Podcasts about arab american association

On Monday, January 13 the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) rallied at the State Capitol to advocate for a FY25 budget and legislative agenda to protect the rights and ensure the well-being of immigrant New Yorkers. This year, NYIC will campaign to: Guarantee equitable access to a lawyer in immigration court for all by passing the Access to Representation Act and BUILD Act. Ensure state and local law enforcement operates independently of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by passing New York for All (NY4All). Improve access and delivery of language services by advancing the Language Access Expansion Act. Provide greater support to families and children through the passage of the Working Families Tax Credit Act. We hear from Murad Awawdeh of the Coalition; Senator Andrew Gounardes; and Maryam Khaldi of the Arab American Association of New York. With Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

Hundreds marched on the U.S. Mission to the United States November 8, 2023 to demand the U.S. support a ceasefire in Gaza. Speakers included (in order of appearance);Rev. Mark Thompson, EmceeRev. Adrienne Thorne, Senior Minister, Riverside ChurchRev. Stephen A. Green, Co-Founder, Faith for Black Lives, Pastor, St. Luke's AME HarlemImam Suhaib WebbCarmen Perez-Jordan, CEO and President, The Gathering for JusticeMarwa Janini,Executive Director, Arab-American Association of New YorkRev. Dr. Jaqui Lewis, Senior Minister for Public Theology and Transformation, MiddleChurchLinda Sarsour, Founder, MPower Change, Co-Founder, Until FreedomRev. Jamal Bryant, Co-Founder, Faith for Black Lives, Pastor at New Birth Missionary Church, AtlantaTamika D. Mallory, Co-Founder, Until FreedomDr. Cornel West, US Presidential CandidatePastor Michael McBride, Co-Founder, Black Church PAC, Executive Director, LiveFree USARev. Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary, Proctor ConferenceRev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, National Presiding Minister Emeritus, House Of The Lord ChurchecElena Stein, Director of Organizing Strategy Jewish Voice For PeaceAhmad Abuznaid, Executive Director, US Campaign for Palestinian RightsMysonne Linen, Hip Hop Artist, Co-Founder, Until FreedomRev. Dr. Willie Francois, Senior Pastor, Mount Zion Baptist Church, Pleasantville, NJLaTosha Brown, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter Rev. Dr. Samuel Cruz, Senior Pastor, Trinity Lutheran ChurchNupol Kiazolu, Activist and OrganizerKimberly Bernard, Warriors In The GardenNialah Edari, Co-Founder, Freedom March NYCKiara Williams, Warriors In The GardenJeannie J. Park, Warriors In The GardenDerrick "Dwreck" Ingram, Warriors In The GardenAyanna Gregory, Artist, Activist, Performs"Ceasefire"written & composed  by Nabil Ince, Phillip Joubert, Bishop Dwayne Royster, Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr., Rev. Mark Thompson, and Ayanna Gregory, and performed by Ayanna Gregory and Common HymnalAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Writing Between Two Moons: An Arab-American coming of age story set in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn during the “War on Terror”. Author Aisha Abdel Gawad sheds light on her experience writing the novel while balancing her work as a high-school teacher, capturing Bay Ridge's unique community in her book, and her creative process. Together, Mikey and Aisha reflect on the post-9/11 War on Terror, age of surveillance, and how this impacted the Arab-American community. Aisha also shares her advice for aspiring novelists and her must-reads for high-school students. Aisha Abdel Gawad is a writer and high-school teacher. She won the 2015 Pushcart Prize for her short-story “Waking Luna”. After college, Aisha worked at the Arab American Association of New York in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Her debut novel, Between Two Moons, is a coming of age story set in Bay Ridge during the post-9/11 War on Terror. Created & hosted by Mikey MuhannaEdited by: Ramzi RammanTheme music by: Tarek Yamani https://www.instagram.com/tarek_yamani/About Book Club:Book Club is an interview series that calls for afikra community members, who are interested in literature and reading, to spend time reading along with the entire community. Books in Arabic and English will be announced on afikra's reading list and the members will be asked to do the reading at home at their leisure and then join afikra for a conversation with the authors of those books. Every two weeks, a conversation will be held with an author to discuss their work and the book in particular. Individuals joining the call will be expected to have read the book and prepared questions regarding the context, motivation, and background stories. Following the interview, there is a moderated town-hall-style Q&A with questions coming from the live virtual audience ‎on Zoom.‎ Join the live audience: https://www.afikra.com/rsvp   FollowYoutube - Instagram (@afikra_) - Facebook -Twitter Support www.afikra.com/supportAbout afikra:‎afikra is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region- past, present, and future - through conversations driven by curiosity. Read more about us on  afikra.com

This Fall many public primary schools in the U.S. switched back to in-person learning. But that can mean very different things for students, teachers, and parents — depending on their school system, local political environment, family resources, or language needs. We started getting word from listeners about their back-to-school experiences in July, and checked in with them as these first few months of the school year unfolded. Cathy and our team found out how a Chinese American mother of three navigated the anti-mask and anti-CRT activity surrounding school reopenings in Arizona; learned about the hidden harms of this transition from immigrant mental health advocates in New York City; and heard how having an immunocompromised family member affected an Indian American family in Minneapolis. While these conversations are by no means comprehensive, a recurring theme in these conversations was a sense of loss, which many students haven't had the space to properly heal from. Credits Produced by Julia Shu and James Boo Edited by Julia Shu Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly Fact checking by Harsha Nahata Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda Resources and Reading WATCH: “Towards An Inclusive Reopening: The Mental Health Needs of Asian Children” discussion panel by the Asian American Federation, Sapna NYC, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Hamilton-Madison House, and the Arab American Association of New York READ: “Anti-mask school law isn't justice, safety for our kids” by Yvonne So for the Arizona Daily Star READ: “Asian American young adults are the only racial group with suicide as their leading cause of death, so why is no one talking about this?” by Amelia Noor-Osho for The Conversation READ: “New York's Once-Thriving Asian Businesses Struggle to Recover From 4,000% Unemployment Spike” by Amy Yee, Adre Tartar, and Christopher Cannon for Bloomberg READ: “Digital Literacy in New York's Asian American Community” by Juo-Hsi (Sylvia) Peng for Advancing Justice | AAJC READ: “Teens in America: How the Covid-19 Pandemic is Shaping the Next Generation” by Maria Abenes for Psychiatric Times

This week, we're sharing stories from Brooklyn's newest audio-makers. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Khyriel Palmer, Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here's how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW• Thank you to Sriyanka Ray, Karim Douaidy, and Jude Chehab.• “Your Coffee is on Me / قهوتك على حسابي” was produced by Amal Al Khateeb, Wael Ali, Osama Al Mathil, and Waleed Hassan. • “The Bodega Strike” was produced by Abeer Al Harazi, Sam El Seidi, and Lamia Hauter.• “Yemeni-Americans and the pursuit of Education” was produced by Takhia Hussein, Yehya Elfgeeh, and Sara Said. • “Bullying Arab Woman / التنمر ضد المرأة العربية” was produced by Ghada Amin, Amira Talbah, Fatima Mokhtar, and Gamila AlShamiri, with help from Anwar Bazar and Amel Haridy.• “Be Yourself (Social Media) / كن كما أنت” was produced by Hanane Elkahal, Nadia Boukhriss, Lalla Abdel Wahab, and Kawtar Kamal. •  “Homeland / الوطن” was produced by Ahlam Ali and Andalib Bakr, with help from Mona Gad and Fathia Ibrahim.• LINKS:Brooklyn, USA - bricartsmedia.org/Brooklyn-USARadio Free Bay Ridge - https://www.radiofreebayridge.org/Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs - https://www1.nyc.gov/site/immigrants/index.pageYemeni American Merchants Association (YAMA)- https://www.yamausa.org/Arab American Association of New York- https://www.arabamericanny.org/• TRANSCRIPT: ~coming soon~• Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BRICTV

Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-Muslim-American organizer and a surrogate for the Sanders Campaign and Chuck Rocha, Bernie 2020 Senior advisor and author of 'Tio Bernie,' talk about the successes and failures of getting out the Muslim and Latino Vote. Linda explains that it was the progressive movement, not the neoliberals patting themselves on the back, who defeated Trump. Chuck Rocha (https://twitter.com/ChuckRocha) was a Bernie 2020 Senior advisor, is the author Tio Bernie, president of Solidarity Strategies and a contributor to The New York Times, MSNBC, The Hill and CNN. Linda Sarsour (https://twitter.com/lsarsour) is the co-founder of Until Freedom (https://twitter.com/untilfreedom) and was co-chair of the 2019 Women's March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York and the co-founder and executive director of MPower Change (https://www.mpowerchange.org/) the first Muslim online organizing platform.Please support The Katie Halper Show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow

I had the pleasure of reading Linda Sarsour's book. We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders and interview Linda herself about her book and the experiences she shared. I've always admired Linda and her activism, but most of all, her ability to keep going regardless of the opposition and hatred she faces regularly. Linda Sarsour is a Brooklyn-born Palestinian Muslim American community activist and mother of three. She served as the Women's March national co-chair, helping to organize the largest single-day protest in US history. She is the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. And she is the co-founder of Mpower change the first Muslim online organizing platform. She is also the founding member of the Justice League NYC Instagram Link to the book https://amzn.to/3ie3Kuh   Thank you for listening

We're back from our Coronavirus hiatus with a celebration for our 50th Episode... and the return of a lost co-host! We couldn't think of a more important topic for this occasion than the 2020 Census that's currently underway in Bay Ridge.Join us as we discuss how the pandemic and the federal goverment has thrown the census into disarray, and how local activists and politicians are working to ensure we get an accurate count. We'll join Councilman Justin Brannan to discuss how local government is often hobbled by bad census data, especially when it comes to local services, whether it's school funding, road construction, or poll translation. We'll also join activists from Fight Back Bay Ridge and The Arab American Association of New York to see how local organizers are pivoting to digital outreach in order to raise awareness about the census. Finally, we'll look back and share a few memories about our last three years, as well as giving some sneak peeks about what's to come, including an all-new way to support the podcast. Thanks to all of our listeners for an amazing three years, and here's to many more! ---- Check out the show notes for background info and bonus materialBe sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more news and analysis!  

A pandemic is no place to be a bystander, says Muslim American activist Linda Sarsour. In this episode, Laura interviews Sarsour about her recently published memoir We are Not Here to Be Bystanders, which tells her story of growing up in Brooklyn and Palestine and becoming the Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and one of the co-chairs of the 2017 Women's March on Washington. Sarsour describes how Covid-19 is affecting her work, what contact tracing triggers for people who were forced to register as Muslims after 9-11, and what Muslim Americans have learned about being targets, even as so many serve as front-line healthcare providers.  Music in the Middle:  “Marching the Hate Machines”  by Thievery Corporation featuring Frank Orrall, from their new album Symphonik Version, courtesy of ESL Records. Watch our Forward Thinking on Covid-19  series where guests offer their view point from a forward looking perspective in their area of expertise. Become a Patreon member to unlock the full unedited conversations.  This week Laura's guest is Patricia Mercado Sánchez, Founder/Director Conexion Migrante.

0:08 – Oil price war sparks financial panic Antonia Juhasz (@AntoniaJuhasz) investigative journalist specializing in oil, currently a Scripps Journalism fellow at the University of Colorado – Boulder. Her most recent book is Black Tide.  0:16 – What to do about a coronavirus recession Josh Bivens is the Director of Research at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 0:34 – San Francisco Supervisor calls for moratorium one evictions due to economic burden of coronavirus Dean Preston (@DeanPreston) San Francisco supervisor for District 5, and introduced the legislation.  0:40 – How Silicon Valley is responding to the coronavirus crisis Lauren Hepler (@LAHepler) is a reporter for Protocol, where she reports on jobs and the tech industry.  1:08 – Author Interview: Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) is an award-winning civil rights activist, community organizer, and mother of three. She is the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York and the co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPower Change. Sarsour served as national co-chair of the largest single day protest in US history, the Women's March on Washington in 2017. Her new book is a memoir: We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance.   The post ‘It's an oil price spitting war' journalist Antonia Juhasz on the oil price war sparking financial panic; Plus: Linda Sarsour on her new memoir ‘We Are Not Meant to Be Bystanders' appeared first on KPFA.

We sit down this week to talk to Lina Mohammed who’s passions for activism and the justice system have grown exponentially in the last two years. Her focus is on mainstream media and its generally prejudiced portrayal of minority groups such as African-Americans, women, and Muslims. Her goal is to deconstruct stereotypes of Muslims through interfaith work with Christians and Jews. It is important for folks to raise their voices and amplify others’. Lina interned at MPAC, Arab American Association, ACCESS, and CAIR to realize her goal and create interfaith programs by bringing in Faith leaders from all 3 abrahamic faiths. Last year Lina attended her first ever Guild of America banquet and spoke about the importance of learning from each other and creating safe spaces. She is currently working on a project about Muslim women in America and her senior thesis examines strategies to combat gender-based violence in refugee communities. Lina aspires to become an actress to portray Muslim women in a more positive light, contrary to stereotypes and pre-conceived notions. She also aims to establish a mobile platform to report ethically on issues affecting marginalized individuals and communities.

Two Palestinians join Mehdi Hasan to discuss U.S. coverage of Jerusalem and how to get prominent Democratic politicians to take the Palestinian struggle for freedom seriously. Rula Jebreal was raised in East Jerusalem and is an academic and foreign policy analyst. Linda Sarsour, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Occupied West Bank, is the co-chair of the Women’s March and the former director of the Arab American Association of New York.

Linda Sarsour is a working woman, racial justice and civil rights activist, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!” She is the Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPOWER Change. Linda has been at the forefront of major civil rights campaigns including calling for an end to unwarranted surveillance of New York’s Muslim communities and ending police policies like stop and frisk. In wake of the police murder of Mike Brown, she co-founded Muslims for Ferguson to build solidarity amongst American Muslim communities and encourage work against police brutality. She is a member of the Justice League NYC, a leading NYC force of activists, formerly incarcerated individuals, and artists working to reform the New York Police Department and the criminal justice system. Linda co-chaired the March2Justice, a 250-mile journey on foot to deliver a justice package to end racial profiling, demilitarize police and demand the government invest in young people and communities. Linda Sarsour was instrumental in the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays to push New York City to incorporate 2 Muslim high holy holidays in to the NYC Public school calendar. This year, New York City will be the largest school system in the country to officially recognize these holidays. This year, Linda joined leading social justice faith leaders as a Senior Fellow at Auburn Seminary. She has received numerous awards and honors including “Champion of Change” by the White House, YWCA USA’s Women of Distinction Award for Advocacy and Civic Engagement and the Hala Maksoud Leadership Award from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Sarsour was named among 500 of the most influential Muslims in the world. Most recently, Linda was profiled on the front page of the New York Times Metro Section and dubbed “Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab” and introduced Linda to their readership as “Mixing street smarts, activism and her Muslim identity, Linda Sarsour has become a political force”. She has written for and has been featured in local, national, and international media discussing impact of domestic policies that target Arab and Muslim American communities, criminal justice issues and Middle East affairs. Linda is well respected amongst diverse communities in both in New York City and nationally. She is most known for her intersectional coalition work and building bridges across issues, racial, ethnic and faith communities. Eddie Glaude, Princeton University, presiding This plenary session was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 20 in Boston, Massachusetts.

How do we maintain resilience and consistency in the midst of opposition? The Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in US history—bringing together more than 3.3 million people in 500 US cities. And Linda Sarsour, a rising household name in the United States, was a big reason why that happened. But that doesn’t come without significant backlash and criticism even while promoting a message that advocates for the dignity and respect of all human beings. Linda Sarsour is an award winning Brooklyn born Palestinian-American-Muslim racial justice and civil rights activist, community organizer, social media maverick, and mother of three. Linda has been at the forefront of major social justice campaigns both locally in New York City and nationally — particularly gaining national attention for her advocacy on behalf of American Muslims and as a co-chair of the Women's March. She is the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, co-founder of Muslims for Ferguson, and a member of the NY Justice League. In this conversation, Branden and Linda discuss the power of choosing to embrace diversity — leaning into things that are divisive even though they are uncomfortable. (Oh, and here’s the link to our Facebook Discussion group that we gave a shout-out to in the episode: https://www.facebook.com/groups/goodgoodgoodco/) soundsgoodpodcast.com/linda

Join us in celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by listening in to the sounds and speeches of the 3rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March in Bay Ridge, focusing on fighting back against Racism, Militarism and Poverty. The march was co-hosted and organized by Bay Ridge for Social Justice, Fight Back Bay Ridge, South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance, The Arab American Association of New York, and South Brooklyn DSA.

Welcome back to another Special Episode of Radio Free Bay Ridge. Today, we bring you the uncut audio from October 24th at the Arab American Association of Bay Ridge's City Council debate between Democratic candidate Justin Brannan, Reform Party candidate Bob Capano, and Republican candidate John Quaglione. The debate was held at IS 30 in Bay Ridge, and co-sponsored by Fight Back Bay Ridge and South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance.

Special Episode! While we work on our next episode on Nativism, we bring you the raw and unedited recording of this past Tuesdays District 43 City Council Debate between John Quaglione, Justin Brannan, and Bob Capano, hosted by the Bay Ridge Community Council. Also, be sure to attend next Tuesdays debate, hosted by the Arab American Association, at IS 30 on 4th Ave and Ovington. It's on October 24th, 7:00pm till 9:00pm, doors at 6:30pm. We'll be there tweeting from @RadioFreeBR using #AAANYDebate.

Guest Quinn Pregliasco joins us to discuss her work in affordable housing and episode 2.02 "The Stakeout". We talk about Leslie's intense love of sugar, the new character Officer Dave, and learn a new vocabulary word: "charrette". We also add activist and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York Linda Sarsour to our Wall of Inspirational Women.

The depravity of Donald Trump's fear-mongering, xenophobic, anti-Muslim politics are now in full swing. The new president has barred people from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — including, to an unclear and ultimately-walked back degree, lawful permanent residents, from entering the United States for ninety days. All refugees are barred for 120 days, and refugees from Syria are barred indefinitely. What's gotten less attention, but is also quite serious, is that Trump slashed the overall number of refugees slated to be admitted this year by more than half. Today, we bring you two interviews. The first is with Nicholas Espíritu from the National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups mounting legal challenges against the ban, who will explain the legal and constitutional challenge to the Muslim and refugee ban. The second is with Linda Sarsour, the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, a leading supporter of Bernie Sanders' primary bid, and co-chair of the Women's March on Washington.

The self-proclaimed controversial head of the Arab American Association of New York told hosts Gersh Kuntzman and Vince DiMiceli that 2017 is going to be an exciting year.

On this weeks episode, we talk to Sarab Al-Jijakli, a well known Arab-American community organizer who has been at the forefront of organizing efforts in the United States on behalf of Syrian Refugees. We discuss various organizations working on this issue and ways for Americans to get involved and show support. In this episode, we highlight the following organizations (in order of mention): Network of Arab American Professionals (http://www.naaponline.org/) International Rescue Committee (http://www.rescue.org/) Sarab's Blog (https://sarabiany.wordpress.com/about-sarabiany/) Islamic Relief (http://irusa.org/) Karam Foundation (http://www.karamfoundation.org/) Arab American Association of New York (http://www.arabamericanny.org/) Arab American Family Support Center (http://www.aafscny.org/) Muslim Consultative Network (http://mcnny.org/) Muslims Giving Back (http://www.muslimsgivingback.org/) Syrian American Medical Society (https://www.sams-usa.net/foundation/)

We get manicures and pedicures at a Brooklyn Nail Salon. What Pat calls “the definition of comfort” makes Steve Lambert very uncomfortable. Show notes below… Linda Sarsour! 3 sides of Linda Sarsour Our guest: Linda Sarsour, is the Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, a White House recognized “Champion of Change”, […]

Many of Louisville's activist leaders got their start marching behind the same man: Reverend Louis Coleman. Now his life's work is being portrayed in a brand-new musical called "Buster," written by Larry Muhammad and directed by William P. Bradford II. They both stopped by the studio this week to talk about the project, which opens this Thursday and runs through July 26. In Juicy Fruit, we talk about the "Respond with Love" campaign, started by Muslim groups to raise money to rebuild Black Churches recently destroyed by fires in the South. The effort, spearheaded by the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative and the Arab American Association of New York, defies the widely-held idea of animosity between Muslims and Christians. We also talk about recent data showing that Latino/as now outnumber white people in California. And we almost can't believe it, but Raven-Symone did something good this week. She went head-to-head with Candace Cameron Bure when The View discussed the bakery in Oregon who refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. And we close out this week's show with Jai's own reflections on the legacy of Reverend Coleman. His first time getting a citation for protest was with Coleman, demonstrating against the lack of minority contractors building Slugger Field. But it was only a few years later Jai was writing a column for the Courier-Journal against Coleman. JCPS was considering adding anti-discrimination protections for LGBT employees, which Rev. Coleman publicly opposed, saying, "I just don't think policies should be put in place to protect habits or behaviors." Many of us know people like this: activists who are very dedicated to one social justice cause, but seem ignorant or just plain bigoted on another. No one knows how Rev. Coleman's views on queer issues may have evolved had he lived into our current era of wider LGBT-acceptance. So for gay black folks, his legacy is a complicated one.

For those in the business of Muslim P.R., 2014 has been a pretty rough year.  In the wake of ISIS beheadings and movements like Boko Haram, Americans increasingly believe that Islam encourages violence more than other religions. This, despite research from the conservative Manhattan Institute that Muslims in America are actually highly assimilated. But in recent months, Muslims have taken to social media — with a campaign called "Not in My Name." It's an earnest attempt by Western Muslims to distance themselves from extremists, with hashtags and YouTube videos. That was followed by a counter-hashtag, the much snarkier #MuslimApologies. Sorry for making the first hospital in the world, the first university, algebra, and medicine. #MuslimApologies — Hatim Alzoubi (@h_dawg35) October 24, 2014 I'm sorry your addiction to caffeine was instigated by an Arab inventing coffee. #MuslimApologies http://t.co/cE8ImY4WxF — A Crafty Arab (@acraftyarab) October 8, 2014 I am sorry or re-introducing #Greek #philosophy to the #west and for inventing the toilet and for #coffee and #cigarette #MuslimApologies — kahraman haliscelik (@turkishreporter) October 6, 2014 I'm so sorry for coffee, cheques, parachutes, chemistry, soap... #muslimapologies v @mehdirhasan @abdullahoguk http://t.co/6ju9qaiTSH — Abdullah (@abdullahoguk) October 5, 2014 One of the "apologists," executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York Linda Sarsour, said she thinks "Not in My Name" is pointless, because it won't sway ISIS or the Westerners who already hate Muslims. "Sometimes I tell my people, 'Is it worth it that you go out there and say this or write these statements? Why do you feel so defensive? Why do you feel like you have to defend yourself? You're a good American. You're leading a congregation. You're talking about social justice. You're a law-abiding citizens. Why do you always feel compelled to have to apologize for every damn Muslim out there that does something crazy or does something violent?" Sarsour said. But communications expert Robert Perez, who worked on a successful campaign to convince the Presbyterian Church to ordain gays and lesbians as clergy, said that earnestness actually works. People respond to what he calls "Journey Stories," Perez said. "You show the conflict, you show the concern, you even show the fear and those stories proved to be very powerful." Those types of stories encourage empathy, Perez said, and it's empathy, not irony, that changes minds.   A version of this story originally ran in On the Media.