00:44:31.950 --> 00:44:34.370
- Mostly beheadings.
00:44:34.370 --> 00:44:36.170
The biggest concern that I hear about,
00:44:36.170 --> 00:44:41.170
is always the same thing,
is beheading Christians.
00:44:41.260 --> 00:44:43.320
That's all I hear about.
00:44:43.320 --> 00:44:44.420
I don't want 'em over here,
00:44:44.420 --> 00:44:46.690
because they wanna cut our head off,
00:44:46.690 --> 00:44:48.710
because we don't believe the same thing.
00:44:48.710 --> 00:44:50.860
- [Deeyah] He says he
can show me examples.
00:44:53.290 --> 00:44:55.263
- Oh, this right here.
00:44:57.370 --> 00:45:01.290
This is supposedly, them cutting
a Christian kid's head off,
00:45:01.290 --> 00:45:04.093
11 years old, Muslims.
00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:08.607
And then you see people's
comments, "Filthy pigs."
00:45:10.060 --> 00:45:11.530
I mean--
00:45:11.530 --> 00:45:12.450
- [Deeyah] Who are they saying that about?
00:45:12.450 --> 00:45:14.872
About the Muslims?
- Muslims, yes.
00:45:14.872 --> 00:45:18.200
- [Deeyah] And so do you post
any of these videos yourself?
00:45:18.200 --> 00:45:21.100
- I share 'em to get responses.
00:45:21.100 --> 00:45:25.170
I wanna see what people
have to say about it.
00:45:25.170 --> 00:45:27.350
Yeah, I don't wanna come
across these racists.
00:45:27.350 --> 00:45:28.400
I really don't.
00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:31.380
I've always said, no
matter what sexuality,
00:45:31.380 --> 00:45:34.210
the color, the race, whatever,
00:45:34.210 --> 00:45:37.853
as long as they're a patriot
of America, they're with me.
00:45:38.742 --> 00:45:41.910
- [Deeyah] And so when you
posted those like this,
00:45:41.910 --> 00:45:42.743
- Oh, shit.
00:45:42.743 --> 00:45:44.940
- [Deeyah] on your page, what
kind of comments do you get?
00:45:44.940 --> 00:45:46.053
How do people respond?
00:45:47.610 --> 00:45:51.680
- I mean, honestly, if
you want truth of it,
00:45:51.680 --> 00:45:55.207
people put same shit you know.
00:45:55.207 --> 00:45:56.670
"We don't need 'em here.
00:45:56.670 --> 00:45:57.850
We don't need this.
00:45:57.850 --> 00:45:59.067
We don't need that."
00:46:00.560 --> 00:46:03.563
and really ugly things that
I just don't want to say.
00:46:04.732 --> 00:46:07.700
- [Deeyah] Don't you think
that that helps contribute,
00:46:07.700 --> 00:46:11.305
to the fear and hate the
people already have of Muslims?
00:46:11.305 --> 00:46:13.040
- And you know, I really
didn't think about it,
00:46:13.040 --> 00:46:15.410
but yeah, you're probably right.
00:46:15.410 --> 00:46:17.703
I mean, I should've thought about that.
00:46:20.300 --> 00:46:25.300
Yeah, actually I didn't, now
that you bring that up to me.
00:46:26.757 --> 00:46:29.057
- [Deeyah] You think it
does spread more fear?
00:46:30.980 --> 00:46:32.830
- With the following that I have, yeah.
00:46:32.830 --> 00:46:35.280
Probably so, and I didn't
think nothing about it.
00:46:36.750 --> 00:46:37.853
And that's on me.
00:46:40.887 --> 00:46:43.010
- [Deeyah] What did you
make of all of this?
00:46:43.010 --> 00:46:47.367
Why do you think people
hold these types of views,
00:46:47.367 --> 00:46:48.947
about Muslims?
00:46:48.947 --> 00:46:51.753
- Because they don't
know anything about 'em.
00:46:54.260 --> 00:46:55.110
I mean...
00:47:01.490 --> 00:47:02.340
- [Deeyah] Michael tells me,
00:47:02.340 --> 00:47:04.840
he's had a lot of
difficulties in his life,
00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:08.300
including losing his wife as
they were starting a family.
00:47:08.300 --> 00:47:10.623
- She was one of my best
friends for 10 years.
00:47:12.850 --> 00:47:16.320
When she died, the
daughter that she gave me,
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:18.543
was three weeks old when her mama died.
00:47:19.500 --> 00:47:22.040
And if she would live 10 more days,
00:47:22.040 --> 00:47:23.740
we would have been married a year.
00:47:25.270 --> 00:47:26.513
You're all by yourself.
00:47:27.410 --> 00:47:29.770
It gives you nothing but time to think,
00:47:29.770 --> 00:47:33.363
and dwell on things that
you'll never see again,
00:47:34.440 --> 00:47:35.913
or never get to do again.
00:47:37.232 --> 00:47:40.132
And it's just the emptiness
inside, it'll never be filled.
00:47:42.700 --> 00:47:46.010
And then you have this thought
that goes through your mind,
00:47:46.010 --> 00:47:50.373
that nobody's ever gonna
love you like she loved you.
00:47:52.260 --> 00:47:55.790
I don't feel that feeling as much anymore.
00:47:55.790 --> 00:47:56.623
- [Deeyah] And why do you think,
00:47:56.623 --> 00:47:58.050
you don't feel that as much anymore?
00:47:58.050 --> 00:48:00.630
- I mean, I got my family.
00:48:00.630 --> 00:48:02.097
I got my extended family.
00:48:02.097 --> 00:48:03.660
- [Deeyah] The group?
- Yeah.
00:48:03.660 --> 00:48:05.251
- [Deeyah] The militia?
- Yeah.
00:48:05.251 --> 00:48:07.440
- [Deeyah] What made you join the militia?
00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:09.662
- What made me join the militia?
00:48:09.662 --> 00:48:11.230
- [Deeyah] Yeah.
00:48:11.230 --> 00:48:13.970
- Like I said before,
the brotherhood of it,
00:48:13.970 --> 00:48:15.883
you know, a sense of belonging.
00:48:16.880 --> 00:48:18.743
I feel like I belong with them.
00:48:20.250 --> 00:48:25.250
Well, everybody wants to be
loved or wants to belong.
00:48:25.430 --> 00:48:28.047
Nobody wants to be outcast, you know?
00:48:39.485 --> 00:48:41.327
- You wanna get in?
- [Deeyah] Yeah.
00:48:41.327 --> 00:48:43.740
One of the biggest conspiracy theories,
00:48:43.740 --> 00:48:47.170
is that the Police Chief
of Dearborn, Ronald Haddad,
00:48:47.170 --> 00:48:49.143
is a Sharia enforcing Muslim.
00:48:50.690 --> 00:48:53.940
In 2015 Fox News made a news feature,
00:48:53.940 --> 00:48:58.480
about the city's Muslim population
and said he was a Muslim.
00:48:58.480 --> 00:49:00.990
- Dearborn, Michigan is
called the Arabic capital,
00:49:00.990 --> 00:49:02.210
of North America.
00:49:02.210 --> 00:49:04.910
Almost 50% of the city is Muslim.
00:49:04.910 --> 00:49:06.450
They control the City Council,
00:49:06.450 --> 00:49:09.700
and the police chief is also Muslim.
00:49:09.700 --> 00:49:12.370
- [Deeyah] Unfortunately for
the conspiracy theorists,
00:49:12.370 --> 00:49:13.860
he's actually a Christian.
00:49:13.860 --> 00:49:17.380
- People that don't know me
would say that, you know,
00:49:17.380 --> 00:49:20.340
I'm a Sharia law kinda guy.
00:49:20.340 --> 00:49:23.960
I've gotten emails that call
me the Taliban Police Chief.
00:49:23.960 --> 00:49:28.960
I've gotten some emails that
were menacing, threatening,
00:49:29.850 --> 00:49:32.900
wishing cancer on all my family.
00:49:32.900 --> 00:49:37.900
I got one from a gentleman
that purported to be a veteran.
00:49:38.130 --> 00:49:40.380
He says, "I brought one
bullet home for you."
00:49:41.680 --> 00:49:43.550
A fair amount of people
that wanna believe,
00:49:43.550 --> 00:49:46.670
Dearborn is got Sharia law.
00:49:46.670 --> 00:49:51.270
They're also accusing us of
having a no-go-zones for police.
00:49:51.270 --> 00:49:55.660
So this kind of a perpetual falsehoods,
00:49:55.660 --> 00:49:58.800
make people think that
Dearborn is less American.
00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:00.290
I'll give you one example.
00:50:00.290 --> 00:50:02.850
Somebody thought it was a good
idea on a Saturday evening,
00:50:02.850 --> 00:50:05.027
to post something on Instagram saying,
00:50:05.027 --> 00:50:08.290
"We should all take
shotguns down to Dearborn,
00:50:08.290 --> 00:50:10.440
and shoot up the so-and-sos."
00:50:10.440 --> 00:50:12.640
Maybe once a month, 10 times a year,
00:50:12.640 --> 00:50:13.920
we get these kinds of threats.
00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:16.320
Sometimes they'll target a school.
00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:19.100
Sometimes they'll target
a place of worship.
00:50:19.100 --> 00:50:23.120
whether you like it or not,
people are bigoted or racist,
00:50:23.120 --> 00:50:25.940
at the very best or ethnocentric,
00:50:25.940 --> 00:50:29.083
and they get over it, you know.
00:50:29.083 --> 00:50:32.480
It's been woven into our
fabric for so long as a nation,
00:50:32.480 --> 00:50:36.283
and unfortunately we can't
weed that out of our fabric.
00:50:37.120 --> 00:50:40.610
- [Deeyah] Three months later,
I hear from Michael again.
00:50:40.610 --> 00:50:43.240
He says he's left the militia group now.
00:50:43.240 --> 00:50:46.480
And although he's still
involved in Patriot activities,
00:50:46.480 --> 00:50:50.030
he says he won't be sharing
those kinds of videos anymore.
00:50:50.030 --> 00:50:51.530
Do you feel like you've contributed,
00:50:51.530 --> 00:50:53.410
to some of these types of use,
00:50:53.410 --> 00:50:56.590
by spreading content like that yourself?
00:50:56.590 --> 00:50:57.990
- Yeah, I feel bad about it.
00:50:58.997 --> 00:51:01.440
And no I don't share
shit like that no more.
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:04.410
The majority of the people
that know me and follow me,
00:51:04.410 --> 00:51:05.260
don't know Muslims.
00:51:05.260 --> 00:51:09.860
And what if some extremist is watching me,
00:51:09.860 --> 00:51:12.310
thinking that that's what I believe,
00:51:12.310 --> 00:51:15.843
that we should be
rallying against Muslims?
00:51:16.830 --> 00:51:18.650
I mean, because I'm actually trying,
00:51:18.650 --> 00:51:20.543
to use it as a tool teaching,
00:51:22.120 --> 00:51:23.823
but it kind of blew up in my face.
00:51:29.900 --> 00:51:32.200
- [Deeyah] So I guess
let's just start with,
00:51:32.200 --> 00:51:35.320
what is it like being Muslim in America?
00:51:39.590 --> 00:51:44.590
- Okay, you know, when you
have like a brand new shoes,
00:51:47.740 --> 00:51:52.247
very expensive shoes
and you step on a gum,
00:51:55.404 --> 00:51:59.847
you know that anger, that
frustration that just like,
00:51:59.847 --> 00:52:02.570
"Argh, I just ruined my shoes."
00:52:02.570 --> 00:52:04.083
Imagine you're that gum,
00:52:06.140 --> 00:52:08.140
and you're the one that's being hated.
00:52:08.140 --> 00:52:10.910
You're the one that's running
or making somebody's life,
00:52:10.910 --> 00:52:13.083
so unconvenient for them.
00:52:15.044 --> 00:52:16.596
(calm music)
00:52:16.596 --> 00:52:18.710
- [Deeyah] Fardousa was born in Somalia,
00:52:18.710 --> 00:52:21.490
and came with her family
to Mankato in Minnesota,
00:52:21.490 --> 00:52:22.633
when she was 11.
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:25.210
She spent 10 years working,
00:52:25.210 --> 00:52:27.593
as a grassroots community activist.
00:52:29.580 --> 00:52:31.700
Then in 2018 she decided,
00:52:31.700 --> 00:52:33.843
to stand for local political office.
00:52:35.520 --> 00:52:38.950
- I lived in Mankato since 1997.
00:52:38.950 --> 00:52:42.890
I lived in this bubble
that everybody liked me,
00:52:42.890 --> 00:52:45.370
everybody was my friend.
00:52:45.370 --> 00:52:50.370
That bubble was popped when I was told,
00:52:50.417 --> 00:52:54.040
"I'm not going to support a terrorist."
00:52:54.040 --> 00:52:58.003
And then I had one lady that
said, "I wouldn't vote for you.
00:52:58.850 --> 00:53:00.210
You don't represent my values,
00:53:00.210 --> 00:53:02.167
and you don't represent my faith."
00:53:04.988 --> 00:53:05.905
Said, okay.
00:53:07.130 --> 00:53:12.130
So we get to this old man
door and I'm giving my pitch.
00:53:14.440 --> 00:53:17.837
All I saw was, (snorting and spitting)
00:53:17.837 --> 00:53:19.407
"Get off my property."
00:53:21.310 --> 00:53:22.143
I froze.
00:53:22.991 --> 00:53:27.991
I felt so defeated and I
kept thinking to myself,
00:53:28.830 --> 00:53:33.830
what made me think to even
put my name on a ballot.
00:53:34.890 --> 00:53:37.643
But when you have so much
hatred coming your way,
00:53:37.643 --> 00:53:40.390
when you have so many
negativity coming your way,
00:53:40.390 --> 00:53:44.260
so many people telling
you that you don't belong,
00:53:44.260 --> 00:53:46.670
that you start to believe it,
00:53:46.670 --> 00:53:49.510
it makes you wanna not
exist in this world.
00:53:49.510 --> 00:53:52.930
It makes you wanna end your life,
00:53:52.930 --> 00:53:56.793
because if I don't matter,
then I shouldn't exist.
00:53:59.785 --> 00:54:01.890
- [Deeyah] Fardousa lost the election,
00:54:01.890 --> 00:54:04.693
and the following week,
her father passed away.
00:54:08.300 --> 00:54:09.390
- It was a lot of trauma.
00:54:09.390 --> 00:54:11.760
I think that's what broke me the most,
00:54:11.760 --> 00:54:13.720
because the one that like supported me,
00:54:13.720 --> 00:54:15.830
and uplifted me is gone.
00:54:15.830 --> 00:54:18.297
That makes you question
everything around you.
00:54:18.297 --> 00:54:19.670
"Am I doing the right thing?
00:54:19.670 --> 00:54:20.994
Am I saying the right thing?
00:54:20.994 --> 00:54:23.960
Am I my like getting the message,
00:54:23.960 --> 00:54:26.360
that we matter out into the world,
00:54:26.360 --> 00:54:28.200
because I don't feel that way?
00:54:28.200 --> 00:54:30.830
I'm like in a seat and I'm lost."
00:54:30.830 --> 00:54:32.163
If you Googled me,
00:54:33.120 --> 00:54:35.820
you would see all the things
that I was accomplishing,
00:54:37.210 --> 00:54:39.543
but nothing for a year and a half,
00:54:40.949 --> 00:54:43.060
I think for a year and a half.
00:54:43.060 --> 00:54:44.940
- [Deeyah] Why?
- Because I'm broken.
00:54:44.940 --> 00:54:48.263
Who might've tell somebody
else to continue the fight,
00:54:49.210 --> 00:54:53.723
when I've given up, yeah?
00:54:57.660 --> 00:54:59.344
I did not wanna cry today.
00:54:59.344 --> 00:55:01.761
(calm music)
00:55:02.970 --> 00:55:05.320
- [Deeyah] It's the summer of 2020,
00:55:05.320 --> 00:55:07.530
and while I'm filming in Minnesota,
00:55:07.530 --> 00:55:10.053
a shocking event divides the nation.
00:55:11.230 --> 00:55:15.685
George Floyd is killed
during a street side arrest.
00:55:15.685 --> 00:55:16.840
- [George] Please.
00:55:16.840 --> 00:55:18.710
- It's happened in Minneapolis,
00:55:18.710 --> 00:55:20.745
the largest city in Minnesota.
00:55:20.745 --> 00:55:24.387
(calm music continues)
00:55:24.387 --> 00:55:27.400
(indistinct chattering)
00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:29.320
- [Deeyah] Protests have rocked the city,
00:55:29.320 --> 00:55:32.733
and sparked demonstrations
around the world.
00:55:32.733 --> 00:55:35.478
- [Man] Black lives,
- [Protesters] matter.
00:55:35.478 --> 00:55:40.478
(protesters) we're here
to shut the shit down.
00:55:41.050 --> 00:55:44.130
- [Deeyah] The Muslim community
has come out to join them.
00:55:44.130 --> 00:55:47.050
- I don't want to see anybody
who looks like me die anymore.
00:55:47.050 --> 00:55:50.179
I'm tired of seeing people like me die.
00:55:50.179 --> 00:55:53.096
(crowd applauding)
00:55:53.963 --> 00:55:56.187
- [Man] What do we want?
- [Protesters] Justice.
00:55:56.187 --> 00:55:58.166
- [Man] What do we want?
- [Protesters] Justice.
00:55:58.166 --> 00:55:59.160
[Man] When do we want it?
- [Protesters] Now.
00:55:59.160 --> 00:56:00.920
- [Deeyah] This is our Asma Jama,
00:56:00.920 --> 00:56:03.053
a community activist and organizer.
00:56:04.480 --> 00:56:05.760
She's lived in Minneapolis,
00:56:05.760 --> 00:56:07.800
since her family came here from Kenya.
00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:09.719
- [Man] What do we want?
- [Protesters] Justice.
00:56:09.719 --> 00:56:11.691
- [Man] When do we want it?
- [Protesters] Now.
00:56:11.691 --> 00:56:12.690
- Today, everybody's here.
00:56:12.690 --> 00:56:15.484
I mean, it's a sad occasion
that brought people together,
00:56:15.484 --> 00:56:17.634
but at the end of the
day, we are together.
00:56:19.230 --> 00:56:21.034
This is where they killed him.
00:56:21.034 --> 00:56:24.523
(indistinct voices)
00:56:24.523 --> 00:56:27.630
Look at everybody, different people,
00:56:27.630 --> 00:56:30.790
different groups, white, black, Muslims.
00:56:30.790 --> 00:56:34.223
But this shows you that if
human beings come together,
00:56:35.400 --> 00:56:36.833
there's nothing we can't do.
00:56:38.130 --> 00:56:39.920
Man, I don't know.
00:56:39.920 --> 00:56:43.050
It just hurts, it really hurts.
00:56:43.050 --> 00:56:46.050
We have a long way to go
for justice in this country.
00:56:46.050 --> 00:56:48.903
- [Deeyah] Asma tells me
how she became an activist.
00:56:51.360 --> 00:56:56.120
In October 2015, she was
with her nieces in a cafe,
00:56:56.120 --> 00:56:58.293
and started talking to them in Swahili.
00:56:59.620 --> 00:57:02.760
A woman behind her started to insult her.
00:57:02.760 --> 00:57:04.540
- I don't know how to explain to you,
00:57:04.540 --> 00:57:06.980
how she came off so hurtful.
00:57:06.980 --> 00:57:08.820
She was like, "If you're in this country,
00:57:08.820 --> 00:57:10.430
you speak English or you get out."
00:57:10.430 --> 00:57:12.960
I turn around, just like this,
00:57:12.960 --> 00:57:17.410
to see who was screaming
at us all the night.
00:57:17.410 --> 00:57:19.060
And that's where she got the opportunity.
00:57:19.060 --> 00:57:23.330
She had a big beer mug
and she'd just threw it.
00:57:23.330 --> 00:57:25.070
So there was glasses in my eyes.
00:57:25.070 --> 00:57:26.880
There was glasses everywhere on my face.
00:57:26.880 --> 00:57:29.430
I'm bleeding too much
that I'm losing conscious.
00:57:29.430 --> 00:57:30.610
I'm coming back, I'm going in.
00:57:30.610 --> 00:57:31.720
I'm coming back, I'm going in.
00:57:31.720 --> 00:57:33.400
The EMT guys and the police,
00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:35.890
when they looked at me, I saw their faces.
00:57:35.890 --> 00:57:37.720
I kinda knew something
really bad happened,
00:57:37.720 --> 00:57:40.200
and I'm like, "Can I
have a mirror please?"
00:57:40.200 --> 00:57:41.840
The police says, "No!"
00:57:41.840 --> 00:57:44.120
And I'm like, "Oh my God."
00:57:44.120 --> 00:57:47.483
So I had 15 stitches and two here, so 17.
00:57:49.120 --> 00:57:51.030
Hate crimes are horrible.
00:57:51.030 --> 00:57:52.260
They're horrible.
00:57:52.260 --> 00:57:55.500
It's been four years and I'm a mess.
00:57:55.500 --> 00:57:56.950
I'm a complete mess.
00:57:56.950 --> 00:58:00.720
Not only am I not the person
that I used to be free,
00:58:00.720 --> 00:58:04.470
but through therapy, I
came to realize that, no.
00:58:04.470 --> 00:58:07.950
I keep asking myself
the question, "Why me?"
00:58:07.950 --> 00:58:09.530
Nobody knows what it does to people.
00:58:09.530 --> 00:58:10.770
It breaks you.
00:58:10.770 --> 00:58:12.233
It broke me to my core.
00:58:13.110 --> 00:58:16.790
The person, me, me as Asma, I broke.
00:58:16.790 --> 00:58:19.193
Literally everything about me broke.
00:58:21.630 --> 00:58:24.130
- [Deeyah] Asma's attacker,
Jody Bertrand Rich,
00:58:24.130 --> 00:58:27.123
pleaded guilty to assault
and was imprisoned.
00:58:28.210 --> 00:58:30.950
Asma gave a statement at her sentencing.
00:58:32.550 --> 00:58:34.660
- I just wanted to say that it's...
00:58:40.205 --> 00:58:42.038
I don't wanna do this.
00:58:46.400 --> 00:58:49.243
If I could ask you if I
could talk to the defendant,
00:58:50.120 --> 00:58:51.720
would that be okay?
00:58:51.720 --> 00:58:52.553
- [Judge] Sure.
00:58:54.090 --> 00:58:59.090
- Jody, what you did to
me that day, wasn't good.
00:59:00.440 --> 00:59:03.350
You should never do anything
like that to anybody.
00:59:03.350 --> 00:59:04.440
But I just wanted to tell you,
00:59:04.440 --> 00:59:06.940
in front of everybody today
that I do forgive you.
00:59:09.140 --> 00:59:10.850
My religion teaches me to forgive,
00:59:10.850 --> 00:59:12.920
so I can move on with my life.
00:59:12.920 --> 00:59:15.330
I just want you to, at
the end of all this,
00:59:15.330 --> 00:59:17.230
to understand that we're all the same.
00:59:18.180 --> 00:59:19.570
It doesn't matter what's on my head.
00:59:19.570 --> 00:59:22.630
It doesn't matter the color of my skin,
00:59:22.630 --> 00:59:24.380
we're all the same human beings.
00:59:24.380 --> 00:59:26.090
We're fighting for the same rights.
00:59:26.090 --> 00:59:30.380
We have to find a way to co-exist.
00:59:30.380 --> 00:59:33.830
We have to find a way to not only coexist,
00:59:33.830 --> 00:59:35.450
but respect each other.
00:59:35.450 --> 00:59:37.790
A human being just doesn't get
up one day and hate people.
00:59:37.790 --> 00:59:39.350
Something must have happened.
00:59:39.350 --> 00:59:40.513
- [Man] Ladies and gentlemen,
00:59:40.513 --> 00:59:42.793
the president of the United States.
00:59:44.610 --> 00:59:46.350
- [Deeyah] During his time in office,
00:59:46.350 --> 00:59:50.200
Donald Trump did make overtures
to the Muslim community,
00:59:50.200 --> 00:59:53.260
such as hosting an Iftar
dinner at the White House.
00:59:53.260 --> 00:59:55.960
(crowd clapping)
00:59:55.960 --> 00:59:58.170
- Good evening and thank you all,
00:59:58.170 --> 01:00:02.490
for joining us this Iftar dinner,
01:00:02.490 --> 01:00:05.703
as we celebrate the Islamic
Holy Month of Ramadan.
01:00:07.040 --> 01:00:09.240
It's a great month. A lot of friends.
01:00:09.240 --> 01:00:12.420
Let us strive to embody
the grace and goodwill,
01:00:12.420 --> 01:00:15.330
that mark the Ramadan season.
01:00:15.330 --> 01:00:18.180
Let us pray for peace and justice.
01:00:18.180 --> 01:00:19.420
- [Deeyah] And he's regularly denied,
01:00:19.420 --> 01:00:21.543
inciting violence or hostility,
01:00:22.390 --> 01:00:24.130
but Trump's political opponents,
01:00:24.130 --> 01:00:27.350
say his rhetoric about
Muslims will increase fear,
01:00:27.350 --> 01:00:30.090
and cause divisions for many years,
01:00:30.090 --> 01:00:31.950
opponents such as Keith Ellison,
01:00:31.950 --> 01:00:34.040
a high profile Muslim politician,
01:00:34.040 --> 01:00:36.610
who is Minnesota's Attorney General.
01:00:36.610 --> 01:00:41.610
- I'm very confident that the
rhetoric of the president,
01:00:42.050 --> 01:00:45.480
and Trump as even a candidate,
01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:48.400
contributed to the level of hatred.
01:00:48.400 --> 01:00:49.960
It sort of inspired people,
01:00:49.960 --> 01:00:53.220
who were already close
to the edge, anyway.
01:00:53.220 --> 01:00:55.300
If you're trying to make sure,
01:00:55.300 --> 01:00:58.090
that you get tax cuts for the rich,
01:00:58.090 --> 01:00:59.490
no environmental regulation,
01:00:59.490 --> 01:01:01.610
they can pollute as much as they want,
01:01:01.610 --> 01:01:03.860
banks can do whatever they want.
01:01:03.860 --> 01:01:05.040
If you trying to make sure,
01:01:05.040 --> 01:01:07.680
that we have free market fundamentalism,
01:01:07.680 --> 01:01:09.700
and that enhances the wealth and power,
01:01:09.700 --> 01:01:13.240
of the most privileged
people in our society,
01:01:13.240 --> 01:01:17.600
then how are you gonna get
the great mass of majority,
01:01:17.600 --> 01:01:19.770
working class white people
to go along with it?
01:01:19.770 --> 01:01:21.690
You've gotta deceive them.
01:01:21.690 --> 01:01:26.410
You've gotta divide them, and
you've got to discourage them.
01:01:26.410 --> 01:01:27.520
How do you do that?
01:01:27.520 --> 01:01:30.500
Well, you say, "You people,
I'm not giving y'all nothing,
01:01:30.500 --> 01:01:33.140
but know this, you're better than them.
01:01:33.140 --> 01:01:34.930
You got good religion.
01:01:34.930 --> 01:01:36.650
Those people have their Muslims."
01:01:36.650 --> 01:01:40.580
But the whole effect
is to keep people down,
01:01:42.630 --> 01:01:47.260
by giving them nothing
other than a false belief,
01:01:47.260 --> 01:01:48.700
that they're better.
01:01:48.700 --> 01:01:51.350
The America's problem is
not this Muslim community.
01:01:51.350 --> 01:01:53.320
America's problem has a lot to do,
01:01:53.320 --> 01:01:54.770
with the way we do policing,
01:01:54.770 --> 01:01:57.170
has a lot to do with our
unfair economic system.
01:01:58.140 --> 01:01:59.350
Muslim community is doing a lot,
01:01:59.350 --> 01:02:02.000
to make this country a better
place every single day.
01:02:03.140 --> 01:02:05.300
- [Deeyah] 20 years of violence,
01:02:05.300 --> 01:02:07.530
terrorism in the name of Islam,
01:02:07.530 --> 01:02:10.883
and attacks on ordinary
Muslims by white extremists.
01:02:11.820 --> 01:02:13.620
I wanted to know how can we break,
01:02:13.620 --> 01:02:15.943
the cycle of fear and violence?
01:02:16.830 --> 01:02:18.663
So I meet Rais Bhulyan again.
01:02:19.610 --> 01:02:22.960
He was left severely injured
and deeply traumatized,
01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:25.573
after a hate attack in the wake of 9/11.
01:02:27.070 --> 01:02:30.500
Racist attacker, an extremist
called Mark Stroman,
01:02:30.500 --> 01:02:32.960
was sentenced to be executed.
01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:35.140
Rais says, he felt great compassion,
01:02:35.140 --> 01:02:37.770
for the man who had caused him such pain.
01:02:37.770 --> 01:02:42.260
- Hate and revenge may bring
temporary satisfaction,
01:02:42.260 --> 01:02:44.420
but does not bring peace
or lasting solution,
01:02:44.420 --> 01:02:45.910
to any situation.
01:02:45.910 --> 01:02:48.543
His execution would not,
01:02:50.840 --> 01:02:52.930
eradicate hate and
violence from this world.
01:02:52.930 --> 01:02:55.470
We would simply lose another human life,
01:02:55.470 --> 01:02:57.640
without dealing with the root cause.
01:02:57.640 --> 01:03:02.640
Instead of hating him, I saw
him as a human being like me,
01:03:02.760 --> 01:03:04.240
not just a killer.
01:03:04.240 --> 01:03:06.720
I saw him as a victim too.
01:03:06.720 --> 01:03:08.580
Gave me the courage and the strength,
01:03:08.580 --> 01:03:12.130
not only to forgive my attacker,
01:03:12.130 --> 01:03:15.390
but also to start a campaign,
01:03:15.390 --> 01:03:18.470
to save the life of the
man who tried to end mine.
01:03:18.470 --> 01:03:19.650
- [Deeyah] Rais and Stroman,
01:03:19.650 --> 01:03:22.220
we're allowed to talk on the phone.
01:03:22.220 --> 01:03:23.667
- So as soon as he came
on the phone I said,
01:03:23.667 --> 01:03:28.010
"Mark, you should know
that I never hated you,
01:03:28.010 --> 01:03:29.137
and I forgave you."
01:03:30.060 --> 01:03:31.960
And he said, "Rais, thank you so much.
01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:33.513
I never expected this from you.
01:03:34.430 --> 01:03:35.377
I love you, bro."
01:03:38.160 --> 01:03:42.913
And when he said that
two words, love and bro,
01:03:44.100 --> 01:03:46.840
it just brought tears
in my eyes right there.
01:03:46.840 --> 01:03:49.710
- [Deeyah] Despite Rais'
campaign to spare him,
01:03:49.710 --> 01:03:51.873
Stroman was executed.
01:03:52.930 --> 01:03:57.220
- His last words were, "Hate
is going on everywhere.
01:03:57.220 --> 01:03:58.850
It has to stop.
01:03:58.850 --> 01:04:01.537
Hate causes a lifetime of pain."
01:04:04.230 --> 01:04:07.180
10 years ago, his heart
was filled with hate,
01:04:07.180 --> 01:04:11.750
ignorance, violence, which
pushed him to pull the trigger.
01:04:11.750 --> 01:04:16.650
In his own words, he was
never a serial killer,
01:04:16.650 --> 01:04:18.503
never was a murderer before,
01:04:19.570 --> 01:04:22.920
but got inspiration from the media,
01:04:22.920 --> 01:04:26.820
from the people in power
in media and public office,
01:04:26.820 --> 01:04:30.580
to take up arms against
innocent human beings.
01:04:30.580 --> 01:04:33.580
And the cycle keeps going back
and forth and back and forth.
01:04:34.430 --> 01:04:36.251
It has to stop at somewhere.
01:04:36.251 --> 01:04:38.970
(cool music)
01:04:38.970 --> 01:04:41.250
- [Deeyah] Baktash Ahadi,
served with the Marines,
01:04:41.250 --> 01:04:44.450
in Afghanistan, but he
continues to feel rejected,
01:04:44.450 --> 01:04:46.833
by many of his fellow Americans.
01:04:48.860 --> 01:04:51.210
- In some sense, there's
a deep sense of empathy,
01:04:51.210 --> 01:04:53.680
that I have for people
that have never interacted,
01:04:53.680 --> 01:04:55.580
with somebody who is a Muslim.
01:04:55.580 --> 01:04:57.350
In part it's not their fault.
01:04:57.350 --> 01:04:59.610
It's what's being shown
in their living rooms,
01:04:59.610 --> 01:05:01.580
across the United States.
01:05:01.580 --> 01:05:06.060
They can't help but believe
some of that misinformation,
01:05:06.060 --> 01:05:08.750
that's being shown in their living room.
01:05:08.750 --> 01:05:10.800
All the stories that people
are telling us are hateful,
01:05:10.800 --> 01:05:14.680
and harmful and detrimental
to our existence here.
01:05:14.680 --> 01:05:17.230
So we need to have the courage,
01:05:17.230 --> 01:05:19.220
to essentially tell our stories.
01:05:19.220 --> 01:05:21.420
If not, we're gonna
continue down this path.
01:05:23.080 --> 01:05:25.140
- [Deeyah] So sitting here today,
01:05:25.140 --> 01:05:28.370
what would you say to
six-year-old Baktash?
01:05:30.380 --> 01:05:33.003
- I would say, you're good
enough, that I love you.
01:05:34.090 --> 01:05:38.320
I would tell my six year old
self that no matter what I do,
01:05:38.320 --> 01:05:41.810
I'll always be loved and
I'll always be enough.
01:05:41.810 --> 01:05:44.240
And that I should explore,
01:05:44.240 --> 01:05:46.940
but eventually the thing that I'm seeking,
01:05:46.940 --> 01:05:47.983
is actually within.
01:05:51.671 --> 01:05:53.600
(soft calming music)
01:05:53.600 --> 01:05:55.920
- [Deeyah] Before I leave America,
01:05:55.920 --> 01:05:57.456
I returned to see for those Fardousa.
01:05:57.456 --> 01:06:01.500
(soft calming music continues)
01:06:01.500 --> 01:06:05.930
- For two months, I wasn't
able to leave my door.
01:06:05.930 --> 01:06:08.170
I wasn't able to open the door,
01:06:08.170 --> 01:06:11.140
without having a severe panic attack,
01:06:11.140 --> 01:06:12.840
and wanting to pass out.
01:06:12.840 --> 01:06:16.650
I fled my country because
of the war and killings,
01:06:16.650 --> 01:06:19.573
but never realizing that I
was running into another war.
01:06:20.870 --> 01:06:24.880
And this time it's a war of my skin color,
01:06:24.880 --> 01:06:26.510
that I can't walk away from.
01:06:26.510 --> 01:06:30.250
I can't unzip and say
today I wanna be white.
01:06:30.250 --> 01:06:34.990
But I am okay because I
am fighting for myself,
01:06:34.990 --> 01:06:37.580
I am fighting for the next generation,
01:06:37.580 --> 01:06:39.710
that's gonna come after me.
01:06:39.710 --> 01:06:44.030
I'm okay. I'm accepting who I am,
01:06:44.030 --> 01:06:47.630
this fabulous, plus size, energetic,
01:06:49.400 --> 01:06:52.228
full of life, human being.
01:06:52.228 --> 01:06:54.880
(soft calming music)
01:06:54.880 --> 01:06:55.920
I'm gonna be okay.
01:06:56.900 --> 01:06:58.749
You don't have to worry about me, girl.
01:06:58.749 --> 01:07:01.832
(soft calming music)
01:07:03.234 --> 01:07:04.067
You know?
01:07:04.067 --> 01:07:07.150
(soft calming music)