Ep 191. - Young US Muslims and Trump
As part of Muhammad Jalal’s conversations with young Muslims from around the world, he speaks with Mosaab and Watfae about the Trump presidency and what this will mean for young Muslims.
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Transcript - This is an AI generated transcript and may not reflect the actual conversation
Introduction
0:00
I can definitely say that the dread exists however it's not remorseful and it's very clear that there is an assertion of listen political Agency for me
0:11
they're the same blue red doesn't matter they're kind of the same thing and if we made it through Trump the first we'll make it through the second time there
0:17
was no strategy at all to their campaigning they thought we were dumb enough to fall for that well guys for for coming along and um uh I suppose want to get a feel for how young people
0:32
in America are anticipating it all or otherwise the the Trump presidency and um you know I I've
0:41
I've spoken to a lot of people from as you know in in in the states throughout the the election campaign uh but I haven't spoken to very many young people I'm afraid and and it would be good
0:51
to get get a feel for how how things are I mean uh we've got watur and and musab with us today um
1:00
well for I think you're based in Chicago right yes and wasab you're in New York and um yeah I
1:06
just want to get get an impression of how things are for you and like you know is there a is there
1:13
a uh a sense of Shad with a trump presidency what like what's going on just give us the lay of the
1:19
land and what for you may want to you may want to begin to let us things um so yeah honestly
Dread for Trump?
1:26
like not I don't want to say there's no sense of dread I I'm kind of at a point where I don't care anymore um so for me from president to president they're kind of all and I want to say they're the
1:36
same because everyone has they do their own damage right but I feel like what we were dealing with
1:42
where we had a sitting president where we were constantly expressing our concerns and we helped get him elected and everything and we were just like basically to into a wall like nothing was
1:52
getting through when it came down to election time I was like I don't really care anymore I'm like they're for me they're the same blue red doesn't matter they're kind of the same thing um and if we
2:01
made it through Trump the first time we'll make it through the second time but I'm not I don't want my vote to go to to democratic party just for the sake of trump not winning like I feel like that
2:10
was just not that's not a really good strategy and it wasn't something morally that felt good for me
2:16
so I mean you're a Palestinian right so is that was that the like the um uh the impression is that
2:21
the impression of most young Palestinians in in your community yeah I think so most Palestinians
2:27
in my community either didn't go out to vote at all um or like they went out to vote and they voted independent but I know a lot of people that also just said like H us like we're just not
2:35
gonna We're Not Gonna vote like it's not worth it um but I think Chicago is it's a different situation because Illinois is like always blue um because of the the dense population of Chicago so
2:47
some people in Illinois were kind of just like not that our vote doesn't matter but like our vote really doesn't matter like we're going to be blue regardless yeah I think similar to New
2:54
York New York was a you know was very much a blue State um although funny enough it had the biggest
3:00
right shift since 40 years uh this past election but because it is a blue St I know a lot of people
3:07
specifically Muslim youth they really had very heavy voter apathy where they were like look
3:12
either way wherever I vote and also New York was one of the only states where Joe Stein wasn't actually on the ballot so if you wanted to vote third party you had to write them in yeah so
3:23
yeah that really pushed a lot of voter apathy um amongst Muslim Youth and the Egyptians have afraid
3:30
where which means like you know it's broken either way it's broken this way broken that way
3:35
it doesn't matter so um so that I can definitely say was you know a popular sentiment amongst also
3:43
another like sorry with the ren situation that was also another just like for lack of better
3:48
it's so annoying especially for like Arab voters in America like my dad's an immigrant so like we
3:54
literally like we have to write it out for him like this is the name you are writing in in the blank like it's so it's very like you said it's a tactic I don't know the right words for it but
4:02
it's just very like stupid I hate it but what is that idea I mean I've I've never come across in
Writing on Ballot?
4:07
UK we don't have such a concept right if someone's not in a ballot you can't vote for them so explain his writing business yeah someone's not in a ballot you just write their name in and like
4:18
in the election that gorilla got like a bunch of votes har har R got I think he actually might have
4:27
even gotten second in local election District in Ohio if I'm not wrong yeah like people could
4:34
just write in whatever they want that's why like people actually want to run that are not on the ballot have to be very strategic about like their their marketing and their campaigning because like
4:43
they need to get enough people to actually write their name in so in some states Jill Stein was on the ballot but in others like she wasn't so it was that's a deterrent like no one's going
4:51
to want to sit there and be like okay let me after bubbling in all these bubbles let me write in Jill Stein and let me write in like her vice president like that's just it's a lot of work wow okay yeah
Feeling on ground
5:01
so so what is the feeling then on the ground with a trump presidency in January like are people you
5:08
know you've said what that it doesn't matter you know it's it's almost like they're the same uh but
5:13
surely there is this you know I I spoke to people who said who said to me that uh Donald Trump at
5:19
least domestically if not internationally is going to be pretty horrendous for Muslims there's quite a bit of dread particularly in the undocumented community so a lot of some New Yorkers in
5:30
particular in New York City are undocumented and there's a lot of dread around them because
5:35
undocumented meaning they just don't have papers migrant papers yes they're they're not you know citizens or even even people who are on green cards even they're also worried and scared uh
5:46
even if you do have uh paperwork because again it is in America's history to actually support people
5:52
have paperwork um but then aside from that they're confident that when Trump you know goes around
5:59
talking about deporting uh as he says illegal immigrants um he means them he doesn't mean the
6:05
majority of you know undocumented people who are actually European uh he knows that like they know
6:12
and at least the feeling is that they are actually the first people who are on the chopping block
6:17
um even if they actually do possess some level of paperwork and even in a place like New York that's considered a sanctuary State and New York City which is considered a sanctuary City uh I can
6:27
definitely say that the dread exists however it's not remorseful very important to note The Dread is
6:34
not remorseful um and it's very clear that there is an assertion of listen political agency in the
6:44
election this time around um and that even though there is a lot of dread coming with Trump there is
6:49
zero confidence that this wouldn't have happened with Harris and the reality is that a lot of
6:56
people uh what they why I've been hearing from a lot of people is that you know Democrats probably
7:01
would have deported just as many people just to kind of prove themselves to the Republicans um and
7:07
what we voted on was standing up against genocide and that's definitely worth it yeah I think the No
7:14
Remorse thing is a is a big point cuz I think well for us we don't have that in Illinois not the same
7:20
type of situation with immigration but I know like people that were supportive of the Palestinian
7:27
cause maybe weren't Muslim weren't Palestinian but they were just like allies looking at the election now they're like well we're going to lose like abortion rights we're going to lose a lot of
7:36
like educational things are going to go wrong like right now he's already talking about getting rid of the doe which is insane but anyway um like that we're he's going to change a lot of things
7:47
but there's no remorse on our side but there is remorse on the Ally side where people that don't
7:52
have that strong affiliation to Palestine or like Muslim causes in general they are starting to kind of pull back in a way where they're like shoot what just do like look at what we have to deal
8:01
with Now versus like us it's kind of like like how you said like I don't care like if it's done it's
8:07
done like we're we're in it anyway and either way no one was to say under Harris it was going to be any better so we're kind of just we're here that's really interesting so do you feel
Tactical voting
8:16
that younger people I I want to pick up on that point that you guys talked about that there is now agency amongst amongst Muslims like it going forward do we feel that in the next election next
8:26
few elections younger people are going to be far more Tactical when it comes to voting or is is you
8:32
know the the conversation is once Gaza declines inshah it does you know things get you know are
8:37
improved in Gaza but once Gaza becomes less of a headline um things are going to move on and
8:43
and voting patterns will return to normal I mean is that How likely is that I think it depends on
8:50
I want say the outcome because I don't even if you ask me a year ago I would not have thought this would be still happening so like I guess it all just depends on how things progress moving
8:58
forward like I think if PE if it progresses to the way it looks like it's progressing where it's just
9:04
kind of going to ride its way out and Lea is going to cease to exist I feel like there's going to be a lot more apathy from young voters in America where like we're not like that sentiment I've
9:14
expressed like I just don't care um if we see that our actions are actually hitting the hearts of you
9:20
know our politicians and it's making a difference that could inspire a next wave of people or
9:26
honestly even the lack of action could inspire a wave of young people to get involved politically
9:31
maybe running for positions maybe and we've seen that already um but on a smaller scale so maybe
9:37
Wella maybe like in four years from now it'll be on a larger scale but yeah I think it's um it's also going to depend on who strikes the iron uh what are the organizations and the groups that are
9:47
going to really take bold stances so far there has been some you know bold stances that's been taken
9:53
we've seen you know and and many of the stances even can be considered not objectively bold but
10:00
if we take it and compare it to what has happened you know or what the track record has been for
10:05
the past 20 years uh for an organization like usmo the US Council of M organizations to come out and
10:11
endorse voting third party in swing States costing their you know Democratic ties that they've spent
10:18
the last four years even more building uh that's that's a big move that shows that there is you
10:24
know a level of agency being asserted here and it does show that there is a willing
10:29
this to take bold stances even when it is hesitant at times and I think whoever is able to mobilize
10:35
you know the spark that's a that has been lit frankly across Muslim youth is going to yield a
10:41
lot of interance I think that also depends on like location like places like New York Chicago like
10:48
that have very large organizing um Powers when it comes to youth versus like smaller States like I
10:55
have I have a friend in Nebraska who like their organizing efforts are a lot smaller and it's a lot harder for them to do anything so I think it would just it depends on location as well yeah and
11:05
more so than ever I expect there will be like a lean into local organizing focusing especially if
11:11
we're talking about elections leaning into winning local seats I know there is talk for example about
11:17
um when I say local it could be local to the level of you know city and state but I mean also even federally local so things like Congress specifically House of Representatives there is
11:26
definitely talk I've been in many conversations folks across the country who are starting to identify key Zionist Democrats who are in vulnerable positions uh for the midterm election
11:36
when everyone goes to sleep midterm elections are not High Fidelity turnouts generally speaking right now might be a little different it depends uh on the polarity obviously but even at the
11:46
highest polarity in an election like 2018 which I personally worked uh the turnout was higher
11:52
than expected but even the expectation wasn't as high compared to you know other democracies so
11:58
you know in in a situation like that there are people who are identifying vulnerable Zionist
12:05
Democrats who played a key figure in uh you know pushing the Zionist narrative and supporting
12:11
Israel's genocide and they are looking to punch them in the ballots uh and the idea is that you
12:16
know if you're able to break further that air of invincibility uh that you know APAC and zus Lobby
12:26
has been able to put out almost within attitude of D the consequences mainly because the consequences
12:32
are you know going to happen either way one two three Congress people aren't going to change the vote on Israel yet but they will break the era of in invincibility and that that's really the
12:43
point of the participation here but is that limit of your like Ambitions like you know you do got you have in House of Representatives you have Muslims you know you have people who are um you
Muslims in politics
12:54
know I I know they're controversial figures but at least there are Muslims in the house of represent
12:59
and Whata what what's your what's your take on some of those I mean as a Palestinian as a young Muslim um you know how effective have they been on on the the cause of Gaza it's tough
13:10
because like for me when it comes to I'm a firm believer and something that like my dad raised me with was like we take what support we can get whether Muslim or non-muslim whether Palestinian
13:18
nonp Palestinian if they're going to stand up for our rights like unconditionally then they have our support they don't have to be Muslim and I think that's a big thing that we
13:29
as Muslims we kind I don't want to say we blindly follow like oh that person wears a hijab let's all go vote for them or like that person leads like jam H let's go vote for them and like we don't ask
13:38
any questions we don't see like what they're going to do we don't ask what they think we don't they
13:43
and then they end up being puppets or they end up just like not really caring or not caring about the causes that should matter to the Muslim so in a broad scheme like of things we don't really have
13:54
that Muslim support in Congress if I was going to identify one person that like unconditionally
14:00
this entire time since she was elected has done everything for Palestine and for the Palestinian people is rash Le that's it yeah um and it's sad because we do have like we had the we had AOC like
14:13
we had the trio we had all those like new young people that we were so excited for we have like we have people that they talk about Palestine but then at the same time they don't do anything about
14:23
it or like if you really dig deep they're not actually aligned with the Palestinian cause um
14:28
but she was one person um where she like when Netanyahu came like and everyone was standing
14:34
for him she was the one sitting you know like thinking about people who are actually standing up and doing something regardless of their identity thankfully she is Palestinian right like so we
14:43
have that identification in her but it doesn't need to be that way and I think we're kind of starting to play we're starting to recognize that that's not the case where like if they're Muslim
14:52
we have to vote for them if they're passing you have to vote for them um but it's like it's been a long journey cuz especially in Chicago if you looked at that like politicians like we would
15:00
vote for we' vote for them because like they're a person of color or they're a minority group and we just think that's going to make things better because Chicago is such a diverse City and it
15:08
ends up not being the case yeah I think there there has been especially this past election cycle across the Muslim Community there has been a reckoning in terms of identity politics and how
15:20
far identity politics can really go and what does it really mean to be like you know a candidate who is committed to Justice and uh fighting specially interests that don't have people at heart that
15:33
there has been a reckoning of that undoubtedly I think there has been progress although it's very
15:39
small very small and almost even superficial um but there has been progress in terms of you know
15:46
the overarching narrative on Palestine inside the Hol of power however it's not really fair
15:53
to say that has resulted in much policy change um speaking to you know what's this point so I do
16:00
agree uh that you know there has to be a different strategy and I think that strategy is really going
16:06
to come from punishing elected officials more so than it is going to be in putting them in um and and and I think like what this election has really demonstrated is it is possible to punish a
16:18
national you know incumbent uh political candidate who otherwise may have won it really like
16:28
objectively the de Democrats perform terribly and it's less that Trump won more so than that Harris
16:34
lost um but if they handled RZA differently there will always be that question would the Democrats
16:42
may have won because so many of the issues that the Democrats were voted out for were connected to
16:47
vza yeah I mean I think I think that's interesting I I've got another uh question really about um
Public figures
16:54
like public figures uh Medi Hassan comes to mind and I don't want to personalize his te much but
16:59
you know Med has obviously came out in favor of voting for Harris um and he on other on Gaza he
17:06
has been actually very good and he's been very effective and he's been a very good good debater and and he he he raises you know issues that others don't talk about but on this one issue he
17:18
probably you know he certainly was wrong right and he certainly was was uh uh on a side which which
17:25
was which was horrid yeah I mean that can even be seen with his position changing as election
17:31
day got closer and you know his his language changed initially in the beginning he was fully
17:37
behind Biden even when there were top ranking Democrats who were coming out against Biden and saying there needs to be an open election or an Open Primary or they were even suggesting names
17:46
of who could replace Biden um and then when he you know comes out and changes in towards I would
17:53
say middle of the time of Biden's candidacy after the first debate he fully goes out against Biden
17:59
says you know he needs to be changed and then you know moving a little further when the Harris uh
18:05
candidacy is confirmed uh he's full Harris even when there are doubters within the Democratic
18:10
party uh and then towards the end towards the last couple of weeks especially after you know
18:16
Bill Clinton and after Richie Torres goes to Dearborne again it's like Democrats campaign so that they can lose um after those he literally says you guys deserve to lose like he he said like
18:27
if you lose Michigan you deserve it you deserve the moral defeat and it's almost like you again
18:33
I'm not trying to personalize it but it's almost like a position of trying to have the cake and eat it too and I understand it because there is a dread of a trump presidency I do get it um but
18:44
I do think that if you look at every single Lobby every single you know interest group in
18:50
United States history that was able to make any sort of policy change they did it by punishing candidates this is this is I mean objective fact um and it's a matter really of believing whether
19:02
the Muslim Community is capable of punishing candidates or not and I think but this past year has proved that they are under the correct circumstances well also to pick up on like what
19:12
you said about them trying to lose like I think we couldn't like my family and I were sitting after
19:17
the election and we were trying to identify like campaign goals from either party where like they didn't have actual like concrete campaign goals like the Democratic party was like running off of
19:28
like a meme like it was just like trying to appeal to young voters like trying to be trendy get the celebrities involved get Beyonce involved get tayor Swift involved five million to Oprah yeah
19:38
like just bringing all these like people that are like the face and the the American Youth are going
19:43
to be stupid enough to fall forward and vote for it and I think they were banking on that way too much because that's not what happened but like they when everyone when the Allies talk about
19:54
how they were like oh well now we don't have the right to choose now our education system screwed we have all these problems that are going to come up but she never at any point said she was going
20:04
to do anything about those things there was never actually a concrete campaign goal about it there was never a strategy there was never anything about it um and then on the other hand we found
20:14
out that they're playing completely opposite ads in Michigan versus Pennsylvania like in
20:19
Michigan the ads are talking about a ceasefire in Pennsylvania the ads are talking about standing up for Israel's right to defend itself from the Democratic party so when you see those like
20:28
there was no strategy at all to their campaigning and I think it should kind of show like Americans
20:35
like they thought we were dumb enough to fall for that and I think that's a big thing we need to realize where maybe voting isn't really where where our power is but like how most you
20:45
were saying like getting into the like punishing candidates you know going into it in that kind
20:50
of light I think has a bigger effect because they shouldn't be able to treat us like we're dumb and do those types of things and get away with it do you guys feel that like in the UK there is this
Hijrah
21:00
sort of impression amongst young people that it's it's an it's a almost an an atmosphere of Doom and Gloom you know um I mean partly because UK is a pretty uh wet and cold place most of the
21:11
year but a lot of young people I speak to they they tend to say uh We've we've given up on the
21:17
politics and we just want to leave now and and you know uh there is this sort of flight away
21:23
to Muslim countries okay fine it's a romanticized version of what the Muslim world looks like but
21:29
there is a lot of that there I mean is is there an equivalent in the US amongst uh amongst young
21:34
Muslims there is there's a bit of that I don't know if I would say that there's a lot of it but there is a bit of it I definitely have run into it um and maybe in Chicago it's more I mean this
21:45
is my New York propaganda moment if you live in New York I don't know why you'd want to leave but that's how I feel about Chicago so understandably um I will say uh there is a bit of it I do think
21:59
there is a different dimension in the United States uh which is American exceptionalism that's something that Muslims aren't you know necessarily safe from and I think it has its pros and cons I
22:09
think it has manifested itself in the last 20 years more in you know the negative um but I do
22:15
think actually this is an interesting thought that a big reason why the abandon Harris movement uh
22:23
it wasn't just the campaign obviously there was the campaign but there were others as well who were you know just morally affected by it uh even if they weren't you know officially part of the
22:33
campaign or anything I think one of the reasons why the movement was so successful in specifically
22:39
bringing in number one non-politically activated Muslims in terms of Voters uh and then also
22:48
bringing in uh leftists or left leaning I should say progressive might be the more accurate term
22:54
Progressive some Progressive Democratic voters uh and even right-wing voters is because they
23:03
appealed to a bit of the American exceptionalism on the idea of America's culpability and uh its uh
23:12
complicity in the genocide that's happening in Lea I think that is an important tool I think that's
23:18
an important tool when we're talking about you know daa and the United States when we're talking about spreading a positive message and showing and giving an alternative to to America I do think
23:29
that there is you know a level of it that needs to speak to what the people distinguish themselves by
23:38
I do think that that is important so I think it does like back to your question it does exist a
23:44
bit but I do think that American exceptionalism plays a very big role in how what some Americans
23:49
identify themselves yeah um and it really varies across ethnicity and across um you know even I
23:57
would say location United States in urban places you'll see that actually plays less the American exception wasm plays less uh not necessarily generally speaking but you can see that it'll
24:07
play a lesser role in terms of identity more so than you know places like the suburbs and rural
24:12
areas I think it also like I don't think we have a lot of Chicago like you said with New York people
24:19
don't necessarily want to leave and be like oh I just want to move to a Muslim country and never come back I don't think we have a lot of that I think we had to have a mix of like hopelessness
24:29
um but also hopelessness activated into like rage like I think we do have a lot of people that are using it to be like okay like what are we going to like campaign against next what are we going to
24:37
protest against next like where are we going like what are we doing so there's a lot of like direct actions there's a lot of like disruptions things like that and I think people are channeling that
24:46
helplessness into that because it's giving people that power um but I do think that's a Band-Aid and
24:52
I think we've kind of held that Band-Aid on for like the past year and I don't know what's to come next um if we don't see any change cuz at first we started with just like the protests and those were
25:02
good and then they're like okay now we're going to do direct like targeted protests but now I I don't know where to go from here and how that's going to transform everything yeah there's also
25:10
a lot of uncertainty about the future like I have never been in so many conversations about what
25:15
the schooling look like for our next Generation that were things they you guys are talking about schooling for the Next Generation wow yeah yeah I have never been insult conversations about it from
25:25
like literally all of my friend groups yeah yeah like what what you mean you so I hear that there's
25:32
a flight especially amongst you know family young families there's a move from say New York and some
25:39
of these more socially liberal centers to places like Texas or Florida where is that how how common
25:47
is that yeah it's less it's less to the States because they are conservative and more so from
25:53
a city to a suburb yeah so the move you'll see a lot that happening is from New York for example
26:00
to Pennsylvania specifically places like Allentown East Devon these are Suburban areas um or you'll
26:06
see it to Dallas more so than Houston Houston is a massive City huge um and it's very much an
26:12
urban uh you know Hub but most of the Muslims who are moving from New York to Texas aren't moving
26:19
to Houston they're moving to Dallas where the suburbs are um as opposed to Houston or Austin so it's less so from you know a socially liberal state to a conservative State more so than it is
26:30
from cities which tend to be more Democrat more socially liberal uh to suburbs which tend to be
26:40
even if they aren't socially conservative you have the space to just kind of be your own and
26:47
isolate which tends to be the the trend really if you look at a lot of these places yeah I think for
26:53
us it's like people are thinking about safety I think Chicago is completely different in that sense where it's a pretty not I don't want to say dangerous because I've never felt in danger
27:01
living there but um I know there's a lot of like crime that's like starting in the city and slowly
27:07
moving its way like South um into like the bridge view area which is like little Palestine for us
27:13
so people are starting to move out of like those areas and move even further south which are also
27:18
like coincidentally very conservative areas um but I think people aren't necessarily moving if you
27:24
ask like a year ago like before everything started happening in Gaza I think people were moving for
27:30
those reasons like people were more focused on those things where it's like oh more conservative schools more conservative values things like that I think now I don't want to say people don't care
27:38
but people's minds aren't fully focused on that anymore like they're focused on the greater the bigger picture of what's Happening overseas people are more so moving for like that Suburban feel can
American Muslims progressive?
27:47
I I mean again I don't know how to phrase this question in a in a sort of in a sensitive way
27:52
but you know that British Muslims we tend to have very stereotypical views of American Muslim yes
28:00
you all think that there are no real Muslims in the US okay I said it for you so like is is you
28:06
know how how because when I meet you guys when I speak to you you know like today and when I meet other brothers and sisters it's you know I you guys think and feel the same as we do about
28:17
on political and social issues but you know there is this impression that uh whereas you know we we
28:24
we've embraced the more I don't know if it's even the right phrase but more conservative sort of uh
28:30
way of of doing things uh young Muslims in America in particular are quite Progressive I mean is that
28:37
is that just a a stereotype and and we need to move on yeah they uh go ahead actually I think you
28:45
might have a better in it's a little bit of both like I think there are some like there are more
28:50
Progressive regions like I think like the cities do have that more Progressive like I want say progressive Isam I don't know what else to call it um but I think that also it varies culturally too
29:01
so one like location two culture like where your family's from like some people have those like
29:08
stronger roots to their Islam um but I think also we're starting to see now more not second gen but
29:14
third gen um Palestinian not Palestinian oh my gosh Muslims in general in the US so when it was
29:20
first gen versus second like things started to get a little more Progressive now we're seeing third where like those I don't want to say cultural culturally Islamic roots are kind of getting lost
29:31
but more of that americanism is kind of coming in and that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing but I think that's why it can kind of look like it's more Progressive because now it's not
29:41
you're not a like Palestinian Muslim or like a Pakistani Muslim you're like an American Muslim
29:47
those roots are kind of lost so like the values and the approaches to Islam kind of change for the person yeah I think the big access is how you kind of identify in accordance or I guess in proximity
30:00
to America um and being you know American so to speak right uh and I do think that you know
30:07
there is a pendulum shift that's happening I do think that the second generation especially the
30:12
one that grew up you know they started or they maybe had their formative years during the war on
30:18
terror The Early times of the war on terror but they do have you know experience before it like
30:25
their childhood was before it and so they kind of good old days that they kind of go back to I do
30:31
think that that generation tends in my experience this is fully anecdotal but tends to shift more
30:38
towards you know Progressive values if not like at a value acceptance level uh at a value expression
30:46
level at a value tolerance level I I have seen that that I I do believe to be the case I do think
30:52
with the third generation vda has really changed I think the third generation was on track to put
30:58
the pendulum even more towards you know what you would consider Progressive values um that are
31:05
contradictory to Islam uh but then RZA really brought everything back at a mass scale um and
31:11
people who I know who weren't praying had started to pray all over again uh people I know who you
31:17
know they were doing they were always politically active and they were like interested and you know they'd read and stuff um they started to ask why don't we have politics that reflect our G
31:28
even though we learn that our de has a level of politics in it so I do think that Gaza has really
31:33
changed everything and I will I will see there is I I had a friend from the UK who came to the US
31:39
and uh he got to travel around all over the US he came to New York he went to California Texas Ohio
31:45
he went everywhere and he said you know I was most surprised and shook that there are a Muslim um and
31:52
I was telling him you know I spent a good amount of time with because it was him and a couple of other brothers from the UK I said yeah you know I I spent a good amount of time with you guys and
32:00
I was uh surprised that there are also Muslims in the UK you and not you know sectarian uh internet
32:09
heads I would say or Twitter heads yeah that's right I think a lot of it is what we perceive and
32:14
see on social media and that's that's not normally a good mirror well let's wrap this up I think this
32:19
has been fascinating and I I've got a good picture of of you know where where you guys are and it' be good to come back to you once Donald Trump does uh embed himself in as a as the president to see
32:29
how how he does um but uh I actually Sami humy I think is still there I mean was Sami in Chicago
32:37
the other day I I can't remember been traveling oh he was in Chicago for American WIS for Palestine
32:42
conference this past weekend so how how to be it was good it was nice to have a lot of um
32:49
just like palis and Muslim youth in one place um I think although the topics of conversation
32:56
are kind of the same they're is like that sense of community I think that's what a lot of people need and I think that's why protests people are still pulling up to those like we're going to protest
33:04
maybe we're not seeing a difference but being around people is what's keeping us strong kind of keeping us hopeful um so that was nice to have everybody together a sense of solidarity yeah back
Sami Hamdi
33:14
back to Samy okay like I know Sami is this amazing political analyst and and the rest of it but like
33:20
what is his appeal in America why is he spending so much time in America I I don't get it bab I
33:25
think he likes America more than the American like himot take really hot take he doesn't like
33:33
New York I will say that much that much is very clear every time he comes to New York he brings
33:38
bad bad weather with him every time right and say I know a lot of like young organizers at least in
33:45
Chicago love hearing him speak um and it's like that inspiring like feel that we don't really
33:50
get from a lot of speakers not not to diss any speakers in the US they're all great but I think it's also that sense of like it's a speaker we never really hear from like we hear from him on
33:59
online but we never get to see him in person and seeing him in person kind of resp Sparks that that drive in us so I accent must must help I I I won't give too much credit to the English accent but I
34:11
will say one of the things that he does you know very well M and A lot of people do very well um is
34:18
that they are really centering Dean on you know a political Compass they're centering you know
34:25
the you know the political compass within being and what Sammy does is he does that very loudly
34:31
uh and so you know that that's a big part of his appeal like I know you know a lot of people who
34:36
have listened to him they'll come back and say oh you know uh what he said really stuck with me he
34:43
says it in such a way that's very passionate um and he kind of he makes you feel it right like he makes you feel the omus pain he makes you feel like the way forward um and so that that sticks
34:52
with people yeah great well thank you so much guys for uh for your uh um conversation today and uh as
35:02
I said it would be great to to touch base with you and that's a very American term but touch Bas with you sometime soon and and talk about uh things going forward and I think the idea behind these
35:12
conversations really just to get a feel for how young people respond to different events I mean
35:18
I think it's probably worth doing something quite similar on Syria in fact it'll be wonderful musab because I know musab is is organized in many of these it'd be wonderful to get even young people
35:27
from sirri here uh to have a conversation maybe on our next couple of chats uh but look jaak thank
35:34
you so much jaak for your time today and uh uh I hope to to speak to you guys soon salam alaikum s
35:42
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35:49
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