Podcasts about Arab Americans

Send us Fan MailIs there such a thing as the bare minimum in a relationship? Are there certain things that should be non-negotiable, or does everyone have their own version of what they need from a relationship? Plus, we debate whether some partners are actually partners or just another person you have to take care of.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

Not easy to drive distracted without crashing quickly in simulator VASA Fitness opens first Michigan location in long-vacant Kroger store Arab American group opening $25M substance abuse center in Dearborn Fox 2 Detroit anchor Erica Francis announces departure

Send us Fan MailNothing humbles you quite like going to an Arab event and realizing you're officially one of the aunties.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

In June 1968, a twenty-four-year-old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan B. Sirhan assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy, marking yet another killing in a decade haunted by political violence. As he was being subdued, Sirhan shouted, “I can explain. I did it for my country,” by which he meant Palestine. On trial, he testified that his motives included opposition to Zionism, with particular anger directed toward Kennedy because of the senator's call for arms sales to Israel. Despite Sirhan's confessions, the significance of the Arab-Israeli conflict to the slaying largely escaped notice—or was actively obscured.I Did It for My Country: Sirhan Sirhan, Palestine, and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy is a revelatory account of Sirhan and the political dimensions of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. It illuminates Sirhan's Palestinian background, war-torn childhood, and experience of displacement, considering to what extent trauma contributed to his mental health problems. Michael R. Fischbach uncovers how prominent actors—from the United States and Middle Eastern governments to Jewish and Arab American groups—deliberately depoliticized the assassination by downplaying Sirhan's grievances about American support for Israel. He also examines why US authorities investigated possible Arab co-conspirators and explores how Palestinians understood Sirhan's action, as well as how Sirhan has maintained his Palestinian nationalism during his decades in prison. Drawing on in-depth archival research—including FBI and CIA documents—this book pinpoints a missed opportunity to consider how US foreign policy could affect domestic security. Michael R. Fischbach is professor of history at Randolph-Macon College. His books include The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left (2019); Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color (2018); and Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2003).Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In June 1968, a twenty-four-year-old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan B. Sirhan assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy, marking yet another killing in a decade haunted by political violence. As he was being subdued, Sirhan shouted, “I can explain. I did it for my country,” by which he meant Palestine. On trial, he testified that his motives included opposition to Zionism, with particular anger directed toward Kennedy because of the senator's call for arms sales to Israel. Despite Sirhan's confessions, the significance of the Arab-Israeli conflict to the slaying largely escaped notice—or was actively obscured.I Did It for My Country: Sirhan Sirhan, Palestine, and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy is a revelatory account of Sirhan and the political dimensions of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. It illuminates Sirhan's Palestinian background, war-torn childhood, and experience of displacement, considering to what extent trauma contributed to his mental health problems. Michael R. Fischbach uncovers how prominent actors—from the United States and Middle Eastern governments to Jewish and Arab American groups—deliberately depoliticized the assassination by downplaying Sirhan's grievances about American support for Israel. He also examines why US authorities investigated possible Arab co-conspirators and explores how Palestinians understood Sirhan's action, as well as how Sirhan has maintained his Palestinian nationalism during his decades in prison. Drawing on in-depth archival research—including FBI and CIA documents—this book pinpoints a missed opportunity to consider how US foreign policy could affect domestic security. Michael R. Fischbach is professor of history at Randolph-Macon College. His books include The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left (2019); Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color (2018); and Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2003).Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In June 1968, a twenty-four-year-old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan B. Sirhan assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy, marking yet another killing in a decade haunted by political violence. As he was being subdued, Sirhan shouted, “I can explain. I did it for my country,” by which he meant Palestine. On trial, he testified that his motives included opposition to Zionism, with particular anger directed toward Kennedy because of the senator's call for arms sales to Israel. Despite Sirhan's confessions, the significance of the Arab-Israeli conflict to the slaying largely escaped notice—or was actively obscured.I Did It for My Country: Sirhan Sirhan, Palestine, and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy is a revelatory account of Sirhan and the political dimensions of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. It illuminates Sirhan's Palestinian background, war-torn childhood, and experience of displacement, considering to what extent trauma contributed to his mental health problems. Michael R. Fischbach uncovers how prominent actors—from the United States and Middle Eastern governments to Jewish and Arab American groups—deliberately depoliticized the assassination by downplaying Sirhan's grievances about American support for Israel. He also examines why US authorities investigated possible Arab co-conspirators and explores how Palestinians understood Sirhan's action, as well as how Sirhan has maintained his Palestinian nationalism during his decades in prison. Drawing on in-depth archival research—including FBI and CIA documents—this book pinpoints a missed opportunity to consider how US foreign policy could affect domestic security. Michael R. Fischbach is professor of history at Randolph-Macon College. His books include The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left (2019); Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color (2018); and Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2003).Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on the show, the balance of Congressional power is up for grabs in this midterm election. It could be determined by a small number of voters in a few battleground states.  Blueprints from the past could be the guide for big wins. The GOP has embraced a block-the-vote strategy set in motion in Arizona in the 1960s. And the Democrats are embracing a grassroots power base set up in Michigan in the 1970s.Guests:John A. Jenkins, author of The Partisan: The Life of William RehnquistTova Wang, Director of Research Projects in Democratic Practice at the Ash Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding Americans' Right to Vote.Ismael Ahmed, co-founder of the Arab American Center for Economic and Social Services.Sally Howell, Professor of History with a focus on Arab American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Send us Fan MailWhat's actually stressing us out and what are we just being dramatic about? In this episode, we talk about everything from major life changes and anxiety to unread emails, hosting people, washing our hair, and having way too many tabs open in our brains. We get into how we each deal with stress, the things we internalize, and why sometimes the little things feel a lot bigger than they actually are. Basically, life is stressful, but sometimes you just need to laugh, put things in perspective, and maybe go to therapy.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

In this exclusive Sid & Friends in the Morning interview, President Donald Trump discusses the 25-year commemorations of 9/11, including his recollection of visiting Ground Zero and his decision to speak at the Pentagon tomorrow rather than visiting the World Trade Center site. He strongly criticizes media coverage of his recent speech at the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas, and pushes back against reports that the event had empty seats, while also touting his record of endorsing successful Republican candidates. Sid and Thea President discuss the Republican Party's messaging around the Democrats' embrace of socialism, communism, and radical Islam, as well as Trump's support among Arab-American voters in Michigan and his broader claims about economic investment and job creation. The conversation also turns to Trump's relationship with Tucker Carlson, Iran's nuclear ambitions, tariffs and trade tensions with Canada, border security, and his criticisms of Democratic leaders including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, J.B. Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Friday is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. 9/11 marked a turning point in American history when two planes were hijacked by extremists who flew into two buildings at the World Trade Center in New York and another at the Pentagon, and two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed. It was the deadliest attack on the US since Pearl Harbor sixty years prior. Following 9/11, the US government implemented multiple pieces of significant legislation around curbing and countering terrorism and enemy combatants. Policies such as the USA Patriot Act and the Special Registration Program targeted and disproportionately affected Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims in America. Tonight on Apex Express, in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary, we are hearing from members of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA. Several ASATA members will listen to Apex Express episodes about the impact of 9/11 and share their thoughts. You will hear pieces of shows starting all the way back to two thousand two and as recently as this spring.   LINKS Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA Bay Area Solidarity Summer (BASS) Black Panther Party History   SHOW TRANSCRIPT [00:00:00] Opening: Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. [00:00:34] Miko Lee: Welcome to Apex Express. This is Miko Lee, and I'm introducing a show that is recognizing the time that we're in. And as many of you might know, this Friday is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. 9/11 marked a turning point in American history when two planes were hijacked by extremists who flew into two buildings at the World Trade Center in New York and another at the Pentagon, and two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed. It was the deadliest attack on the US since Pearl Harbor sixty years prior. Following 9/11, the US government implemented multiple pieces of significant legislation around curbing and countering terrorism and enemy combatants. Policies such as the USA Patriot Act and the Special Registration Program targeted and disproportionately affected Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims in America. Tonight on Apex Express, in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary, we are hearing from members of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA. Several ASATA members will listen to Apex Express episodes about the impact of 9/11 and share their thoughts. You will hear pieces of shows starting all the way back to two thousand two and as recently as this spring. So stay tuned to Apex Express and reflections on the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11.   [00:02:06] Arati: Hi everyone. Welcome. Can you please introduce yourselves?   [00:02:09] Hafsa: Hey everyone. My name is Hafsa. I'm here from ASATA.    [00:02:13] Palvinder: Hi all, Palvinder Kaur a Sikh community organizer here in Sacramento.   [00:02:19] Priya: Hi, I'm Priya. I'm also an organizer with ASATA and a teacher based in Oakland.   [00:02:23] Arati: We're gonna start listening to our clips now.    [00:02:25] Speaker 5: I can clearly remember my parents repeating, “Please don't let it be a Muslim. Please don't let it be a Muslim,” while watching the news. I didn't process at age five the type of impact this would have on my family, but as I got older, those words stuck with me as I watched police outside our mosques and soldiers touching down in Muslim countries around the globe.   [00:02:45] George W. Bush: Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward.    [00:02:50] Speaker 7: I got a call after the first tower had been hit.    [00:02:53] Speaker 8: I was right here. My roommate was like, “Hey, man. Wake up. You should watch this.”    [00:02:59] Speaker 9: My mom called me at 7:00 in the morning, and whenever my mom calls, I always think, “Oh, God,” you know? “What happened,” right? And my immediate reaction was, Bush has got his war now.    [00:03:10] George W. Bush: Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.   [00:03:25] Speaker 9: Pretty much as soon as the towers fell and it was determined to be a terrorist act, people were talking about Pearl Harbor, you know, day of infamy and making all those parallels. And of course, there was that immediate fear of backlash against Arab Americans. But what's the point of revenge? It's not gonna bring the people who died back. It's not gonna prevent future attacks, in my opinion. If anything, it might create the conditions for more hatred.    [00:03:55] Speaker 10: It is heartbreaking when you hear somebody who's not even a Muslim or Arab got killed in Arizona who just happened to wear this traditional clothes.   [00:04:10] Speaker 9: Within the first week, I started seeing reports on the internet about hate crimes that occurred in San Francisco.   [00:04:15] Speaker 11: Arab American Discrimination more than two hundred incidents of hate crimes. Six of these people died.    [00:04:30] Speaker 7: My mom actually called me and she was like, “Shave your beard,” you know, like, “Don't do anything stupid.” My partner actually from Urban Groove, is a Sikh, and he was in Pittsburgh at the time, and he called me up and he said, “I'm scared for us right now.” I can't even go to the library. I can't even go to the gym. People are looking at me funny just getting in your car and going outside. You know, at that time we realized the education that really needed to come to a lot of Americans that Muslim or not, these are not people that blew up the World Trade Center. These are not people that hurt other Americans. You know, these are our friends, our coworkers, our family.   [00:05:15] Speaker 12: It took me a while to find my voice and publicly react and respond to the events at the close of 2001. Part of that has to do with the memory of how irrational Americans become during times of war. I didn't wanna be on any blacklists, be monitored, stand out.    [00:05:34] Speaker 8: One of the things that I thought was really ironic was the question the media posed to the, the public. You know, how could this happen to us? Well, kind of stop and look at the history of our foreign policy. It's pretty evident in why something like this would happen.    [00:05:50] Speaker 9: I didn't feel like I was being disrespectful, and I didn't think that I was somehow, like, less American for also criticizing the government. But then again, the appropriate response is that we all just fall in line behind the Bush administration, whatever they do. It doesn't matter. Civil liberties are trampled. This is the appropriate response. You know, this is the way we show our patriotism.   [00:06:12] Arati: So most of those clips were from Robyn Takayama's 2002 documentary in which she's using different community voices to explore her own discovery of what patriotism looks like. It starts with, like, a small cut from the 20th anniversary, and then the rest of that is from these series of immediate reactions and lived experiences from Robyn's documentary. So reflecting on when this documentary was released, 2002, and where we are now, what still feels resonant? Does anything feel stale or stuck in time, or are there things that you're still like, “Yeah, that's really where we're at now”?    [00:06:43] Hafsa: I think for me, growing up with the Muslim community in Southern California, I remember 2002 being a very scary time as the people in this audio clip are kind of sharing. And I think now I don't feel as stranded as an American Muslim in America as I did at that time. And to provide context, I was 11 years old at that time, and I could feel the fear from people older than me and, even my friends as we would go to recess, and we would think we'd get sniped down by someone who's, like, looking out for us because we're little Muslim kids. yeah, I think that's something that I can definitely feel, where I don't feel stranded. I don't feel like there are, there is a lack of other communities who've been harmed who can also make bridges with us.    [00:07:34] Arati: Yeah. Thanks, Hafsa.    [00:07:35] Palvinder: Yeah, similarly, I was, I was a teen as well, probably 11. I grew up Sikh. My dad wore the star, a turban. I remember seeing it on the news. And I didn't really register for me for about a little bit of time until, like, the first racist comment was made towards my dad or we heard about, the Arizona death. It wasn't until, you know, Brown communities, Sikh communities, uh, Muslim communities were targeted, anyone who looked Muslim, right, And so for me, I think at the time, it took a while to fully register. But, you know, once it did, it was like, oh, this isn't about it just being a Muslim. It's like people are just perceiving anybody. And, as I grew up, I realized, the need for, communities not to say like, “Oh, but we're not Muslim,” you know? And I think that was like a really strong push from a lot of the Sikh community organizers, reflecting back on it. But of course, you still have folks who are in the community who are just like trying to say, “But we're not Muslim.” And that's a, that was a problem. You know, I wanna call out that, that problematic nature, and I think the same thing happens today when we see it around communities who have different immigration statuses. and it's like, oh, we might be X, Y, Z race, but we're not. You know, we're, we're American, or we were born here, we're a citizen. And it's just like, but why are we othering ourselves? So I still see some of those similarities around othering. I struggle with it because I can understand from the perspective of, you know, some of the individuals trying their best, working hard, and wanting to not be targeted, but at the same time, like, it's not the right thing to do. I think we're seeing a lot more, collaboration now, I would say, a lot more shifting in the narrative. I know we've had a lot of conversations across, the Sikh community over the past two and a half decades around the problem with othering ourselves from other races and other, other identities. And so I, I think that's one aspect of it, but I still see that same sort of nature, right? Like, um, when an attack happens or when there's a shooting, it's constantly like, don't let it be a interracial identity or immigration identity, right? and, I feel like the media continues to fail us, like the narratives around people of color, immigrants, is just very dehumanizing. and somehow, white folks get humanized in all of the actions that they're taking. I do feel like there's a media component to it, and we have to call that out. The one thing that, you know, when one of the individuals had shared that they were like falling in line, I think about just the over-surveillance that's occurring and the way that social media recordings and just everything going live in public, you know, the need to be vocal, but there is a sort of line, right, that we all know that we shouldn't cross, and the fear of being seen as un-American.   [00:10:15] Arati: Thank you, Balvinder.   [00:10:16] Priya: I can briefly add on to what was shared. Something you said, Hafsa, really struck me that when you were 11 years old, even going to recess was something that created a culture of fear, and honestly, I still see that in some of my students. When there were threats of ICE in the Bay Area, my classroom was empty. I mean, like, 90% of students didn't come to school that whole week. That culture of fear still exists, among, like, Black and brown communities, even here in the Bay. but we have made a lot of connections with each other as people of color in our organizing histories. But the culture of fear is still salient.   [00:10:51] Arati: Thanks, Priya. Do you feel like there's stuff, you know, a lot of these were current day organizers still 25 years later reflecting on their experiences. Are there pieces of the strategy that we still feel like are salient and that we want to bring with us and continue implementing in 2026?   [00:11:06] Hafsa: I think the communities that reach out to each other, that's something that's still working out for us now. I remember the Japanese community reached out to our masjid because they had been interned. Like, they were in internment camps, and they knew what it felt like to be othered in America in a very vile way. And I remember learning, oh, wow, like, A) there's a big Japanese community in Southern California, and B) they are so resilient that they care enough to reach out to us even though they went through all this already, and now they wanna show us or they wanna be there for us in whatever capacity. So I think, like, as we grow and go through these traumatic events, whatever we learn, there's a resilience that we build when we reach out to other communities.    [00:11:55] Arati: Yeah, absolutely. All right, we're gonna move to our next set of clips. this is gonna be a little heavy, but there's some really incredible stuff in here thinking about the organizing that is birthed of necessity, and a lot of the Sikh coalition's actions in the immediate aftermath, and specifically Asata's actions here in the Bay Area.   [00:12:11] Speaker 8: At the end of the day, necessity is the mother of invention. On the day of 9/11 Sikhs in New York, where the Sikh Coalition is based, saw hate crimes occurring the afternoon of 9/11. Three members of our community were literally chased through the streets of Manhattan. The afternoon of 9/11, an elderly man was beaten to the point of having broken bones, and Sikh young children were shot with paintball guns. And so the night of, we issued a press release grieving against attack on the country and calling on a police to protect our community from hate crimes. Our first real action beyond the press release on the night of 9/11 was to create a website where community members could report hate crimes and other forms of discrimination that were occurring to them. And within that first month after 9/11, more than three hundred people logged in and, and reported acts of discrimination. Everything from, from people who had been shot at, one gentleman who was murdered, to beatings, school bullying, employment discrimination alike. And we really used the information there to get the word out to the media and the policymakers that we have a real problem that needs to be addressed immediately.   [00:13:24] So I think, you know, the heart of the activism in that first month was really creating a space for people to report what was happening and then using that information to call for change. We were able to persuade the, the city of New York to create a regulation on school bullying where none existed before, and where school administrators are required to track bullying incidents and keep statistics on them. They have to ma– use all means they possibly can to take non-punitive measures. And that regulation protects one point one million students in the public school system in New York City, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and the like. We were just able to get the New York City mayor to sign a bill that raises the bar for when employers can reject a request for religious accommodation in the workplace. Post 9/11, Sikhs have been barred from a number of jobs, including city jobs, because of their turbans. And if you wanna work for the public transit system, you have to brand your turban or if you're a Muslim, your hijab, with a Metropolitan Transportation Authority logo. And so we were able to get the mayor to sign a bill last week that basically bans most of those practices. And again, it protects literally millions of New Yorkers who work in the city from discrimination based on religion in the workplace. But at the end of the day, it's again, a regulation that pushes back on the government being able to do whatever it wants and creates a space for anyone to enjoy those protections.   [00:14:50] Speaker 13: So in the Bay Area, ASATA members distributed multilingual know your rights flyers and provided legal support in collaboration with other activist groups, such as the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the former ADC in San Francisco, the National Lawyers Guild, Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Progressive Bengali Network, and ASATA members provided support by taking down the contact information of the men standing outside the Department of Justice to register so as to notify families in case they were detained or disappeared, and also provided information about free legal resources.    [00:15:28] Speaker 14: There's a really moving testimony of a young Muslim girl from Seattle, Washington. Her and her mother were held in detention for, I think, nine months- Mm … without charges or anything, and her mother actually almost died while they were in detention. It was just such a traumatic experience, and I mean, we really need to let these stories be heard.    [00:15:46] Speaker 15: I wanted to point something out, that the figures from May 2003 from the INS or BCIS say that the number of people registered as of May 11th, 2003, were 82,581. Number of people detained, and these are their figures, so who knows what the real figures really are, 2,761. Number of people still detained at that time, 158, and the number of people charged with terrorism-related crimes, zero.    [00:16:19] Speaker 16: Reports indicate that some of those taken into custody were harshly treated. They were handcuffed, shackled, placed in cold cells without adequate clothing or blankets, blankets, forced to sleep standing or on concrete floors, hosed down with cold water, and denied adequate food and water.    [00:16:40] Speaker 17: And I would like to ask for volunteers because when we monitor, when we stand here and monitor people, there are less detentions, there are less questions, and people get done quickly. Some people are afraid to go alone, and they can take a companion with them. If we want safety and security, we cannot buy it by terrorizing other people. We need to change our thinking. We need to change our ways. As superpowers, we need to start empowering people, not taking them away, not putting them in prisons, not detaining. This country has become so secretive. Secret evidence, secret detentions, secret deportations. Everything is secret except our privacy. So we need to really take our country back.   [00:17:32] Arati: Okay. So that was a little longer and definitely somewhat heavy. but I think it's really interesting to hear how people were talking about this, especially post 9/11, and how they were talking about the country in general, and then their work in specific. What things stood out to you from how our communities were able to spring into action immediately post 9/11?   [00:17:49] Palvinder: I was a teen, so to me, as I learned all of the immediate action that was taken, it was really incredible and inspiring, so many different areas of it, right? Raising awareness around the detentions, trying to create that website. Working on school policies. Like, there was so much that was happening, and so much that continues to happen. Great to see community springing into action. I also struggled for so long in my early organizing days, being frustrated that these systems were not created for us, these policies were not created for us. And then when you learn so many of the policies were literally created against us- post 9/11, the over-policing, the over-targeting, it was just so challenging, right? Like, we have already so much, so many more challenges that we're dealing with, and then here we have additional barriers to just kind of living a, a decent life here. But you know, still continue to be inspired by, the way that folks sort of look to heal the community and support. And so I think that, like, one of the things I think about is, is the community within the communities that we were able to create that culture of healing, as much as possible, and then also thinking about the greater change and sort of protections for our community. I struggle with the hate crime stuff, you know, and the data there because, you know, there's so much around how data is used. Is it used in a beneficial way? Is it even, you know, supporting anything that's gonna create some real change? and then of course there's a surveillance question. But again, like I truly feel that folks thought this was coming from a good place. Um, and so I just continue to be mindful around the tactics that we're using, being mindful of like going fast but also being thoughtful and considerate around how these might impact us in the long run. And I, I hope that we continue to look at that. not just finding sort of immediate solutions that might work for us now, but seeing the long-term impact of them too.    [00:19:34] Arati: Yeah, totally. Would love to hear folks' thoughts on this as well, and also I'm curious, I've, I've now heard a few of you say a couple times just like what it meant to be a child at the time, and yeah, maybe not actually being tapped in in that moment of what organizing and activism was taking place when you were that young. But I'm curious also about kind of hearing about it more, and I'm sure as you grew up but also now as an adult, kind of what, how you feel like that maybe has shaped you.    [00:20:00] Hafsa: It's great to hear that there was a collection of bullying and racism happening in schools and that being reported because 100% I'm sure each of those data points represents so many other unreported happenings. For reference, I went to high school in Huntington Beach, California. I did not know the demographics of that area until I left high school, and it helped me understand my experiences there, especially with the teachers who were allowed to be racist. One of the only books in my history teacher's class was a book about how the Quran is false. He was a white man, Christian white man, and this was a history class. and he was a beloved teacher, beloved. And this is just one of many things that happened and that went unreported because we thought, oh, we are lesser than them. We do have to stick together. This is how they talk to us in front of us and behind our backs. So I remember hanging out exclusively with other Muslim students who also wore hijab because that's who we were pushed into a corner and you look around and that's who's there. And I remember going to the masjid and every time there was someone who didn't quite look Arab or South Asian or generally Muslim, if it's like a white person entering the masjid, I'm thinking, “Is that a government operative?” And it was sometimes. Every masjid I knew had at least one person who was hella shady, and they were spying on us, and I wonder where that data lives right now.    [00:21:30] Arati: Yeah. Absolutely. And that's hard not to think about in the surveillance state we're living in now.   [00:21:36] Priya: I was only three when 9/11 happened, but as an organizer now, I am really looking back on how our communities showed up for each other and provided like mutual aid relationship building, and that's the kind of organizing that I wanna build on now in the Bay Area. So the way that like we showed up and we did know your rights in different languages and we, you know, took people's names down, like we're still doing that, and that's the kind of work that I like want us to keep doing and that I feel really proud to be a part of. We have ICE watch at our school where neighbors walk around our school every single morning for an hour, and they have their whistle ready. So if they see ICE, they know how many times to blow the whistle, and we will, you know, spring into action immediately. But yeah, that kind of like relationship building and my neighbor's got my back, and I've got yours, and we're like in this together, and, and we live together, but we also like know each other's names, and we know what it means to keep each other safe because that's not what the government is doing for us. That's what stands out to me from post 9/11 organizing, and that's what I wanna build on.    [00:22:46] Palvinder: Yeah, echoing that. Community and connection and relationship building and healing. I remember specifically there was, in Fresno, Piara Singh, an elderly Sikh man, got attacked. And, our first thing was like, “Okay, what do we do? Like, how do we heal as a community as well?” Of course, the news media attention is there forefront for, like, a day or two, maybe a week max. but you know, when the individual recovers, or they are gonna be recovering, there's really not much attention after that. And for us, it was really like, how do we allow our elders to feel safe, right? How do we allow our community to feel safe, that same walk that this individual is taking, you know? And so I think there was components around that about healing, but also wanting to move fast. I think one of my greatest lessons would just be, centering healing and community and relationship building throughout all of it. no matter how fast we wanna go or how quickly we need to go, I just think about the need to center that. And I think more and more trying to find ways when we aren't springing into action about how we can implement some of that and make sure that that's also centered to the work that we're doing.   [00:23:51] Arati: Yeah. I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on pieces of the specific organizing that was happening that feel maybe relevant. I'm thinking about the non-punitive bullying measures, the non-discrimination activities that had broad benefits, monitoring for safety and security, the description of the detention conditions. I know we've touched on some of these already, but I wonder if there's anything else that's coming up when people are thinking about strategizing and coalition building in 2026.   [00:24:16] Hafsa: All the information I got as a child was through gossips and rumors from elders who were talking, and they were saying, “Hey, we have CIA operatives in the masjid. Hey, we might be attacked. You gotta watch out.” So I think just that sort of conversation or that kind of community interaction is so important because the media wasn't telling me how to save my butt. It was telling me that I'm a scary person, and I'm gonna grow up to do something terrible one day. And I couldn't find an ounce of that within me, so.   [00:24:51] Arati: All right. Thanks everybody. Let's move to our next clip. speaking of media, perfect transition. this is a reflection around the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, and a lot of the audio in these clips are actually thinking about when the media started talking to us rather than just about us.   [00:25:07] Speaker 19: It's the first time we actually have media approaching us around the time of the anniversary asking us what have been the effects on our communities. Uh, whereas before it would, you know, sort of be focused very much around the families that were directly affected by 9/11 and occasionally we'd get a call to check in about, oh, you know, are you– is your community facing any backlash? We've received a decent number of media requests talking about what the last ten years have been like. What have the various ways that our communities have been affected. And at the same time, uh, you know, I think a lot of the exposés in particular that have been criticizing what law enforcement and government agencies have done in the last ten years, a lot of those have seemed to come out in the last, uh, couple of weeks. Mother Jones did a extensive special on, uh, the FBI and their use of undercover agents and informants across the country. The AP has been doing a series, uh, the Associated Press has been doing a series on the NYPD, their collaboration with the CIA and, and their, uh, mapping of Muslim communities in New York. NPR has been doing stories and, and that it seems that they– there is an interest in the media to sort of be more critical, uh, slightly more critical of law enforcement agencies and, uh, starting to demand some form of transparency and accountability that so far they were just given a free leeway to do whatever they wanted, and everything was justified in the name of protecting, uh, our cities. Uh, but now there's starting to be some questions are starting to be raised.   [00:26:48] Arati: Yeah, I feel like this kind of feels really specific in terms of what we were just talking about, and it draws us back into that idea. and I'm curious about if we have reflections on how movement work has changed, especially now that we do have to kind of consider how to engage with the current media apparatus and how does responding to what the media is saying about us, trying to work with the media to share out different kinds of messaging, is that something that folks are thinking about?   [00:27:11] Priya: It just reminds me of how like three weeks ago it came out that the federal government was spying on organizing activities in Minnesota among unions, among organizers. Like this is … no surprise this is still happening, but it can be helpful to look back and, and think about how our communities have experienced this before, and how we came together and how we can prevent it. Or just be more aware of the possibility that it will continue to happen.   [00:27:40] Palvinder: I think the common thing that I kinda see in, my perspective of it is, like, in the moment when something happens, it's constantly the same thing, right? Oh my gosh, let's go talk to the community, and, like, media wants to paint their narrative of it, right? Questions are very specific. and then there's, like, a timeframe where the reflection happens, right? 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years later. And it's like, oh, let's see the impact on the community. Let's see how they're affected. But in the moment, when the opportunity is so prime, like, we don't really have that. I mean, I think more and more I've seen folks, even in, like, media trainings with the community. And so I've really appreciated when folks don't actually answer those questions, and they just shift their response to what they really wanna get across because that's really what our community wants to share. You know, we don't wanna just always answer the question and kind of fill the narrative that the media wants in the moment. but really, like, sharing it from our perspective. And so just greater need to write our own histories, document what's happening. I think we're so caught up in the moment sometimes that we don't even do that. And of course, there's a balance, right, of, action is being taken, what sort of impact those, taking photos or videos of those actions have as well. I just really think that we need to continue to make sure that the stories and the narratives that we want to share even in the moment are shared. and so flipping that script is really great for folks who can do that. I'm not an expert on that. I hope to be one day. But, yeah, just wanna also acknowledge that the reflection piece is, when I feel like the media starts talking to us.   [00:29:14] Hafsa: Yeah, I think, something that I've shifted within myself because, just, talking to media and, you know, being able to represent myself and my community, that's not something that's within my skillset. Like, that's not something I definitely work on. But what I do love to work on is increasing representation of people who look like us in other areas. And I think back as 11-year-old American Muslim immigrant growing up in America, what did me and my friends need? And something that we didn't have access to was really, like, the outdoors and nature, and that is just the number one healing thing, and that's something that a lot of immigrant communities cannot find when we come to America 'cause we are put in areas that don't have nature, where it's redlined districts or places that we can afford. They don't have access to nature. So something I like to do is try to organize for those communities to get us out in nature and feel safe because when we can feel safe in the world alone, we can feel ourselves in a way that we can't when we hear media tell us that we are scary or we are worthless or whatever else. It's a great place to unwrap those lies and really feel ourselves.    [00:30:22] Arati: That's a beautiful reflection. I really appreciate you thinking about what you needed as a child, what our communities need, and, what, what it feels like to work with the media, but also to be like, ” That might not be our friend.” So how do we protect ourselves from the media? Thank you for sharing that.   [00:30:37] Palvinder: I'll also just quickly add on the media piece, and this is like a definitely based off my, my experiences. There are certain folks who have access to media, you know, in the community. There are certain folks and organizations who the media will always go to. And, you know, I understand they've built those relationships, they've invested those resources, and I would just really encourage, you know, and continue to encourage those folks to really think about the folks who are on the ground doing the work as well, and giving opportunity to those voices as well when they want them. cause of course, not all organizers and activists want those, opportunities. But, I just think that it's important to share the diversity of voices amongst the community, and while many of those who have access and privilege with media, they are very niche. and yes, they're eloquent in their speaking, they're great at sort of getting what message they want across, but we're also very diverse communities. You know, there are some folks who are gonna pick up the pen and then others who are gonna go to the streets, you know, and organize. There's others contacting decision-makers. So it just all depends. But, yeah, I would just really encourage our communities to really think about, sharing the mic really.   [00:31:46] Arati: Okay. Thanks so much for sharing that. These are really, really incredible reflections. Um, we're gonna move to our next set of clips. A lot of this is gonna be audio from a massive Stop Urban Shield demonstration in 2014, which is nested inside of an interview with Zahra Billoo from CAIR or the Council on American Islamic Relations. So we get to hear from Zahra, we get to hear from the Stop Urban Shield work, which was happening right here in the Bay Area, and, um, I'm excited to hear y'all's thoughts.   [00:32:14] Speaker 20: I think a, a really huge local victory for Bay Area residents to celebrate is all of the organizing that happened to push back Urban Shield. I don't know if folks are familiar with Urban Shield, but it's essentially like a massive law enforcement training exercise where they train SWAT teams and sell weapons and, you know, military-grade weaponry for domestic police agencies. And so when you wonder why the local police department in Ferguson has a tank or things of that sort, or why people are dying because police are using military-grade weapons, a lot of that's happening in this culture of this Urban Shield convention, and so it's been coming to Alameda County for a couple of years now.   [00:32:54] Speaker 21: On the second day of Urban Shield, community members filled the intersection of 10th and Broadway, just outside of the Marriott where the vendor show was taking place.   [00:33:11] Speaker 23: Can you read the sign that you're holding?    [00:33:15] Speaker 22: Don't shoot. From Ferguson, Gaza to Oakland, our homes are not war zones.    [00:33:21] Speaker 23: Simi Makhijani. I'm here with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action. We're out here to stand in solidarity with all those that are targeted by state-sponsored violence, whether at the hands of Oakland, Ferguson, New York Police Department, or the drone attacks on Pakistan, or the struggles against Zionism in Palestine or Hindu supremacy in India. After September 11th here, in terms of surveillance and unwarranted detentions of Muslims and those mistaken as Muslims in the Sikh population, and in other countries from Kashmir to Gujarat to Gaza, you know, the attacks on Muslims. We haven't always been recognized or as visible as we should be in standing together, walking together in these struggles here, and it's the primary reason that we're trying to be here, because it's really important that non-Black communities of color not be silent on this issue.   [00:34:13] Speaker 21: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders came out in force, and nearly everyone I spoke with made links between the militarization of police in our communities in the US and the militarism perpetuated by the US throughout Asia.    [00:34:26] Speaker 24: The increasing brutality of the local police and the paranoia about terrorist attacks stems directly from the attack on the Twin Towers. Of course, giving local police military-grade equipment is older than 9/11, but we've seen an upswing in funding from the Department of Homeland Security. So in that way, Urban Shield is one facet of the war on terror.    [00:34:45] Speaker 20: There was a really great coalition that formed on the ground in the Bay Area, primarily out of Oakland and San Francisco, that said, “Look, you can't push violent policing in our community, that we're not going to let you use Oakland as a base for that kind of development and activity.” And so they organized for a couple of months leading up to it, and then around the convention last weekend, there were very large rallies and huge visibility events. They also got a couple of people to move their events from the Oakland Marriott, which is where the convention was happening. And as a result, the, the news or the rumor out right now is that Urban Shield will not be returning to the Bay Area. And even if it does, I always find victories even in the organizing, right? Getting hundreds if not thousands of people out to push back against violent policing, against civil liberties erosion is a very big deal. And so if folks wanna learn more about that campaign, they can simply Google Stop Urban Shield.   [00:35:41] Arati: I just think there's so many incredible moments in that and, that was a big win in 2014. In thinking, in particular about how the speakers described Urban Shield as an extension of the surveillance state and as an extension of the war on terror, and then about the campaign itself around that event, I'm wondering what lessons the current day movement organizers can take from this.   [00:36:01] Palvinder: I think the biggest thing is probably that it's not in a vacuum, right? there's a lot of other movements that are very similar. There's a lot of other things that are a part of these larger systems, right? specifically, it was mentioned as the war on terror, right? So this is just one part of that, one facet of it, and I think it was really great that there was specific call-out for Ferguson, Gaza, other international movements as well across the globe, and I think that that's super critical, in the organizing work that we do. As much as we feel like our local communities might be targeted, this is all part of a greater system. It's not happening in a vacuum, and we have so much to learn from the organizing that's happening in those areas as well.   [00:36:39] Hafsa: Yeah, thanks for mentioning that. I think something that helped me get through the time post 9/11 was just realizing that this has happened in America before, like many different times, specifically to the African American community. And I remember reading about Malcolm X, reading about Martin Luther King and thinking, “Oh, these are people who can be my role models. I don't look like them, but I'm pretty sure I feel things that they felt.” And even, like, reading bell hooks or Du Bois, like they didn't look like me, but we shared a similar struggle, and I hope that in the future someone can look at our community, and maybe they don't look like us, but they will say, “Hey, these people fought for the same thing I did,” and it was basically against America's attack on human rights, which has been happening since America was founded.   [00:37:27] Arati: I know for me, one of the reasons it feels great to listen to this clip is because right now it feels like we're just in a cacophony of oppression, right? Like, every single day there are these new policies, new initiatives, absurd tweets, just so much messaging coming, and so many policies also happening that we're constantly contesting with. We're constantly trying to fight against. And, it can feel really hard. It can feel really hopeless. And I guess I'm curious about how we can think about these examples of, like, local work, like Urban Shield or any other work that you've engaged in recently, and think about how does, that local, work on the ground help fit into this larger thread or this national moment around liberation   [00:38:07] Hafsa: I also very much appreciate that these communities were able to show up to stop things like Urban Shield, because specifically, like in my experience growing up in the Muslim community, I was just so much in my corner just trying to survive that I wouldn't even be able to think about this larger picture of what's happening on the local government le- level that's going to affect me and my kids or whomever else. So I really appreciate that recognition of solidarity and people showing up and saying, “Hey, I know someone who hurts more than me and I'm gonna go out to the streets and stand up for them and protest for them.” ‘Cause I think that's something that's also helped me even when my community has been demonized. It's always think about someone else who's been demonized more than you and make that my fight song rather than my own experiences, because that can be a little harder.   [00:38:55] Palvinder: I think the other thing for me is realizing that when folks can't show up, there's other avenues too, right? So not everyone has to be in the streets protesting or showing up to these causes. I think about the need to make sure that our organizing is accessible for all people, and that accessibility looks different. I feel like especially when I was in my, like, 20s, I felt like showing up at protests and, at organizing events was the main way. And if you weren't there, you weren't down for the cause. And I think for me, I learned very quickly that there were reasons why they actually couldn't go and show up there, you know, for their own safety. Just the need to be able to have those different actions so organizing can be accessible.   [00:39:33] Hafsa: And I think having CAIR as an organization has been really great. That's been a constant in my life. It was pretty new when I was younger, and I'm so glad that it's still up and running and they're still, like, you know, fighting the good fight. and Balvinder like what you're talking about, like how not everyone can show up to a protest. I remember my first protest, and I told myself at the time, it's my last protest. It was with the Sierra Club in Huntington Beach, and it was a silent protest on the Iraq War. And I was one of two hijabis. The other one was my friend. Everyone else was white, and we were supposed to be silent, walking down Huntington Beach. And who was targeted? It was me by other white people, racists. And I'm like, “I'm silent protests. Don't talk. I don't know what to do.” And I was, like, 17, 18, and I was like, “I'm never doing this again.” So I'm so glad that organizations like CAIR are there and I can actually organize in the Bay Area with people who look like me rather than being told how to organize by people who don't understand my struggle, don't understand my experience, and won't stand up for me when they see something go wrong.   [00:40:36] Arati: Oh my, oh my-    [00:40:37] Palvinder: Yeah. Oh, oh my gosh. I would not have shown up to any protest if that was my only experience with a protest. I would've been like, “No, these people are all crazy,” and like, “Where's my community at?”    [00:40:47] Hafsa: Oh my- No, I switched to anarchism after that. I was like, “No, the Democrats don't have it figured out. I cannot… Y'all don't understand me. You want to maybe, but that's it.”   [00:40:59] Arati: Yeah. I feel like at this point I'm like, if there's a protest, we need to have a safety training. We need to know what are the people's risk tolerances. I'm so sorry that happened to you. That is wild. But it's also… I mean, sadly, it's not unique. I think a lot of people have a story of being, like, at a protest and then not being protected. So yeah, how are we, how are we really thinking about how we're protecting ourselves and our community, for sure.    [00:41:21] Hafsa: Yeah, and it was a good experience because the Sierra Club fights for land, and knowing that they don't necessarily fight for me gives me information that, hey, I have to do that fight because I'm in environment. I'm a field biologist, so that's something I keep in mind, I think. I'm one of the few people who can actually understand the struggles of the animals and the humans, and that's very rare.   [00:41:41] Arati: Do we have any other thoughts on the Bay Area specifically and how we might be positioned in the Bay to support this fight for liberation?   [00:41:48] Hafsa: I moved to the Bay Area because I saw that there was a solidarity there that wasn't quite there in Southern California where I lived, in Orange County, and I wanted to learn more from that because I didn't wanna just hang out with people who look like me. I wanted to hang out with people who had all these different kinds of experiences with the American government, with being discriminated against, because The answer is there. It's between all of us. It's not within our little silos of community. It's when we all connect together, and that's also what brought me to joining ASATA as well.   [00:42:17] Priya: I echo that. I also grew up in SoCal in a really white, wealthy suburb called Manhattan Beach, which sounds not too dissimilar from Huntington Beach. And yeah, the message of solidarity that the Bay Area really espouses is what brings me here. And, the way that we show up for each other in the Bay feels uniquely inspiring. Whether it's Urban Shield, whether it's like, oh, there's a Muslim ban, we're at SFO within like hours. Oh, we're gonna, accompany people to their ICE court hearings. Like, I really feel like we just show up in unique ways. And yesterday I did canvassing for ICE Out of Dublin, and it's, that similar message of like we're out here, we're talking to neighbors. And like Balvinder said, there are so many ways that you can show up for each other, but we have a history of doing it.    [00:43:03] Arati: I love that. This takes me right to the next thing I wanted to talk about, which is, a lot of people organizing now don't have a living memory of 9/11, right? And so we're gonna listen to some clips, from Deepa, who's a community organizer, and Fahd Ahmed, who was the legal and policy director of Desis Rising Up and Moving. And, they both have some kind of reflections around social movements, young organizers, and, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna think a little bit about that as we continue to, like, look forward.   [00:43:29] Speaker 19: Social movements have always been the main vehicle for change whether in the United States or the world abroad. And and the power of social movements is that the democratic potential that you build, the people's political awareness that you build, the power that you build doesn't dissipate away just based on an election. Doesn't dissipate based on the changing of a person in power and that if we really had truly strong social movements that built coalitions, built alliances as were discussed earlier, that those movements retain power through various ups and downs, through various issues. And if those movements are infused with a deeper political understanding, historical awareness, that they can be very powerful in holding government accountable. While all these sorts of acts may happen, blowbacks may happen, backlash may happen, at the end of the day, we– the best– the government is the only place that we can hold accountable through our taxes, through our votes, through our social mobilization.   [00:44:33] Speaker 25: Some of the young folks that are entering or working at nonprofits now, supporting South Asian nonprofits don't have a living memory of 9/11 and the global war on terror, and they have been politicized in different ways, right, over the last eight years, for example, the pandemic, global wars, etc. And so there are a couple of ways in which I've been thinking about how we can support South Asian young people. So for example, how can we share historical analysis and political analysis so that young people understand that they are part of a trajectory of South Asian activism that actually started well before 9/11, before the nineteen sixties, right? And that continues to today. So they don't feel fragmented. So that's something that I've been sitting with a lot. Another is around pathways into public service and community service and into the nonprofit sector. So how could we support young people in terms of building their skills in having pathways open to them into our nonprofit organizations? And then finally, how do we support them, um, so that they can do this work for the long run? You know, we all struggle with burnout. We all struggle with sustainability. What are some lessons learned that we can pass on? What are some best practices? That's something that's been sitting with me quite a bit, and I hope that the coalition will really think about supporting young people's leadership and finding different avenues and pathways to do that.   [00:46:00] Arati: What do we think about how we can share historical analyses that will help people new to organizing and understanding their role? Or how can we support young people in building skills that kind of help get them into movement work?   [00:46:11] Hafsa: I think reading literature is very, very, very important. When I think about what's helped me understand myself better, it was things like the Black Panthers, and that's another reason why I moved to the Bay Area. Like, they're organizing. They weren't just there armed guards, like, policing their, policing other people from their community. It was also, like, you know, free lunch programs for the kids. It was a holistic understanding of community and what it meant, what it really meant. Like, hey, we got us and no one else got us.    [00:46:43] Palvinder: Some of my favorite things has been around BASE, so Bay Area Solidarity Summer gives context to like, young organizers, about the long-standing history of South Asian organizing, and it is so diverse. I remember the first time I saw it, I was, like, amazed. I was just like, “Wow,” “This is really great.” It was so inclusive of different communities, in the larger sort of South Asian stream of organizing, and so it was just really great. I think Anirudha and Mrinalini cover that South Asian timeline, each year at BASE, and it just allows you to see the context that this was pre-9/11. This is, going back to the '60s, '70s there's been so many other movements that have happened, and just all of the different actions that have been taken. And so I think that's really, really helpful to see it across communities, religious, minority, state, countries, all of that, in the larger, broader South Asian group and then just the need for training and educating and informing young people. I think it's never too early to start. And then I think just investing in our communities. I have to say, I know for the Punjabi Sikh community, I worked for Jakara Movement, was our first community organizer. We had a part-time staff member, turned full-time staff member prior to me working. And I remember when I would tell people that I'm, like, an organizer, they would be like, “No, no, no, but like, like, what's your job? Like, what do you actually do?” So it was interesting to see when I would do the work, they would be so appreciative, they'd love it, and they wanted it to happen. But the investment in understanding that this can also be a job and needs to be a job, in doing development work in the community around the organization, I just saw that, we want things to happen, but we don't wanna put our money there always. And I think that if we want for greater social movements and greater advancements in our communities to happen, we need to be like other communities. We need to have organizations that are established, investing in paid positions. And so many of us do this in our free time, right? And I think that so much of it happens in that. But we can see where folks in social movements have gone further, and that's because there's been intentional and critical investments that have sustained them. So great call-out to, I think all of our communities to making sure that we're investing in this because we can only do so much of it in our free time.   [00:48:50] Priya: I really appreciated the thread of education, and I was a BASE alum, and Aditi gave me a great overview of South Asian organizing. And, like you said, Balvinder, it's such an in-depth history. and it really has helped inform my current politics and what South Asian organizing can look like today. and I think the other way that I try to educate myself is just, like, be curious, ask questions. Ask my grandparents what their experience during partition was like. Ask my parents what their experience post 9/11 was like, and just, learn from each other and learn those histories also, public education curriculum, especially in Oakland, is getting better and better. Like, all ninth graders have to take ethnic studies. We talk about the Black Panther Party starting in, like, fifth grade in Oakland schools, so I feel like there's a lot of progress being made.   [00:49:39] Speaker 27: I think that we need to begin to dream again. I think especially among progressives, there is a great despair and a cynicism and even a pessimism as we're entering a new decade and so much of the apparatus of oppression that we've inherited after 9-11 have not, has not been rolled back. The wars persist. And I think it begins with dreaming again enough to inspire the, inspire movement building. And I think that we need a new frame for movement building. I think rights separate us as if, you know, immigrant rights is separate from LGBT rights is separate from Muslim and South Asian rights. I think that we need to ground our movement building in shared moral imperatives. There is a groundswell out there of not only young Sikh and Muslim and South Asian Americans, but really a whole generation of Americans who are really hunger, hungry to emerge from the shadow of 9-11 and think of this, the end of the 9-11 decade as an end to a chapter of history and the beginning of a new chapter.   [00:50:37] Esha: So again, this is kind of us tying back to what we've been talking about, which is just how, how do we connect that work and build on top of it, and also keep people engaged and continue to build solidarity. so would love… I know we've kinda touched on this as a through line of all of our conversation, but would just love to hear your hopes for the future and, and what you see as a positive, and where we can go from here.   [00:51:01] Palvinder: Esha, I'm a bit critical about this, I'm gonna start with the critical, but I'm hoping to end on a positive here. I think when I hear a lot of this dreaming and need to close this chapter, I struggle because I think there is a lot of healing that still needs to take place and a lot of healing that never took place because we come from communities that sweep things under the rug. When I think about a lot of my experiences, a lot of my parents' generation's experiences, they just never talked about it. They had to provide for their family. They had to move on. They had to figure out how do they continue to have space for Punjabi Sikh folks in the Central Valley or in, in Northern California. I know when I went to college and was exposed to folks who came from different socioeconomic backgrounds, things just really changed, and there was a privilege with being able to dream and think about your future without having to think about, “Is my dad gonna be safe?” “Are we gonna have enough food?” Right? Or any of those questions. So Yes, all in for dreaming. I think there's a need to make sure that we're healing and we're uplifting everyone that's a part of the community as well. and so dreaming means that we're thinking about the organizing. We're thinking about what's coming into our futures and how are we gonna get there, and it means taking everyone with us. I am very hopeful, and I've seen in the last two decades of my own organizing and my own community building, the ways that folks are showing up for others who don't have those same backgrounds. I see the conversations around those who are detained in this current climate right now conversations that my own parents may not have had, right? Just advancements in their own thinking around, a lot of the politics in the past eight to 12 years even, and I see that across the community as well. Not everyone, of course. I don't know when we'll get there, but I definitely see greater humanity and just connecting back to folks and seeing those inhumane conditions that people are living through. Still have a lot of work to do around, when we talk about homelessness and substance use and so much other stuff. But I think we're making ample progress, and it's because we're really trying to bring everyone, the generations ahead of us that, never wanted to have these conversations and we never thought we could ever change their perspective. Some of them are slowly moving over. But I am grateful for just organizations and people and spaces and community, who can come together. And I know Aisa was like, “Oh, this has been great.” I feel the exact same way, right? Like, you know, three of us are joining on a call, and I feel like we're able to come and connect in this space because of that sort of shared linkage around organizing and care and healing. So just really grateful for spaces like this and people who continue to really think critically about the way that we do this work.   [00:53:43] Hafsa: Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Balvinder. I also grew up in, like, a very low-income household in government housing in Southern California, and I think a lot of American Muslim immigrants in the area were also in a similar situation. And, I think about the struggles, the everyday struggles that my parents still have to go through. There's no, like, healing. There's no understanding of 9/11 still. They're still working every single day. And yeah, I can dream of a better life for them, but I've kind of been coming to terms now that they're not gonna experience the freedom that I wish we could all experience in their lifetime. And yeah, like I said, it all comes down to the socioeconomic fight in this country, and really throughout the world, where we can say it's all these marginalized communities because of what we look like, but it all really comes down to keeping the classes separate and keeping a very high income class continuously growing, and the rest of us are just the soil that they use to extract nutrients from. And there has been a larger struggle of socioeconomic issues throughout history, and that's also something that's really helped me understand my own position in the world. Because even though 9/11 did position me as a perpetrator of violence that I've never done, I realize that there's… it, it, it really helps to link myself and my experiences to struggle that have already happened because it makes you not feel alone, and it really helps you feel that solidarity even with people who are not alive still, and that's really helpful. I, I think about ancestors a lot, and I think of we… A lot of us don't have access to our actual grandparents or great-grandparents because of partition or whatever else, so I've looked to people like Malcolm X and other people like that. And even I've read a lot of Tolstoy . Like, even it, it's not just something that, um, has to happen right now with the people that are alive right now. It's a long line of human rights movements and the thirst for freedom that we're all a part of, and that makes me feel a lot more contained as I'm going through the more difficult parts of being part of a marginalized community in America today.   [00:56:05] Arati: We would love to hear your thoughts as well on that last clip.   [00:56:08] Priya: I appreciate the call to dreaming and thinking beyond what exists, and I feel like music and art and all the ways that we, you know, practice joy and experience that in community with each other is part of dreaming and, um, yeah, like creating what we don't yet see.   [00:56:29] Arati: Absolutely. So that was a clip from Valarie Kaur, who's an award-winning filmmaker, and we thought it was, her words about dreaming, y'all's words about the future, hope, solidarity, also pain, and how we heal and how we move together, that's the note we wanted to end on. So thank you so much for sharing your stories, your strategy, your, hope, your dreams, your experiences of isolation, and your experiences of community, because we're not gonna get through this without each other, and we look forward to continuing working together and organizing together. And one day we will, we will win, and we'll all be liberated. Thanks, everyone.   [00:57:09] Miko Lee: Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about our show and our guests tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Pretti Mangala-Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by Swati Rayasam, and edited by Ayame Keane-Lee. Have a great night. The post APEX Express – 9.10.26- Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 appeared first on KPFA.

Send us Fan MailWe're back! After a very busy summer, we have a lot to share and to catch up on. From finally making it back to Palestine and talking about what it's like traveling to Palestine as Palestinians, to making it to the World Cup, family, and all the random things that happened along the way, this episode is basically our summer in one conversation.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

Biba Sheik, an Arab-American artist, discussed education through art and the projects her group. US Arab Radio can be heard on wnzk 690 AM, WDMV 700 AM, and WPAT 930 AM. Please visit: www.facebook.com/USArabRadio/ Web site : arabradio.us/ Instagram : www.instagram.com/usarabradio/ Youtube : US Arab Radio

A quarter century after the September 11 attacks emboldened then-President George W. Bush to launch the “war on terror,” many Americans might like to think they're wiser than the politicians and pundits who unleashed a flood of anti-Muslim hatred and eroded civil liberties through warrantless wiretaps and racist deportation campaigns.But some of the most notorious Bush-era advents — like the Department of Homeland Security and the prison colony at Guantánamo Bay — don't appear to be going anywhere. Nor does the phenomenon of Islamophobia, which is playing a major role in the current political cycle. Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed — who, if elected, would be the first Muslim U.S. senator — has been called a terrorist, a radical Islamist, and a threat to national security, as pro-corporate and pro-Israel super PACs spend millions on ads that paint him as a terrorist sympathizer. In New York City, meanwhile, local media has suggested that the city's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, should not attend the commemoration of the World Trade Center attacks, as if to do so would be an insult to the victims and their families.“Islamophobia actually becomes more rampant during election season — not necessarily after a terrorist attack, but actually during election season in the U.S.,” journalist Rozina Ali tells The Intercept Briefing. “What's happened over the last three decades is that Islamophobia has become a feature of American politics. ... When you can't actually discuss the policies, when we're not willing to engage in facts, it's really easy to throw racist rhetoric at people.”“The fight that we're seeing now is whether we are willing to accept all forms of religion in this country. And as much as I want to say this is just more of what we've seen in the past, I think what does frighten me is how quickly we are moving to a place where some governor or some local official might try to outlaw Islam altogether. And mind you, this is even a policy shift from 10 years ago when Trump called for a Muslim ban,” says Ali. “What has been happening recently is that the rhetoric ... has been shifting toward, ‘Islam is not a religion, it's a political ideology.' This is not a new talking point, but it is becoming institutionalized. There are efforts to make it into law, which is a frightening place to be.”This week on the podcast, host Akela Lacy speaks to Ali about how anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies are on the rise and have endured, or even worsened, in the post-9/11 world, as well as her new book, “Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America.” Ali shares the first case in which the NSA admitted to spying on a U.S. citizen, Arab American attorney Abdeen Jabara, as well as the story of imam Yassin Aref, a victim of a controversial sting operation who served 15 years in federal prison due to the ambiguous “material support” for terrorism law first passed in the '90s. It was the same charge used to convict anti-ICE protesters at Prairieland Detention Center to decades in prison this year.“This was something lot of civil rights lawyers and activists were warning about even back then, because they recognized that this law and this war on terror can be used to attack dissidents and eventually will be used to attack a lot more people than the Muslim community. And that is what we're seeing now,” says Ali.“Because we've given so much power to the executive branch, because we've given so much power to the government over the last 25 years, the government gets to decide who they consider enemies, who they consider terrorists, and what they consider support for terrorism,” says Ali. “The Trump administration can say, ‘I now consider leftists terrorists,' and unfortunately, there are laws in the books that allow him to do that.”Full transcript: https://interc.pt/4zPINylKeep our investigations free and fearless at theintercept.com/join. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bedrock officials explain why their RenCen plan beats the alternatives State probes funds, freezes some payments at Arab American business group New food options ready to kick off the Detroit Lions season

For this episode of Soundcheck, the rapper, singer, and author Dessa gets political, and Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum gets historical. Minneapolis-raised singer and rapper known as Dessa has found a way to reflect modern society with scathing satire and wry humor, in both her songs and in her essays and poems. Her explicit commentary on the state of American politics, along with digressions on art, science, business, love, failure, and creativity fuel her latest songs, which she performs in-studio. Set list: 1. Camelot 2. Tough Call 3. What if I'm Not Ready And the Syrian-American rapper, poet, and peace activist Omar Offendum offers a musical history lesson of sorts, one with uncomfortable echoes of our own time, in “The Little Syria Show.”  It's about a remarkable immigrant neighborhood in New York that lasted from the 1880s to 1940 and was a center of music, poetry, and publishing – including a book you may well have on your shelf.  In a celebration of Arab-American cultural heritage, Omar Offendum shares insights on diasporic memory and performs some of the songs from The Little Syria Show, in-studio. Set list: 1. Peddling Dervish 2. Mojaddareh 3. Not Quite White Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Day Break | Doomsday, Deception & the Government Power Grab --- 00:00 - Monologue 19:14 – Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist discusses the economic implications of tariffs on Canada and argues that President Trump has an opportunity to address what he calls the “inflation tax” on capital gains. He examines how inflation affects taxable investment gains and what potential reforms could mean for investors and the broader economy. 28:11 – Col. Josh McConkey, Air Force Colonel, combat physician, and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina. McConkey discusses the Lindsay Clancy murder trial and the women gathering outside the courthouse in support of Clancy. He examines the circumstances surrounding the case, the arguments being made by supporters, and the broader questions the trial has raised. 38:13 - Monologue Featuring Ivey Gruber 47:17 – Don Brown, North Carolina Republican U.S. Senate candidate, former Navy JAG officer, and former federal prosecutor. Brown discusses the mounting legal questions surrounding Anthony Fauci following his congressional testimony. He examines the scope of President Biden's pardon and whether there are potential legal issues or conduct that may fall outside its protections. 57:32 – Jonathan Dever, former Ohio State Representative, retired attorney, former CEO of Commercium Financial, COO of Proximity, Inc., and author of the forthcoming Grift trilogy. Dever discusses government spending and accountability, focusing on cases where taxpayers may be funding positions, programs, or contracts without receiving the work or results they were promised. 1:16:42 - Monologue 1:25:37 – Katie Heid, News Director for Michigan News Source. Heid delivers the Michigan Rundown, examining questions surrounding missing money and the firing of an executive director at an Arab American business organization. She also discusses the latest dispute surrounding Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and access to the state's voter rolls. 1:35:27 – Tyler Martinez, Director of Litigation at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation's Taxpayer Defense Center. Martinez discusses a legal challenge involving home distilling and asks whether the federal government's restrictions can legitimately be justified through Congress's taxing power. He examines the constitutional arguments and why the dispute could warrant Supreme Court consideration. 1:44:13 – Ivey Gruber, President of the Michigan Talk Network and co-host of Day Break. Gruber discusses the Trump administration's efforts to revoke thousands of visas from individuals accused of violating U.S. laws or visa requirements. She and Steve also return to the Lindsay Clancy trial, discussing the case and the controversy surrounding the public reaction to it. --- Check out our brand new podcast, 'Forgotten America'... Episode 24 is live NOW at Steve Gruber on YouTube! Link below: https://youtu.be/UrGZQdE62jA

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Hani Almadhoun, Vice President of Philanthropy at UNRWA USA and co-founder of Gaza Soup Kitchen, an initiative that Hani and his family in Gaza started to feed people in Gaza during the Israeli genocide. Hani and Ahmed speak about Hani's family in Gaza and the work of the Gaza Soup Kitchen from its founding until today. They discuss the mission and work of UNRWA and the role that UNRWA USA plays in supporting it. And they talk about accountability, justice, and ways forward.  Hani Almadhoun is the Vice President of Philanthropy at UNRWA USA and co-founder of Gaza Soup Kitchen. Born in the Emirates, Hani's family fled to the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. It was tough adjusting to the harsh conditions in Gaza during the First Intifada, but his family was made whole again when his dad got a job at an UNRWA school teaching English to refugees. A child of an educator, Hani was raised with the mantra of school being the top priority, and in this pursuit, he eventually found his way to the United States, thanks to a university scholarship from the LDS Church. After earning both his Masters in Public Administration and his BA in International Studies and Latin American studies from Brigham Young University, Hani settled in Washington, DC where he fell into the world of fundraising for various causes that spoke to him, including civil rights and social justice groups for Muslim and Arab Americans and charities that serve the Palestinian people and other marginalized communities in the Middle East. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

Today's Daily Detroit is a little different. I've got two shorter conversations that are too good to leave behind, so we're stitching them together into one episode for you. First up is American Arab Chamber executive director Bilal Hammoud. We talk about just how big Arab American economic power has become in Michigan, with more than 150,000 businesses and an estimated $100 billion in economic contribution over the last decade. We get into how that connects to a more globally minded, relationship‑driven approach to economic development. Bilal makes the case for de‑siloing Michigan's innovation ecosystem, learning from places like Dubai and New York, and treating immigration as a core growth strategy between now and 2030. Then we shift gears to the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center with Detroit Zoological Society executive director and CEO Dr. Hayley Murphy. She walks us through the new Fred and Barbara Erb Discovery Trails, a seven‑acre "outdoor living classroom" with everything from goats to stingrays. Plus, we talk about the zoo's $185 million projected annual economic impact. We also get into free programming at the Belle Isle Nature Center, special evenings for families in shelters and with medically fragile kids, and a millage renewal later this year that keeps the whole operation going. As always, I'd love to know what you think of this format, or anything else about the show. Drop me a line at dailydetroit@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 313‑789‑3211.

Send us Fan MailOver 3 million Arab Americans live in this country. Millions more Muslims call America home. So why does it still feel like nobody in power is speaking for us?In this episode of the MotivateMe313 Podcast, we sit down with Abbas Alaweih — and we don't hold back. Before the title, before the office, before the campaign — who is this man, where did he come from, and what actually built him into the political figure he is today?We go there. Growing up Arab and Muslim in America. The pressure to downplay your name, your faith, your heritage just to be "palatable" to voters. What it actually costs a community when they have NO seat at the table — in real terms, not talking points. Resources lost. Policies that hurt. Protection that never comes.And we answer the question straight — Who IS speaking for Arab and Muslim Americans right now? And is it enough?From Dearborn to Hamtramck to Bridgeport — this episode is for every Arab and Muslim American who has ever felt invisible in a system that was never built with them in mind. Abbas breaks down what it really takes to win as a Muslim candidate in America today: the money, the coalition-building, the compromises — and the moments where you have to decide what you're NOT willing to give up.This is the real talk your community needs to hear. IN THIS EPISODE:Before the title — who is Abbas Alaweih and what built him?Growing up Arab & Muslim in America — power, politics & who gets heardWhat it REALLY takes to win as a Muslim candidate in AmericaThe pressure to hide your identity to get electedWho is actually speaking for Arab & Muslim Americans right now?What it costs a community with NO representation at the tableBuilding a political bloc without fracturing a diverse communityWhat has disappointed him most about the political processHis message to the young Arab kid in Dearborn watching thisWhat he wants Arab & Muslim Americans who've lost faith to knowWhat he wants to be remembered for when this chapter is done Subscribe so you never miss an episode.  Drop a comment — Who do YOU think speaks for the Arab & Muslim community in politics right now?Follow us on social media:- Instagram: @motivateme313 or @ozmedia313- Website: ozmedia313.com- Facebook: ozmedia313-TikTok: @ozmedia313-Apple Podcast: ozmedia-Spotify Podcast: ozmediaThis show was sponsored by:-The Family Doc https://thefamilydocmi.com/-Juice Box Juiceboxblend.com-Holy Bowly http://www.myholybowly.com-Wingfellas thewingfellas.com-Hanley International Academy https://www.hanleyacademy.com-Malek Al-Kabob malekalkabob.com-Bayt Al Mocha https://baytalmocha.com/-Chill Box https://www.chillboxstore.com/-Royal Kabob https://www.royalkabob.com/-GEE Preparatory Academy https://www.gee-edu.com/schools/geepreparatory/index#ArabAmerican #MuslimRepresentation #AbbasAlaweih #MotivateMe313 #OZMedia #Dearborn #Hamtramck #ArabPolitics #MuslimInPolitics #WhoSpeaksForUs #Detroit313 #PoliticalPower #IslamInAmerica #ArabAmericanVoices #Representation

This month on Laura Flanders & Friends we're lifting up the people, the stories, and the ideas driving disability justice forward.  This week, We'll hear from a comedian and unapologetic voice weaving together disability rights and Palestinian identity with humor and sharp political insight. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a supporting member at https://LauraFlanders.org/Donate Description [Original Release Date December 8, 2024]:  Israel's US-backed war on Gaza has been a mass disabling event. Today's guest says we must create a “viable, accessible future” for the disabled Palestinians we have failed. Maysoon Zayid is a comedian, Princeton Fellow, and unapologetic voice for both disability rights and Palestinian identity. A fierce advocate with cerebral palsy, Zaid proves that the most powerful messages often come from unexpected places and are filled with laughter. She's lost tens of thousands of dollars of contracts for her views, she says, but that hasn't stopped her “making funny during a genocide” on social media all year. And she's shown her followers her home village in Palestine — the best place on earth, she says, despite the onslaught of oppression and violence that her people have endured. Maysoon co-founded the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and the Muslim Funny Fest. Her viral Ted Talk, “I Got 99 Problems...Palsy is Just One,” has been translated into 42 languages, and was one of the most popular talks of 2014. She's the author of “Shiny Misfits”, the new graphic novel that tells the story of Bay Ann, a disabled girl and her cat friend that rock star Dave Matthews narrates for the audiobook. In this conversation filled with heart and humor, hear how comedy shines a light on injustice and serves as a voice of resistance. All that, plus a commentary from Laura on human shields. “I've always used comedy to humanize and educate on disability. And this is the moment because the future of Palestine is disabled and between life and death, there's disability. I don't think it's better to be dead than to be disabled. I want us to create a viable, accessible future for this cohort of human beings that we have failed in the present.” - Maysoon Zayid Guest:  Maysoon Zayid: Comedian & Disability Advocate; Author, Shiny Misfits   Music Credits:  “Purpose Love” by Jhelisa released on Dorado Records;  "Steppin'" by Podington Bear;  Original sound design by Jeannie Hopper RESOURCES: Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country  Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes: • “The Future is Disabled”: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Watch / Download Podcast and Full Conversation •  Anita Cameron & Keith Jones on The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Civil Rights Milestone With Miles To Go. Watch •  Amanda Seales Takes the Heat: Speaking Out About Gaza & Hollywood. Watch / Download Podcast and Full Conversation Related Articles and Resources: • “Shiny Misfits” Maysoon's graphic novel and audio version  available from Audible featuring the voice of Dave Matthews, and others. • Maysoon Zayid's Ted Talk • DISCO, a live interactive panel show hosted by Maysoon Zayid coming up February, 2015 at Joe's Pub in New York City.   Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Circle August 4th on your calendar: Michigan is now the number one marquee primary matchup I'm watching. Mallory McMorrow is out of the race as of a couple of weeks ago, and what's left is a head-to-head contest between the Democratic establishment — or at least what's left of it — and the insurgent progressive movement. Yes, friends, it's Haley Stevens versus Abdul El-Sayed, and it's set to be a knockout fight.This really represents the first live test for the current Democratic Party. Can the progressive movement, with a more charismatic candidate and a high-energy, extraordinarily competent campaign, expand its coalition enough to win statewide? Or will it do what it's done in the past — hit a ceiling when the opposition consolidates?There's only one new clean head-to-head test: a Tavern Research survey from July 6th through July 7th of 2,211 likely Democratic primary voters. It found Haley Stevens at 42%, El-Sayed at 41%, with 17 to 18% undecided. That's a margin-of-error race, but it's the first time in a very long time that we've seen Haley Stevens up over Abdul. The same poll tested the old three-person field and found El-Sayed at 41%, Stevens at 38%, and the flagging McMorrow at five. In other words, when McMorrow disappears, the voters are forced into a binary choice, and they're making it more on the Stevens side than the El-Sayed side. But still: tight, tight, tight, tight, tight.Politics Politics Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Because we live in reboot culture, this is essentially — coalitionally, at least — Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton for a new generation. The Stevens coalition is exactly like Hill-dogs: older voters, Black voters, traditional self-identified Democrats, non-college voters, and on the Michigan side, Metro Detroit — particularly Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties. What's powering Stevens is Black voters. She's led El-Sayed consistently in almost every poll. Meanwhile, Abdul's coalition is younger voters, very liberal and progressive voters, college-educated voters, voters outside Metro Detroit, Democratic Socialists, Arab Americans, and Muslim organizing networks. He also has significant labor support, including the UAW endorsement, despite most UAW members being non-college educated, which would normally fall outside his coalition. A very strange world we live in.The one demographic that's going to decide this race is women. They're the biggest disputed demo in every poll we've seen. An April Glenn Gariff poll showed Stevens leading among women 29% to 17%. But in a June Mitchell poll, the exact opposite was demonstrated: El-Sayed led with women 51% to Stevens's 35%. So as we look at the rest of the polls from now until Election Day, keep an eye on the ladies. They're the majority of the likely Democratic primary electorate. If Stevens can consolidate older and Black women while also inheriting McMorrow's suburban women, she can win. But if El-Sayed's progressive and younger female support holds, his coalition may be large enough to break through.Which brings me to the latest front of this war. I don't know if it's being done to court women, I don't know if it's being done specifically on purpose, but the results are undeniable: El-Sayed and Stevens are in an out-and-out shooting match to be more cringe. For Haley Stevens, this isn't something she has to worry about. She's naturally gifted in this regard. She's awkward, she has a thick Great Lakes accent, and she speaks in this clipped, emphatic manner. On one hand, she is herself. She feels less like a polished Washington candidate and more like somebody who wandered out of a Detroiters sketch. Abdul El-Sayed has the opposite problem. He's clearly a charismatic, compassionate candidate, a strong communicator, and an aggressive counterpuncher. But if you're running against him, your job is to make El-Sayed scare the hos. I think his campaign has found a solution: make himself toe-cringingly embarrassing. My read — and this is analysis, not something the campaign has admitted — is that cringe is a form of inoculation against being defined as scary. If you're embarrassing, you can't be terrifying.So who's going to win? I'm an old-school guy. I tend to bet chalk unless I'm convinced otherwise. And while I very much believe El-Sayed has the better campaign, and I think he's the better candidate if we're just looking at raw talent, I'd still bet the Michigan coalition that usually wins. Haley Stevens is a suboptimal candidate, and I've counted her out at every step of this race. I thought McMorrow was going to win. That obviously didn't happen. So don't take my prediction for a whole lot. But Stevens doesn't really have to do anything but be her cringy self to get over the line. Meanwhile, waiting on the other side, smiling like the butcher's dog, is Mike Rogers. He nearly beat Elissa Slotkin in 2024, losing by only 18 to 20,000 votes, about 0.3%. This is supposed to be more of a blue-wave year, but Rogers is going to benefit from a fractured leftward coalition. After Stevens and El-Sayed spend weeks beating the hell out of each other, the question is whether the losing half comes home. If they don't, Rogers benefits.Chapters00:00:00 - Intro00:03:01 - Michigan Preview00:14:58 - Update00:22:04 - Trump's Upcoming Address00:25:40 - Reconciliation00:29:36 - Inflation00:32:37 - Interview with Bill Scher01:20:01 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe

This month on Laura Flanders & Friends we're lifting up the people, the stories, and the ideas driving disability justice forward.  This week, We'll hear from a comedian and unapologetic voice weaving together disability rights and Palestinian identity with humor and sharp political insight. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a supporting member at https://LauraFlanders.org/Donate Description [Original Release Date December 8, 2024]: Israel's US-backed war on Gaza has been a mass disabling event. Today's guest says we must create a “viable, accessible future” for the disabled Palestinians we have failed. Maysoon Zayid is a comedian, Princeton Fellow, and unapologetic voice for both disability rights and Palestinian identity. A fierce advocate with cerebral palsy, Zaid proves that the most powerful messages often come from unexpected places and are filled with laughter. She's lost tens of thousands of dollars of contracts for her views, she says, but that hasn't stopped her “making funny during a genocide” on social media all year. And she's shown her followers her home village in Palestine — the best place on earth, she says, despite the onslaught of oppression and violence that her people have endured. Maysoon co-founded the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and the Muslim Funny Fest. Her viral Ted Talk, “I Got 99 Problems...Palsy is Just One,” has been translated into 42 languages, and was one of the most popular talks of 2014. She's the author of “Shiny Misfits”, the new graphic novel that tells the story of Bay Ann, a disabled girl and her cat friend that rock star Dave Matthews narrates for the audiobook. In this conversation filled with heart and humor, hear how comedy shines a light on injustice and serves as a voice of resistance. All that, plus a commentary from Laura on human shields. “I've always used comedy to humanize and educate on disability. And this is the moment because the future of Palestine is disabled and between life and death, there's disability. I don't think it's better to be dead than to be disabled. I want us to create a viable, accessible future for this cohort of human beings that we have failed in the present.” - Maysoon Zayid Guest:  Maysoon Zayid: Comedian & Disability Advocate; Author, Shiny Misfits   Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a supporting member at https://LauraFlanders.org/Donate Music Credits:  “Purpose Love” by Jhelisa released on Dorado Records;  "Steppin'" by Podington Bear;  Original sound design by Jeannie Hopper RESOURCES: Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country  Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes: • “The Future is Disabled”: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Watch / Download Podcast and Full Conversation •  Anita Cameron & Keith Jones on The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Civil Rights Milestone With Miles To Go. Watch •  Amanda Seales Takes the Heat: Speaking Out About Gaza & Hollywood. Watch / Download Podcast and Full Conversation Related Articles and Resources: • “Shiny Misfits” Maysoon's graphic novel and audio version  available from Audible featuring the voice of Dave Matthews, and others. • Maysoon Zayid's Ted Talk • DISCO, a live interactive panel show hosted by Maysoon Zayid coming up February, 2015 at Joe's Pub in New York City.   Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Yahia Lababidi is an Arab American poet of Palestinian descent and essayist, and the author of sixteen books. His work appears in Liberties, Salmagundi, The Threepenny Review, The New Statesman, The New Arab, and DAWN, among others. His recent books include Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024), written in the first months of Israel's assault on Gaza, and What Remains to Be Said (Wild Goose Publications, 2025). His forthcoming essay collection, If You Cannot Say GENOCIDE: Essays on Conscience and Witness, will be published by New Village Press in October 2026 and distributed by NYU Press. He divides his time between the United States and Colombia. The Book is available here: https://www.newvillagepress.org/ifyoucannotsaygenocide/ The Venezuelan Earthquake podcast:https://www.patreon.com/tortoiseshack/posts/patron-exclusive-162431599

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Yahia Lababidi is an Arab American poet and essayist of Palestinian descent, and the author of sixteen books. His work appears in Liberties, Salmagundi, The Threepenny Review, Dissent, The New Statesman, The New Arab, and DAWN, among others. His recent books include Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024), written in the first months of Israel's assault on Gaza, and What Remains to Be Said (Wild Goose Publications, 2025). His forthcoming essay collection, If You Cannot Say GENOCIDE: Essays on Conscience and Witness, will be published by New Village Press in October 2026 and distributed by NYU Press. He divides his time between the United States and Colombia. The Book is available here:https://nyupress.org/9781613323045/if-you-cannot-say-genocide/ The Venezuelan Earthquake podcast:https://www.patreon.com/tortoiseshack/posts/patron-exclusive-162431599

04:10 Muslim police boasts transforming department into Arab Americans 15:39 Parents charged with murder over extremely obese child's death 27:36 Armed man fatally shot by officer at gas station 40:51 Man arrested after firing BB gun at nude cyclists LEO Round Table (law enforcement talk show) Season 11, Episode 130 (2,703) filmed on 07/01/2026 1. https://rairfoundation.com/islamized-dearborn-police-force-is-being-taken/ 2. https://www.tampafp.com/michigan-parents-charged-with-murder-after-255-pound-7-year-old-child-dies/ https://www.tampafp.com/7-year-old-weighing-250-lbs-dies-of-heart-disease-michigan-parents-charged-with-murder/ 3. https://rumble.com/v7c24ya-body-cam-footage-released-of-deadly-shooting-of-man-at-gas-station-during-s.html?e9s=src_v1_upp_a 4. https://www.rvmnews.com/2026/06/bb-gun-rampage-man-arrested-after-firing-at-nude-cyclists-in-los-angeles-circus-ride-watch/ Show Panelists and Personalities: Chip DeBlock (Host and retired police detective) Scott Steiert (veteran Green Beret & Delta Force) Ralph Ornelas (former chief of the Westminster Police Department and commander at the LA County Sheriff's Department) Sponsors: Galls - Proud to serve America's public safety professionals https://www.galls.com/leo Use 15% OFF Code: RADIO15 Compliant Technologies - Cutting-edge non-lethal tools to empower and protect those who serve https://www.complianttechnologies.net/ The International Firearm Specialist Academy - The New Standard for Firearm Knowledge https://www.gunlearn.com/ MyMedicare.live - save money in Medicare insurance options from the experts http://www.mymedicare.live/ Related Events, Organizations and Books: Force Science Training and Conference Information: Get Ready—Early Registration for Force Science 2026 Conference ​September 22 - 24, 2026 Austin Metro, TX Save $100! Use Code: earlybird26 Also, Connect with Von Kliem on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vonkliemconsulting Ask for the discount code for 15% off online FS courses which can be found at: https://www.forcescience.com/online-courses/ Retired DEA Agent Robert Mazur's works: Interview of Bryan Cranston about him playing Agent Robert Mazur in THE INFILTRATOR film https://vimeo.com/channels/1021727 Trailer for the new book, THE BETRAYAL https://www.robertmazur.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Betrayal-trailer-reMix2.mp4 Everything on Robert Mazur https://www.robertmazur.com/ The Wounded Blue - Lt. Randy Sutton's charity https://thewoundedblue.org/ Rescuing 911: The Fight For America's Safety - by Lt. Randy Sutton (Pre-Order) https://rescuing911.org/ Books by panelist and retired Lt. Randy Sutton: https://www.amazon.com/Randy-Sutton/e/B001IR1MQU%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share They're Lying: The Media, The Left, and The Death of George Floyd - by Liz Collin (Lt. Bob Kroll's wife) https://thelieexposed.com/ Lt. Col. Dave Grossman - Books, Newsletter, Presentations, Shop, Sheepdogs https://grossmanontruth.com/ Sheriff David Clarke - Videos, Commentary, Podcast, Shop, Newsletter https://americassheriff.com/ Content Partners: Red Voice Media - Real News, Real Reporting https://www.redvoicemedia.com/shows/leo/ ThisIsButter - One of the BEST law enforcement video channels https://rumble.com/user/ThisIsButter The Free Press - LEO Round Table is in their Cops and Crimes section 5 days a week https://www.tampafp.com/ https://www.tampafp.com/category/cops-and-crime/ Video Show Schedule On All Outlets: http://leoroundtable.com/home/syndication/ Syndicated Radio Schedule: http://leoroundtable.com/radio/syndicated-radio-stations/

Since Autumn first met Leila Awadallah at her aikido dojo, she's wanted to have her on the show. We are blessed to learn Leila's story on our penultimate episode of our art as solidarity season!Leila Awadallah (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and film wanderer based between Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce and Beirut, Lebanon. Her research in dance centers movement that activates relationships to land / place / peoples, rooted in the context of her own skin as a body and soul that holds indigenous Palestinian, Arab-American, SWANA, Sicilian and mixed Mediterranean worlds and ways. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Body Watani (body-as-homeland) dance project and practice in collaboration with Noelle Awadallah, Co-Artistic Director.---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT OUR SHOW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Endoftheworldshow---HTS ESSENTIALS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT Our Show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Endoftheworldshow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PEEP us on IG⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/endoftheworldpc/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Click here to donate $5 on Left of Lansing on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/15494297/joinHere's Episode #181 of Michigan's Premier Progressive Podcast!00:00-9:57: Mike Rogers' Beta CampaignPat Johnston opens this week's show pointing-out how feeble MAGA Michigan Republican Senate candidate, "Florida" Mike Rogers', really is as his campaign used Artificial Intelligence to give him a muscular body. These MAGA Republicans claim they're "manly men," but they're really just insecure little Beta men. Pat talks about how whenever he shares social media posts about Michigan progressive Democratic Senate candidate, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, he gets bombarded by a rush of racist and Islamophobic comments by MAGA voters. But they're following MAGA Republicans in Congress, who have no issue spewing their hatred and racism against Arab-Americans. And a Michigan Republican voted with Democrats to end the Trump Regime's, and Israel's, War on Iran. 9:58-31:00: Line 5 Jeffrey Insko InterviewDr. Jeffrey Insko of The Current returns to the show as he shares some of the latest news surrounding the fight to close the Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. They also discuss how Line 5 has negatively impacted Michigan's environment and public health. And they cover how the Trump Regime is working with the Canadian owner of Line 5 to keep it open for years to come. 31:03-46:01: Whitmer & Data CentersIn this week's "Last Call," Pat gives his take on Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer's decision to heartily embrace hyper-scale data centers in Michigan. Gov. Whitmer declares the huge data center in Saline Twp. will be a long-term victory for Michigan. However, many working class Michiganders, as well as many Lansing Democrats, believe lining-up with the billionaire tech bro authoritarians will hurt Michigan in a number of ways. 46:01-48:24: EndingPlease, subscribe to the podcast, download each episode, and give it a good review if you can!leftoflansing@gmail.comLeft of Lansing is now on YouTube as well!Music provided by Wanderbeats. To hear the latest project, visit Space Leopard on various streaming sites, or visit: https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceLeopardClick here to donate $5 on Left of Lansing on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/15494297/joinNOTES:Visit Oil & Water Don't Mix"Chemical Valley and the Line 5 Death Toll." By Jeffrey Insko of The Current "Supreme Court rules for Michigan in effort to shut down Line 5 but fight not over." By Associated Press (via Michigan Public Radio)"Michigan plans to reissue Line 5 permit amid federal review, court fight." By Kelly House of Bridge Michigan "Where's a folder when you need one?" By Jon King of Michigan Advance "Gov. Whitmer addresses data centers day after Saline groundbreaking." By Arpan Lobo of The Detroit Free Press "Saline data center brings out bigwigs. Big day for Michigan or big betrayal?" By Paula Gardner of Bridge Michigan "Democrats Split on Saline Data Center Groundbreaking with OpenAI Founder." By Sam Robinson of Michigan Chronical "Iran vote caps Trump's congressional losing streak." By Connor O'Brien & Leo Shane III of Politico #politics #podcast #progressives #Democrats #MAGA #Republicans #Michigan #Line5 #Environment #Jobs #WorkingClass #CorporateGreed #CorporateCorruption #GovernmentCorruption #GreatLakes #ClimateChange #IranWar #Trump #Israel #Gaza #MikeRogers #AbdulElSayed #Economy #WilliamLawrence #TomBarrett #GretchenWhitmer #DataCenters #EpsteinClass #CorporateWelfare #TechBros #Authoritarianism #Democracy #Left of Lansing

In the season finale, Marina and Nabra preview Golden Thread's 2026 season, from Palestinian performance and stand-up comedy to new Arab American plays and ReOrient. They reflect on curation, community, and the future of Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian theatre. Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you'll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this week's episode, we get real about the advice we wish someone had given us in our 20s and 30s. From people-pleasing, burnout, friendships, dating, and career pressure to learning how to stop caring about things that truly do not matter, we talk about the lessons that took us way too long to learn and the advice our moms never gave us. Some of it is funny, some of it is painfully accurate, and some of it honestly would've saved us a lot of stress.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

On this week's episode, we talk about why corporate culture acts like every email is a national emergency. From fake urgency and “ASAP” messages to pointless meetings and Slack panic, we get into why so many jobs feel unnecessarily stressful. We talk burnout, hustle culture, work anxiety, and the pressure to always be available even when nothing is actually that serious. Plus, we share our own experiences with workplace chaos, dramatic coworkers, and the corporate phrases that instantly ruin your day.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

March 31st Governor Gordon issued an "Arab-American Heritage Month" proclamation.  Don't feel bad if you didn't know about it.  Nobody did.  The proclamation doesn't show up on his website and no announcement email was sent out.  At first, I thought the image I found on social media was a hoax.  After calling the Governor's Office, I confirmed that indeed he did sign it. I don't have a problem with any legal immigrant.  That's what this country was founded on.  I do, however, have an issue with artificially singling out individual groups based on race.  That's a big reason why we have such a problem in our country right now.  If the Gov wanted to make a splash, he should have proclaimed April "American Heritage Month" instead.

On this week's episode, we break down the chaos at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and whether the “shooting” was real or staged. We get into the internet reactions, the conspiracy vibes, and why so many people aren't buying it. Then we switch gears and talk about the American Girl Eid doll and why the outfit just wasn't it. We also get into the moment Anne Hathaway said “inshallah” and how the internet completely lost it.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

Ramy Youssef has spent the past decade building a career that spans TV, stand-up, film and has even landed some big awards. Now, with the release of his third comedy special, In Love, he joins Audie to reflect on what it means to tell Arab American stories today vs seven years ago and why aiming to make everyone laugh is both a choice and a challenge. Then, Audie's longtime friend and soon-to-be-coworker Ari Shapiro stops by to talk about Ramy— and also what's ahead for The Assignment. =====  Producers:  Jesse Remedios, Lori Galarreta and Graelyn Brashear Senior Producer: Dan Bloom Technical Director: Dan Dzula  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Palestinian folk dance group is bringing their people's story to the big stage. Blending the old and the new into one struggle for freedom. And, a first generation immigrant from the Palestinian and Lebanese diaspora shares poetry. Plus, how the wrongful conviction of two Filipino-immigrant nurses inspires a dance production in San Francisco.

Have you ever felt like you had to choose between being fully yourself and being taken seriously?  During Arab American Heritage month I had the honor of chatting with Loureen Ayyoub, award-winning journalist, spoken word poet, and the first Arab American woman on air with CBS News in the Bay Area. From navigating identity in spaces where she hasn't always felt represented to using her voice to tell stories that matter, Loureen is creating impact through truth, storytelling, and presence.    The Power of Voice and Identity  Loureen opens up about what it really feels like to carry both visibility and responsibility, not just as a journalist, but as a woman representing her culture in rooms where she hasn't always seen herself reflected.  She shares how storytelling isn't just about reporting facts; it's about honoring people, experiences, and perspectives that deserve to be understood, not just seen.    What You'll Hear in This Episode:  

From MAGA losing it over Elmo speaking Arabic to the backlash around Sabrina Carpenter, it's been a busy Arab American Heritage Month. We start with the reaction to Ramy Youssef and Elmo's “habibi” moment, then get into the conversation around zaghrouta, what it actually means, and why Sabrina Carpenter's comments sparked backlash.  We also get into comedian Paul Elia after Google limited ads for his standup special over a Trump joke. And finally, we cover journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who has been detained in Kuwait for weeks after sharing publicly available videos related to the war on Iran, and why that matters for press freedom.Sign CPJ's petition: https://cpj.movements.mov/pet/kuwait-release-journalist-ahmed-shihab-eldin-from-detention Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

April is National Arab American Heritage Month, celebrated each year in the U.S. to honor the contributions, stories, and impact of the Arab American community. In this episode, civil engineer and construction manager Ashwaq Alhammami and transportation project engineer Farrah Rawashdeh join host FY26 SWE President Inaas Darrat to explore their personal experiences as Arab American women in engineering. Hear how their identities shape the way they approach their STEM careers, along with examples of how they have navigated cultural differences in the workplace. They share the career pivots that led them to this moment — including starting over in a new country, walking away from a Ph.D. program, and adapting to a change in graduation plans — and reflect on the creation of the American Arab Engineering Society. — The Society of Women Engineers is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world's largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit membership.swe.org.

In this episode, we chat with our friend Nehal, who got married again and yes, we had questions. After going through a divorce, she chose love again, but this time everything was different. We talk about second marriages, getting married again after divorce, and what it really looks like to find love after heartbreak. What changed the second time around, and what made her say yes again? f you have ever wondered whether marriage after divorce is worth it, or if finding love again is even possible, this conversation is for you.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

The Syrian-American rapper, poet, and peace activist Omar Offendum blends the sounds of hip hop and classical Arab music and literature into his stage works.  He has spent much of the past few years on a New York-themed work called The Little Syria Show, named after a historical neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. In a celebration of Arab-American cultural heritage, Omar Offendum shares insights on diasporic memory and performs some of the songs from The Little Syria Show, in-studio. – "Sinsyrianly" Set list: 1. Peddling Dervish 2. Mojaddareh 3. Not Quite White

Tune in for a conversation with Kyle Berlin, documentary style playwright and co-founder of Rhyzome Theater Company about his latest project - Mawtini: Arab American Narratives of Home and Belonging presents Live Verbatim Theater. This local production explores the oral histories and experience of those in the Arab American community on the Central Coast.Listen and participate Tuesdays at 2 on KCBX

Every day feels like a bad season finale and honestly we're exhausted. From genocide and ICE raids to the war on Iran and the Epstein files, it literally never stops. In this episode, we talk about feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, and stuck in high-functioning depression while life just keeps moving like everything is normal. If you've been feeling mentally drained, anxious, or just not okay lately, you're not alone. We're not okay, but we're still here.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

Cleo de Lasa, an information assistant at The New York Public Library, highlights a thoughtful selection of books in recognition of both National Arab American Heritage Month and National Poetry Month. Her picks celebrate the richness and diversity of Arab American culture and contributions, while also showcasing the power of poetry to illuminate identity, history, and lived experience. *Tomorrow night, there will be an event to honor the rich poetic tradition of Arab American literature at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library at 6:30pm EST. To read the library's full list of Best New Poetry Books, visit their website here. Graphic courtesy of NYPL

Ralph welcomes international security expert Paul Rogers to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran. Then, Ralph speaks to constitutional law experts Bruce Fein and John Bonifaz about their upcoming impeachment symposium.Paul Rogers is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies in the Department of Peace Studies and International Relations at Bradford University, and an Honorary Fellow at the Joint Service Command and Staff College. He is open Democracy's international security correspondent.I think if you look at the war overall, then essentially of the three (I use the term as a crude term) participants, the one that is basically doing most badly is the United States, followed by Israel, followed least by Iran. Relatively speaking, the Iranians (particularly the Revolutionary Guard Corps) are closer to where they wanted to be, which is not true of the United States and certainly isn't true to a very large extent of the Israelis as well. In other words, the war is going badly. for the people who are determined to try and defeat Iran.Paul RogersPeople tend to think Iran is on its own against these huge odds. Well, it isn't. In many ways, certainly Russia and certainly China have a real interest in what is happening. But as far as China is concerned, they will not help directly. They will not, in other words, as far as we know, arm Iran without payment. They will see them as a reasonable customer. I think (more widely than we realize) as far as you get away from D.C., then I think you see the world in a rather different way, particularly across the global south it is certainly seen in a different way…And I would come back to a point which I think is a fair point made earlier—essentially, the Iranian Republican Revolutionary Guard Corps has been working towards this time for decades. And they will not be easily dislodged. It could happen eventually, but I think it's highly unlikely.Paul RogersJohn Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the co-founder and president of Free Speech For People. Mr. Bonifaz previously served as the executive director and general counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, and as the legal director of Voter Action. He is the author of Warrior-King: The Case For Impeaching George W. Bush and the co-author (with Ron Fein and Ben Clements) of The Constitution Demands It: The Case For The Impeachment of Donald Trump.Threatening to execute members of Congress is unique to Trump. Kidnapping people off the streets and sending them to foreign torture prisons is unique to Trump. Freezing public funds that have been duly appropriated by the United States Congress and not distributing those funds is unique to Trump. Attacking the United States judiciary, refusing to comply with multiple court orders issued by federal courts across the country is unique to Trump. Engaging in these murders on the high seas…these paramilitary attacks on people in the Pacific and in the Caribbean is unique to Trump. Now, it's true that there have been other violations of the War Powers Clause…But the scale of the War Powers violations today is unique to Trump. And this current new, illegal, and unconstitutional war against Iran is threatening the entire world. And so I think that whether they be Democrats or Republicans or Independents, they have to wake up and recognize they have a duty here.John BonifazBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.Ralph, me and John have been trying to impeach Presidents—Democrat, Republican—for decades for these illegalities. The idea that we picked out Trump is absurd. Look at my history. Half of my life has been devoted to getting Presidents impeached and removed from office…So the idea that this is partisan, at least among us, is factually absurd.Bruce FeinI think we need to be even more candid about the nature of the crimes. This is not just illegal wars under the Constitution. He is committing the crime of aggression, the same crime that we sentence Nazis to death at Nuremberg for committing aggression against Poland, against Denmark, against Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, etc.Bruce FeinThis is what is defined as a dictator by any ordinary use of the English language. We need to get away from “authoritarian,” “Oh, he's pushing the envelope.” This is what dictators do. He stated, “I can do anything I want.” And he does it. He kills people. He deports them without due process. He spies on them. He suppresses free speech by using the government to penalize anyone who says anything that's critical, detracts from Mr. Trump. I mean, it is impossible to conceive of the framers thinking anyone like Donald Trump, given his words and his actions, would remain in office more than a fortnight if Congress was doing its duty.Bruce FeinNews 4/3/26* This week, the Trump administration backed down and allowed the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin to pass through the American blockade and deliver a shipment of 730,000 barrels of oil to Cuba. The AP writes, the shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba's daily energy demand for nine or 10 days. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío commented on the situation, “The arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba…It's a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It's a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.” Trump's public statements on the matter however loom ominously over the island nation. On Sunday night, Trump told reporters “Cuba's finished…whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter.”* In more news of Trump backing down, or “chickening out” as the saying goes, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump is telling his inner circle that he is willing to end the military operation in Iran without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he wants the U.S. to stick to its original 4-6 week timeline and focus on “hobbling Iran's navy and its missile stocks…while pressuring Tehran diplomatically.” This report adds that if this fails, Trump plans to “press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait.” This aligns with Trump's recent statements on Truth Social, telling allies like the UK to “Go get your own oil!” With all of this said, Trump has sent the USS Tripoli and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to the region, is weighing the deployment of another 10,000 ground troops, and is considering a “complex and risky mission to seize the regime's uranium,” all while calling the war an “excursion” and “a lovely stay.”* Meanwhile, 25 Senate Democrats have signed a letter by Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia requesting that Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican Chairman of the Armed Services Committee launch a bipartisan probe – complete with hearings and a report – into the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School for girls in Minab, Iran at the beginning of the war. This letter notes that the majority of those killed were girls between ages seven and 12. Moreover, this letter implies that the Pentagon chose this target based on wildly outdated intelligence, raising grave questions about the competence of the military apparatus. While several high-ranking Democrats signed this letter, including Dick Durbin and Cory Booker, along with progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's name is nowhere to be found.* Elsewhere in the region, the Israeli Knesset has passed a new law effectively proscribing the death penalty exclusively to Palestinians. Human Rights Watch states “the bill imposes the death penalty for the deliberate killing of a person with the intention of negating the existence of the State of Israel.'” HRW adds that the new law “mandates execution by hanging, restricts access to legal counsel and visits from family members, limits external oversight, and grants immunity to those involved in carrying out executions.” In a piece calling for the immediate repeal of this law, Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International writes “By authorizing military courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants and which are notorious for disregarding due process and fair trial safeguards, to impose effectively mandatory death sentences and ordering the execution within just 90 days of the final ruling, Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards.” In an interview with CNN, Mustafa Barghouti said this law “confirms very serious fascist tendencies in Israel” and “consolidates further the system of apartheid.”* Anti-Palestinian extremism continues to grow within the United States as well. Al Jazeera reports that last week, domestic law enforcement “foiled a plot against prominent Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani in New York City.” Kiswani is the founder of Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist group active in the City. The suspect, apprehended by the FBI in an undercover operation, has been identified as a New Jersey man named Andrew Heifler, a young man affiliated with an offshoot of the far-right Jewish Defense League (JDL), described as an extremist group with a history of violent attacks targeting Arab American activists during the 1970s and 1980s. Heifler was reportedly planning to target Kiswani's home with Molotov cocktails. Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the plot, saying “We will not tolerate violent extremism in our city. No one should face violence for their political beliefs or their advocacy…Our city must meet hate with solidarity, and meet fear with an unshakable commitment to justice and to one another.” Kiswani vowed that she “will not stop speaking up for the people of Palestine.”* Also in New York, Congresswoman and possible 2028 presidential candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a private meeting with the powerful local branch of the Democratic Socialists of America. During this meeting AOC was asked whether she would support the imposition of an arms embargo on Israel. According to City and State NY, AOC affirmed that she would and stated that “The Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves.” Pressed on whether she would vote against so-called defensive capabilities – namely the Iron Dome – Rep. Ocasio-Cortez definitively answered “yes.” This marks an evolution of her position; AOC previously voted “present” on a bill to provide $1 billion in funding for the Iron Dome in 2021. Many read this as an acknowledgment from AOC that the politics of this issue have shifted, particularly on the Left, and in order to shore up her progressive support she needs to stake out a bold position now.* Turning to the international progressive movement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has led Spain in a Leftward direction since 2018 despite the rise of the European Right is convening a summit of progressive forces in Barcelona slated for April 17th and 18th. Sánchez, who has chaired the Socialist International since 2022, emphasized that the Right has “for years woven a network of alliances to propagate their national populist discourses adapted to each country,” and stressed that the Left must do the same to remain politically viable, per El País. Notable attendees include Brazilian President Lula, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. There have been many attempts to unite the international Left, with mixed results, but it is never too late to try.* In our final story on the international Left, the New Democratic Party of Canada – the country's third largest and most progressive major party – has selected former journalist and activist Avi Lewis as their new leader, the BBC reports. This story notes that Lewis' elevation comes in the context of the NDP suffering a steep decline in recent years, going from the main opposition party in 2011, to holding just six seats in Canada's House of Commons today. Lewis – grandson of one of the party's founding members and son of Stephen Lewis, who led the Ontario NDP and served as the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations – ran on a platform designed to revive the struggling party by “prioritising worker rights in the age of artificial intelligence, ending new oil and gas pipelines and projects, and exploring state-owned, non-profit grocery stores.” Despite his illustrious lineage, Lewis holds no seat in parliament and therefore cannot participate in official debates. The NDP faces an uphill climb not only back to power but even to relevance. According to this story, “a quarter of past voters…see the party as ‘irrelevant'...and 40% say its best days are behind it.”* In Los Angeles, a shocking new poll shows City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who entered the race at the last possible moment, in a commanding lead. In this poll, Raman drew 33% support, with incumbent Mayor Karen Bass trailing at 17%, statistically tied with another insurgent progressive candidate, Rae Huang. Other candidates – tech executive Adam Miller and former reality television personality and registered Republican Spencer Pratt – round out the field with 13% and 12% respectively. This poll appears to be an outlier. Other recent polls have shown Bass at 20% to Raman's 9%, and Bass at 25% with Raman at 17%. But, if this poll is accurate, it would be a stunning testament to the success of Raman's campaign thus far and a massive warning signal to Bass. If the Mayor slips any further, she could find herself locked out of the general election by Los Angeles' top-two “jungle primary” structure. This from the LA Times.* Finally, we turn to the world of professional sports. This week, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar introduced the Home Team Act, which, if passed, would require the owners of major league sports teams to allow local communities the option to buy a team before unilaterally relocating across state lines or to a different metro area. This announcement sent ripples through the sports world, with many fans excited by the prospect of keeping their home teams at home. ABC7 Chicago notes that “Sanders specifically mentioned the Bears' threat to leave Chicago,” while the San Diego Union-Tribune believes this bill could keep the Padres in San Diego despite multiple offers to sell. San Diego has been particularly sensitive to this threat since the Chargers left for LA in 2017. In the press conference announcing this bill, Bernie unsubtly displayed the jerseys of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his hometown team, which famously relocated to Los Angeles ahead of the 1958 baseball season.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

On our first episode back after a long break, we talk about where we've been and why the podcast took a break. We share a bit about what life has looked like behind the scenes lately. Hanan opens up about losing her dad to cancer and what the grieving process has been like for her.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1786960/supportFollow us on Instagram, TikTok, and UpScrolled @ObnoxiouslyPleasantFollow us on Twitter @TheOP_Podcast

As the daughter of the renowned intellectual Edward Said, Najla Said discusses the unique pressures of navigating her family's legacy while forging her own creative voice in the shadow of his immense influence. The conversation explores her journey from attempting to assimilate into American culture as a youth to confronting her heritage during a pivotal trip to Palestine and Lebanon. Said details her entry into professional theater and the development of her acclaimed one-woman show, Palestine, which grew from an intimate journal entry. She also offers a personal perspective on her father's moral backbone, the impact of recent global events on her sense of safety in New York, and the evolution of her activism through new collaborative theater projects. The discussion touches on the enduring intimacy of her memoir, Looking for Palestine, and how sharing her inner monologue has helped her find a community based on genuine solidarity.    0:00 Introduction 1:37 Childhood Stories and Typewritten Plays  2:54 Growing Up in the Shadow of Intellectual Giants  7:23 The Weight of Family Legacy  10:00 Journaling and the Discovery of a Personal Voice  12:47 Acting, Identity, and Hollywood Reality Checks  20:36 Defining "Arab" through Theater  22:10 Navigating Identity Shifts: Lebanon, Palestine, and New York  33:32 Misunderstandings and the Moral Backbone of Edward Said  36:58 Current Work: Dialogue in a Time of Hostility  44:30 Erasing Legacy: Columbia University and Global Activism  47:40 Politics and Perception  52:14 Looking for Palestine: The Vulnerability of Memoir  56:56 Shedding the Need to Be Liked  58:07 Solidarity as the Greatest Expression of Love  Najla Said is a Palestinian-Lebanese-American actress, playwright, author, and activist, recognized for her memoir Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family (2013), which chronicles her struggles with cultural identity amid a privileged New York City upbringing as the daughter of prominent Palestinian intellectual Edward W. Said and his Lebanese-born wife Mariam Cortas Said. Said initially distanced herself from her Arab heritage, assimilating into American and Jewish social circles while attending elite institutions like Dalton School and Princeton University, before a transformative trip to the Middle East prompted her to embrace Palestinian roots more fully. Said's career spans theater and performance, including her solo show Palestine, which she has presented at over 25 high schools, colleges, and universities worldwide since its off-Broadway debut, addressing themes of diaspora, stereotyping, and Arab-American experiences. She has worked with New York institutions such as New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, and Second Stage, and maintains affiliations like a "Usual Suspect" at NYTW. As an activist, Said advocates for Palestinian self-determination, drawing on her father's legacy of critiquing Western orientalism, though her public engagements, including support for campus protests, reflect a personal evolution from identity confusion to vocal solidarity with causes tied to her heritage.  Connect with Najla Said

An armed private security guard at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, MI. shot and killed an attacker who rammed his vehicle into the synagogue and opened fire, preventing what could have been a mass casualty event last week, authorities and witnesses said. The incident, which occurred Thursday, March 12, left the attacker dead and one security guard injured, but no congregants, staff or the 140 children attending the synagogue's early childhood learning center were harmed. The attacker, identified by federal authorities as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon and resident of Dearborn Heights, drove a Ford F-150 through the building's doors around 12:30 p.m., entered a hallway and began firing through his windshield, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and FBI officials. Security personnel, including the synagogue's in-house armed team, engaged the suspect. Ghazali was fatally shot during the exchange; some reports indicate he may have inflicted a self-inflicted wound as well. The vehicle caught fire, filling the area with smoke. Temple Israel credited its enhanced security measures — implemented last June in response to rising antisemitism and threats to Jewish institutions — with averting disaster. The synagogue hired Danny Phillips, a former police lieutenant with 28 years of experience, including as an advanced firearms instructor, to lead its armed security team. “In response to the evolving realities facing Jewish communities,” the temple said at the time of Phillips' hiring, it took proactive steps to protect members. In an interview following the attack, Jewish firearms instructor Aaron Tobin told journalist Alan Skorski that beefed-up security and armed response were key to stopping the assault. Tobin, who trains members of the Jewish community in the Detroit metro area, said Jews across the region are increasingly arming themselves and seeking proper firearms training amid heightened threats. “Jews across Detroit's Metro area are getting armed and trained in proper gun use,” Tobin said. He issued a stark warning to potential attackers from Dearborn, a city with a large Arab American population: “Stay away from the Jewish community if they know what's good for them.” The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, which Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan described as “a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer condemned the attack as “hate, plain and simple,” and expressed relief that swift action by security prevented further harm. Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the U.S. with over 12,000 members, has been a focal point for the local Jewish community. No additional injuries beyond the security guard were reported, though some first responders were treated for smoke inhalation. Subscribe to Alan Skorski Reports: www.youtube.com/@AlanSkorskiReports Alan Skorski Reports 26MAR2026 - PODCAST

“. . . There's this sense that [Left-leaning candidates] have to essentially be apologizing for their policy prescriptions and their stances. Mamdani has not done that . . . For the most part, he very much embraces who he is and what his policy prescriptions are.” - Felipe De La Hoz This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate Description [original air date Oct 31, 2025]:  Wherever you are in the country, you've probably heard the name “Zohran Mamdani”. New York City's mayoral race is a national story, and it's hard to overstate the significance of the leading candidate in this moment. If elected, Mamdani would become the first Muslim-American and only the second Democratic Socialist Mayor of the largest city in the U.S. His victory, on a promise to make New York affordable for working people, would have implications for politics everywhere. The race is already garnering both excitement and anxiety. President Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins. From Chicago to Dearborn, Michigan, journalists are watching. In this installment of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, Laura Flanders speaks with Felipe De La Hoz, investigative immigration and policy reporter whose work has been featured in The Intercept, The Washington Post, New York Mag and The Nation; Osama Siblani, publisher and founder of The Arab American News, the largest Arab American newspaper in the U.S., and Asha Ransby-Sporn, organizer and writer for In These Times and co-founder of Black Youth Project 100, where she led the group's national organizing program. Join us as we explore what a Mamdani victory would signal for the nation. Guests: • Felipe De La Hoz: Immigration & Policy Reporter, Epicenter NYC • Asha Ransby-Sporn: Writer & Political Strategist; Columnist, In These Times • Osama Siblani: Publisher, The Arab American News   Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel Sundays 11:30am ET, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airs on community radio across the country  (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & is available as a podcast.   The full uncut conversation is also available to podcast subscribers thanks to our member supporters. RESOURCES: Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes: •  Farm Workers to Farm Owners- Watch / Listen:  Episode •  These Films Keep People Out of Prison- Watch / Listen:  Episode •  Jacqueline Woodson & Catherine Gund: Breathing Through Chaos & the  “Meanwhile”- Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Uncut Conversation •  Mamdani, Black Farmers, USDA & ICE: The Stories BIPOC Journalists Uncover-  Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources: • California City Residents Denounce Plan to Build State's Largest Immigrant Detention Center, by ACoM, August 4, 2025, American Community Media •  Dolores Huerta Leads Protest Against California's Largest Planned ICE Detention Center, by Steve Virgen, CA Neighborhood Reporter, July 30, 2025, 23ABC News KERO • Forbes Power Women's Summit 2025:  Building What's Next, September 25, 2025, Forbes •  About el Teatro Campesino's Luis Valdez, Founding Artistic Director   Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Music Credit: "Libertango” by Stephan Wrembel's from the ‘Django New Orleans II  Hors Série'' courtesy of the artist, "Steppin" by Podington Bear and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

“I hate giving labels. I don't look at Mandani as a progressive. I look at him as representing the anger and anguish of people who have been left behind with the political apparatus.” - Osama Siblani, Publisher, The Arab American News This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate Description [Original air date Oct 31, 2025]: Wherever you are in the county, you've probably heard the name “Zohran Mamdani”. New York City's mayoral race is a national story, and it's hard to overstate the significance of the leading candidate in this moment. If elected, Mamdani would become the first Muslim-American and only the second Democratic Socialist Mayor of the largest city in the U.S. His victory, on a promise to make New York affordable for working people, would have implications for politics everywhere. The race is already garnering both excitement and anxiety. President Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins. From Chicago to Dearborn, Michigan, journalists are watching. In this installment of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, Laura Flanders speaks with Felipe De La Hoz, investigative immigration and policy reporter whose work has been featured in The Intercept, The Washington Post, New York Mag and The Nation; Osama Siblani, publisher and founder of The Arab American News, the largest Arab American newspaper in the U.S., and Asha Ransby-Sporn, organizer and writer for In These Times and co-founder of Black Youth Project 100, where she led the group's national organizing program. Join us as we explore what a Mamdani victory would signal for the nation. “More so than I am concerned with Black people being pulled to the Right or being pulled in by Trump . . . I think what we see are people who are disengaged and feel like our political system isn't going to deliver for them at all. Who feel let down by the establishment Democratic party that has sold all of us out for decades, and Black people have borne an enormous amount of the brunt of that impact.” - Asha Ransby-Sporn Guests: • Felipe De La Hoz: Immigration & Policy Reporter, Epicenter NYC • Asha Ransby-Sporn: Writer & Political Strategist; Columnist, In These Times • Osama Siblani: Publisher, The Arab American News Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel Sundays 11:30am, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode cut airs on community radio across the country  (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & as a podcast. RESOURCES: Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes: •  Farm Workers to Farm Owners- Watch / Listen:  Episode •  These Films Keep People Out of Prison- Watch / Listen:  Episode •  Jacqueline Woodson & Catherine Gund: Breathing Through Chaos & the  “Meanwhile”- Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Uncut Conversation •  Mamdani, Black Farmers, USDA & ICE: The Stories BIPOC Journalists Uncover-  Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources: • California City Residents Denounce Plan to Build State's Largest Immigrant Detention Center, by ACoM, August 4, 2025, American Community Media •  Dolores Huerta Leads Protest Against California's Largest Planned ICE Detention Center, by Steve Virgen, CA Neighborhood Reporter, July 30, 2025, 23ABC News KERO • Forbes Power Women's Summit 2025:  Building What's Next, September 25, 2025, Forbes •  About el Teatro Campesino's Luis Valdez, Founding Artistic Director   Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Music Credit:  'Thrum of Soil' by Bluedot Sessions, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel