WEBVTT - 070624 Muslim Women’s Hijabs Being Torn Off by Police (Part 1)

0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.200
<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to

0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:05.560
<v Speaker 1>welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our

0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.400
<v Speaker 1>mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I am

0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:10.400
<v Speaker 1>your host, Rams's job.

0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.480
<v Speaker 2>He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You are

0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:15.000
<v Speaker 2>tuned into Civic siden, Yes you.

0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.400
<v Speaker 1>Are, and we got some stuff to talk about today,

0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:20.919
<v Speaker 1>so please stick around. Today. We are going to stand

0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:27.840
<v Speaker 1>in solidarity with our Muslim sisters, in particular because, as

0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.000
<v Speaker 1>it turns out, Muslim women are having their hit jobs

0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:35.479
<v Speaker 1>torn off by police all over America, and this is

0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.560
<v Speaker 1>something that we wanted to talk about and we really

0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.199
<v Speaker 1>wanted to have a Muslim woman on the show, but

0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:42.879
<v Speaker 1>it just hasn't timed out, and we wanted to make

0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.479
<v Speaker 1>sure that we got to the conversation while it was

0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.720
<v Speaker 1>still more or less in the news, so that you

0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.280
<v Speaker 1>could you find the articles and do whatever research you

0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.160
<v Speaker 1>wanted to do to supplement that. Also, we're going to

0:00:54.160 --> 0:01:00.560
<v Speaker 1>spend some time talking about Donald Trump, Joe Biden, their debate,

0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:06.360
<v Speaker 1>and the Supreme Court. So some housekeeping, some maintenance, some

0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:08.640
<v Speaker 1>catching up that we've had to do because we haven't

0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:13.080
<v Speaker 1>really been able to spend anytime in the past few

0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:17.960
<v Speaker 1>episodes discussing the goings on that are central to politics

0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.960
<v Speaker 1>in this country and exactly what is at stake, And

0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.759
<v Speaker 1>so we are going to again spend some time discussing.

0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.160
<v Speaker 1>Really we have to talk about the Supreme Court because

0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:34.319
<v Speaker 1>we are kind of in some unprecedented scary times. But

0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:36.640
<v Speaker 1>also we need to, you know, speak to the concerns

0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:41.800
<v Speaker 1>surrounding the two candidates and help each other because we're

0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.240
<v Speaker 1>still processing it as well, but help each other reconcile

0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:47.440
<v Speaker 1>what a path forward looks like. There will be a

0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.840
<v Speaker 1>path forward. We do have to make a decision as

0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.520
<v Speaker 1>a country, and we need to make sure that it's

0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.760
<v Speaker 1>the right one. So that and so much more to

0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.480
<v Speaker 1>stick around for here on Civic Cipher. But before we

0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.320
<v Speaker 1>get there, like we always do it, this time, let's

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.120
<v Speaker 1>start off with excellence, shall we? I think you shall.

0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:08.399
<v Speaker 2>This week's Ebony Excellence ironically sponsored by Actively black. There

0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.880
<v Speaker 2>is greatness in our DNA visit actively black dot com.

0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.079
<v Speaker 2>So I wanted to highlight actively black and their founder

0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.520
<v Speaker 2>Lannie Smith and congratulate them for providing the apparel and

0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.880
<v Speaker 2>uniforms for the Nigerian Olympic team. As the Olympics are

0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.240
<v Speaker 2>in a few weeks now. That's a really really big deal.

0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.000
<v Speaker 2>So Actively Black is a black owned entity created by

0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.959
<v Speaker 2>former professional basketball player, and that's NBA player Lannie Smith.

0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:41.360
<v Speaker 2>We saw avoidant representation, ownership, and investment back into our

0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.600
<v Speaker 2>communities from existing brands that have profited billions by utilizing

0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.120
<v Speaker 2>black talent, black culture, and black consumerism. This is a

0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:54.359
<v Speaker 2>brand designed by us for us the mission to uplift

0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.840
<v Speaker 2>and reinvest back into black into the Black community, and

0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.959
<v Speaker 2>to improve the mental health and physical fitness of our people.

0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.280
<v Speaker 2>We are not building an apparel brand. The clothes are

0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.040
<v Speaker 2>just the uniform for the movement. I love that everybody

0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.519
<v Speaker 2>is welcome to purchase where and support Actively Black, regardless

0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:16.160
<v Speaker 2>of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. As long as

0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.400
<v Speaker 2>you know and support the purpose and the mission to

0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:23.280
<v Speaker 2>uplift the Black community, you are welcome into our tribe.

0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.520
<v Speaker 2>And a quote from founder Lannie Smith, We're not asking

0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.200
<v Speaker 2>for a seat at the table anymore. We are building

0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.880
<v Speaker 2>our own table. I've had the opportunity to meet and

0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:39.440
<v Speaker 2>spend time with brother Lannie, and he's an incredible brother.

0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.160
<v Speaker 2>The brand is incredible. Please check out actively black dot

0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.400
<v Speaker 2>com and look for actively Black on the Nigerian national

0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.360
<v Speaker 2>team at this year's Olympics.

0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:51.800
<v Speaker 1>Real quick, I want to add something before we move

0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.280
<v Speaker 1>on that a lot of times non black people will

0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.440
<v Speaker 1>look at black stuff like it's not for them. Yes,

0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.000
<v Speaker 1>and that's rarely is that true? And I think actively

0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:07.360
<v Speaker 1>black is putting that on full display. So I love that. Okay.

0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:14.720
<v Speaker 1>So again, we wanted to cover this story a little

0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:19.599
<v Speaker 1>bit sooner because we had heard about these instances of

0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.680
<v Speaker 1>Muslim women at the protest on the college campuses in

0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:31.400
<v Speaker 1>support of Palestine being attacked on the campuses and specifically

0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:38.960
<v Speaker 1>having their hit jobs removed, and that is something that

0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:45.560
<v Speaker 1>was always very sensitive. It's a sensitive topic, you know.

0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.960
<v Speaker 1>To Q into me, we know people who are Muslim,

0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.919
<v Speaker 1>and then women in particular, we know how much discrimination

0:04:55.839 --> 0:05:00.800
<v Speaker 1>and fear comes with wearing that out in public, because

0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.919
<v Speaker 1>there are people who are looking for the easily identifiable

0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.840
<v Speaker 1>others in this country, as Q would say, and you know,

0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.880
<v Speaker 1>there's kind of like a wheel that keeps turning. For

0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:16.920
<v Speaker 1>a while. It'll be Black people for a while, It'll

0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.800
<v Speaker 1>be you know, Mexican people for a while. It'll be

0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.120
<v Speaker 1>Asian people for a while, It'll be folks from the

0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:27.960
<v Speaker 1>Middle East, Muslim people, et cetera. But you know, we

0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:31.800
<v Speaker 1>all noticed something around here in two thousand and one

0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.680
<v Speaker 1>because we were alive back then, but we noticed that,

0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.040
<v Speaker 1>you know, there was a shift in the country in

0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:47.279
<v Speaker 1>the way that the country approached Muslim people, and the

0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.960
<v Speaker 1>way the news covered Muslim people, and the way that

0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.839
<v Speaker 1>the jokes went back and forth on stage about Muslim people.

0:05:55.480 --> 0:06:01.360
<v Speaker 1>And somehow the faith known as Islam became associated with

0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:09.160
<v Speaker 1>terrorism and suicide bombings and all of these things that

0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.919
<v Speaker 1>that is not what the faith is about. Just a

0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.520
<v Speaker 1>little bit of background on me. I grew up Christian.

0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.200
<v Speaker 1>My father was a Christian minister, but my father had

0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.120
<v Speaker 1>his doctorate in theology, meaning that he had to study

0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:30.640
<v Speaker 1>all of the religions, not just Christianity. And one of

0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.039
<v Speaker 1>the things that I've said many times throughout my life

0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:40.920
<v Speaker 1>is that where education exists, prejudice cannot. And often enough,

0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.599
<v Speaker 1>that's the truth. Education and prejudice are like natural enemies

0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.599
<v Speaker 1>to each other. My father was not a prejudiced man

0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.200
<v Speaker 1>when it came to other faiths, certainly not Abrahamic religions

0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.440
<v Speaker 1>like Islam, like Judaism, because they are all born from

0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:02.960
<v Speaker 1>the same sort of root system and as a result

0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.400
<v Speaker 1>of that, we were not raised me, my brothers, my sisters.

0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.720
<v Speaker 1>We were not raised to regard Christianity as something that

0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:16.640
<v Speaker 1>is greater than or lesser than any other faith. Right.

0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:24.960
<v Speaker 1>And so once nine to eleven took place and people

0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:31.520
<v Speaker 1>who subscribed to Islam for their faith became under attack

0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:37.240
<v Speaker 1>and under this intense scrutiny, my heart was broken for them, right,

0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.440
<v Speaker 1>and I did my best to you know, stand in solidarity.

0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:43.600
<v Speaker 1>But you know, I was a kid at the time,

0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:44.960
<v Speaker 1>and you know, you just do what you can on

0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:48.760
<v Speaker 1>your college campus or whatever. You know, not certainly weren't

0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.200
<v Speaker 1>at a level we're at now, right. But I remember

0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.000
<v Speaker 1>talking to people who lived through that time, and you know,

0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.720
<v Speaker 1>again we have friends who lived through that time, and

0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:01.800
<v Speaker 1>they have told us how scary that was and how

0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.680
<v Speaker 1>they had to hide a piece of themselves and had

0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.680
<v Speaker 1>to you know, for safety and for fear. Right. And

0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.760
<v Speaker 1>I discovered how important he jobs are. It's not unlike

0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.680
<v Speaker 1>you know, for Jewish folks who wear yamakas or keep

0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.040
<v Speaker 1>us right. And there are Jewish women who cover their

0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.960
<v Speaker 1>hair as well. They're Catholic women, you know, Nuns cover

0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:24.800
<v Speaker 1>their hair. You know what I mean. This is not

0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.320
<v Speaker 1>something that's exclusive to one faith. But for some reason

0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.760
<v Speaker 1>in this country after nine to eleven, in particular, that

0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:42.120
<v Speaker 1>his job started to be associated with terrorism and anti

0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.000
<v Speaker 1>americanism and so forth and so on, and so the

0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:49.200
<v Speaker 1>folks that felt like this is America would see that

0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.600
<v Speaker 1>as a symbol of anti American hate, right, and so

0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.880
<v Speaker 1>it became a target. And we've heard over the years

0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.400
<v Speaker 1>people wearing hit jobs being attacked, their hard jobs being

0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:05.440
<v Speaker 1>snatched off at schools and places like this. And I

0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:09.120
<v Speaker 1>will say this out loud, and I know you feel

0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.240
<v Speaker 1>the same way. If I was ever to witness someone's

0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.719
<v Speaker 1>a job being torn off, like in my peripheral, that

0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.640
<v Speaker 1>is the sort of thing that would make me like

0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.920
<v Speaker 1>I might lose my life on a day like that,

0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:26.240
<v Speaker 1>because it's just I realized the amount of I realize

0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.520
<v Speaker 1>what goes into that, you know what I mean. That's

0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:30.920
<v Speaker 1>not a commitment to a culture as much as it

0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:35.120
<v Speaker 1>is a commitment to God. And I believe that the

0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.840
<v Speaker 1>bond between a human being and their faith is sacred.

0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.000
<v Speaker 1>I've been all over the world seen faith expressed through

0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.000
<v Speaker 1>every type of human being that they make. I've hiked

0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.640
<v Speaker 1>mountains to see people pray to statues of Buddha. I've

0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.720
<v Speaker 1>been in Muslim countries. I've been to the Grand Mosque

0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:55.600
<v Speaker 1>in Abu Dhabi. I've been to synagogues, I've been to temples.

0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.520
<v Speaker 1>I've been allowed to pray with seek people. You name

0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.600
<v Speaker 1>it again, My dad did right by us. You made

0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.480
<v Speaker 1>sure that we weren't afraid or prejudice.

0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:05.720
<v Speaker 2>Right.

0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.160
<v Speaker 1>But I believe in attack on someone's faith, it's attack

0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.720
<v Speaker 1>on their hope, it's attack on their dreams and so forth. Right,

0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.240
<v Speaker 1>So this story stood out to me, and again we

0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:22.640
<v Speaker 1>really wanted to do it right. But enough time has

0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.679
<v Speaker 1>passed and enough of these stories have come about that

0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.320
<v Speaker 1>today is the right time. Now, I've said a lot

0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:29.520
<v Speaker 1>be gaming the picture. I feel like you got to

0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:30.200
<v Speaker 1>jump in here.

0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:38.240
<v Speaker 2>So you said that education and prejudice don't often share

0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:39.960
<v Speaker 2>the same space, and I want to push back a

0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:44.040
<v Speaker 2>little bit and say that intelligence and enlightenment. There we go,

0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.800
<v Speaker 2>I've been prejudiced don't often share the same spaces. We

0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.640
<v Speaker 2>see very highly educated people go to the Supreme Court

0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.360
<v Speaker 2>to shut down affirmative action, to shut down diversity, equity

0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.839
<v Speaker 2>and inclusion, and to shut down things like the Fearless Fund.

0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.600
<v Speaker 2>And those people are highly educated in law degree things

0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.520
<v Speaker 2>in that and our self. With enlightenment, empathy and intelligence,

0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.880
<v Speaker 2>prejudice typically ceases to exist. Education doesn't seem to mean

0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.080
<v Speaker 2>much with regards to that, because these leaders have attended

0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:18.240
<v Speaker 2>Harvard Law and gotten scholarly mentions and degrees and put

0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.760
<v Speaker 2>on all of robes and capes and all of these things,

0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:27.480
<v Speaker 2>and they still are blatantly prejudiced and racist and bigoted

0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:32.560
<v Speaker 2>and homophobic and xenophobic, and the list goes on and on. Yeah, no,

0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:44.120
<v Speaker 2>I definitely go with that empathy. The thing that is

0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:49.960
<v Speaker 2>done so effectively by those who very intentionally other people

0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:57.240
<v Speaker 2>is the removal of empathy because I'm not the one

0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.480
<v Speaker 2>being attacked, so that they really don't have nothing to

0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:05.560
<v Speaker 2>do with me. And they've done such a masterful job

0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.200
<v Speaker 2>of splintering us into people, I mean into pieces rather

0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:14.000
<v Speaker 2>not into people, so that we do not approach things

0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.640
<v Speaker 2>as members of the human race. We approach things as

0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:25.040
<v Speaker 2>black people, as tribes, we approach things as members of

0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:30.920
<v Speaker 2>the LGBTQ plus community. We approach things as women, we

0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:37.079
<v Speaker 2>approach things as Christian, we approach things as Muslim, separately

0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:41.520
<v Speaker 2>broken into these tribes. Because if we ever looked next

0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:43.840
<v Speaker 2>to one another and realized that we were all fighting

0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.000
<v Speaker 2>for the same thing. We would fight together, and we

0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:51.600
<v Speaker 2>would storm the streets of this country, probably daily, but

0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.360
<v Speaker 2>we'll storm it, you and I and our small group,

0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.800
<v Speaker 2>and all the other groups will look in, you know,

0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.880
<v Speaker 2>support from a distance or you know, obstruct us, but

0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.960
<v Speaker 2>definitely not join in because that's not their fight. Yeah,

0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.640
<v Speaker 2>And what we're seeing happen in this country, even today,

0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:13.280
<v Speaker 2>right now as we record this is everyone watching everyone

0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.440
<v Speaker 2>go through their own plight and just kind of watching

0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.880
<v Speaker 2>it happen. And you know, thoughts and prayers and wish

0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:25.000
<v Speaker 2>you the best. But this should be the most of

0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.480
<v Speaker 2>it should be one of the most offensive stories and

0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:34.840
<v Speaker 2>headlines in the news. But there's a mixture of so

0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:40.160
<v Speaker 2>many awful things happening and so many people kind of

0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:44.560
<v Speaker 2>not caring because it doesn't apply to them. You know,

0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:50.760
<v Speaker 2>people that would be grossly offended if someone removed their

0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:55.960
<v Speaker 2>yamaka from their head are not moved at all by

0:13:56.000 --> 0:14:02.520
<v Speaker 2>this story. They should be enraged. They should be enraged

0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.839
<v Speaker 2>because they know how they'd feel where the shoe. On

0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.120
<v Speaker 2>the other foot, it's not like they're not enlightened enough

0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.560
<v Speaker 2>to know, or not educated enough or not to know,

0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.520
<v Speaker 2>or not mature enough to know, they know exactly how

0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:19.600
<v Speaker 2>they'd feel if placed in that same position. So when

0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.000
<v Speaker 2>we don't storm the streets for one another, when we

0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:23.920
<v Speaker 2>don't stand up for one another, when we do not

0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:31.200
<v Speaker 2>platform one another, it's very, very discouraging because we should

0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.440
<v Speaker 2>be just as angry. I should be just as angry

0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.960
<v Speaker 2>by a Muslim woman having to deal with this as

0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.160
<v Speaker 2>I was when my son was kicked and called the

0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:44.640
<v Speaker 2>N word at school. I should be just as angry.

0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:46.640
<v Speaker 2>And if you find a way to make me just

0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.840
<v Speaker 2>not care enough right here, you got your own problems

0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.680
<v Speaker 2>to worry about, can't worry about those people's problems too.

0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.760
<v Speaker 2>You effectively isolated those people and remove the power of

0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:03.960
<v Speaker 2>empathy and solidarity with our fellow human beings. There are

0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.520
<v Speaker 2>so many ways that they masterfully divide us and force

0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:09.960
<v Speaker 2>us to not be there for one another. I told

0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:15.480
<v Speaker 2>a young lady yesterday who started a business recently, and

0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.120
<v Speaker 2>through conversation she ended up asking me what can we

0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.280
<v Speaker 2>do for each other? And she didn't mean me and her,

0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.920
<v Speaker 2>she meant people, And I said, continue to show up

0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.000
<v Speaker 2>for one another. That's the most It's not the money,

0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.800
<v Speaker 2>it's actually caring and showing up. You know, Ramsey and

0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.200
<v Speaker 2>I are working on something really important with regards to

0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.880
<v Speaker 2>allyship right now, and I hear people that don't like

0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.360
<v Speaker 2>the word allyship or the idea of it, and it's like,

0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.200
<v Speaker 2>there's something that you're missing. We cannot do this alone.

0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.400
<v Speaker 2>Whatever this is for whoever's listening, whatever that mission is

0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.560
<v Speaker 2>that you have, whatever that plight is that you're trying

0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.360
<v Speaker 2>to get over or get through, you cannot do it

0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:58.040
<v Speaker 2>by yourself. We cannot do it by ourselves. So stories

0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.800
<v Speaker 2>like this should inferior us. You should not have to

0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.280
<v Speaker 2>be a Muslim woman for this to I almost use

0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.880
<v Speaker 2>the bad way for this to make you upset. You

0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.280
<v Speaker 2>should just have to think about how you would feel

0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:19.360
<v Speaker 2>if your self determination was being torn off of you. Yes,

0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.920
<v Speaker 2>if your sense of self, if your sense of pride,

0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.200
<v Speaker 2>if your sense of love, if your sense of joy,

0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.760
<v Speaker 2>if your deity was being snatched away from you, how

0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.040
<v Speaker 2>would you feel? And if you are a person that's atheist,

0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.480
<v Speaker 2>you care about something, you care about someone. If you don't,

0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.400
<v Speaker 2>I'm not talking to you just to make that simple,

0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.200
<v Speaker 2>to make that plan. If you don't care about anything

0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.320
<v Speaker 2>or anyone, the message is not for you, but for

0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.240
<v Speaker 2>most of us that do care about something or someone.

0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:49.400
<v Speaker 2>Imagine that thing or that person being snatched away from you,

0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.320
<v Speaker 2>and imagine how that would make you feel. And that's

0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.800
<v Speaker 2>how you should feel. Every time you read a headline,

0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.840
<v Speaker 2>every time you hear or see a story where someone's

0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.080
<v Speaker 2>dignity and self determination and self worth and love and

0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.760
<v Speaker 2>heart is being torn away from them and they're being

0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:11.600
<v Speaker 2>denied their most basic rights, you should be infuriated, even

0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:14.080
<v Speaker 2>if it does not knock on your door.

0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.240
<v Speaker 1>I want to follow that up with the actual article

0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.600
<v Speaker 1>that we chose to base today's conversation on, but I

0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.040
<v Speaker 1>don't know how much it's going to add because I

0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:30.879
<v Speaker 1>think you said everything that we needed to hear. You

0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.199
<v Speaker 1>well said. This comes from the nation. The title is

0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.080
<v Speaker 1>Muslim women are having their hit jobs turn off by

0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:40.600
<v Speaker 1>police Oliver America. The influx of arrests of Muslim women

0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.280
<v Speaker 1>at pro Palestine protests highlights a critical flaw in the

0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.399
<v Speaker 1>criminal justice system. The hijob is an expression of a

0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.800
<v Speaker 1>Muslim woman's faith, symbolizing modesty, privacy, and agency over one's body,

0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.000
<v Speaker 1>and depriving a woman of that coverage can be humiliating

0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.200
<v Speaker 1>and traumatizing. That's one of the things I want everybody

0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.520
<v Speaker 1>listening to know. Some women have a clear First Amendment

0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.120
<v Speaker 1>right to keep their heads covered for religious purposes, including

0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.040
<v Speaker 1>in spaces where others might have to remove head coverings.

0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.919
<v Speaker 1>Reflecting this, the Bureau of Prisons allows for incarcerated Muslims

0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.520
<v Speaker 1>to keep their jobs on in federal prisons, and at

0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.640
<v Speaker 1>least seventeen states, including New York, specifically allow for religious

0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.760
<v Speaker 1>headcoverings to be worn throughout a prison. Yet there are

0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.879
<v Speaker 1>no federal laws that explicitly protect a woman's right to

0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.680
<v Speaker 1>keep on her job while being arrested in police custody

0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.040
<v Speaker 1>or in a temporary holding facility, either for a mugshot

0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.200
<v Speaker 1>or otherwise. The difficulty that Muslim women have experienced is

0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.919
<v Speaker 1>also reflective in the general vitual that Muslim women have

0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:43.200
<v Speaker 1>been facing in activism spaces. Even even before pro Palestine

0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.040
<v Speaker 1>solidarity encampment spread across American universities, many Muslim activists had

0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:53.600
<v Speaker 1>already been experiencing violations of their religious liberties. I'm going

0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:55.680
<v Speaker 1>to share this story because it's really important, and I

0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.000
<v Speaker 1>think it helps paint the picture and gives you some

0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.639
<v Speaker 1>human insight and to what this is like and for

0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:03.680
<v Speaker 1>those that are not Muslim, for those that don't have

0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:13.240
<v Speaker 1>these cultural elements that are so dear to you. Suffice

0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:19.080
<v Speaker 1>it to say that the belief in this is worth

0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.080
<v Speaker 1>dying for, and people have died for it. So it's

0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.760
<v Speaker 1>perhaps among the most significant of beliefs that a human

0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.199
<v Speaker 1>being can have. It's that important. I don't care how

0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.159
<v Speaker 1>much hatred you have. A human being deserves dignity. I

0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.600
<v Speaker 1>guess hatred and dignity, and how much you don't like somebody,

0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.320
<v Speaker 1>a human being deserves dignity, So I'll share. Jannan, a

0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.040
<v Speaker 1>twenty seven year old engineer from Maryland who requested to

0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.720
<v Speaker 1>keep her last name anonymous, was arrested in March while

0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.480
<v Speaker 1>protesting in front of the Israeli Nbascy in Washington, DC.

0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.520
<v Speaker 1>While in custody, Janan said she was ordered to take

0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.439
<v Speaker 1>off her job for a mugshot. Confused and uncomfortable, she

0:19:54.560 --> 0:20:00.280
<v Speaker 1>asked countless questions like who would be seeing the photos?

0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.160
<v Speaker 1>I don't even need to go on who asked that question?

0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.639
<v Speaker 1>Think about it? Who would ask a question like that?

0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.920
<v Speaker 1>Who's going to see these photos? Say for a person

0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.040
<v Speaker 1>where it's that important to them that their hair is covered.

0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:23.480
<v Speaker 1>Other questions do people normally resist here? In other words,

0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:25.600
<v Speaker 1>I'm not resisting. You have me, I'm in your custody.

0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.240
<v Speaker 1>I don't need to deny my God in this moment.

0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.240
<v Speaker 1>But Jannan eventually complied and took off her head covering

0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.760
<v Speaker 1>fearful that her resistance in the jail would impact the

0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:43.040
<v Speaker 1>outcome of her charges. Quote. I felt awful. I felt violated, confused, stunned, naked.

0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.800
<v Speaker 1>I felt the most important thing to me was taken away.

0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:50.399
<v Speaker 1>I'm worried about other women. There needs to be a

0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.040
<v Speaker 1>system in place if a Hijabi woman or if a

0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:59.199
<v Speaker 1>Muslim gets arrested, where do they pray? And again, for

0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.320
<v Speaker 1>those aren't who are intimately familiar with this faith, this

0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.480
<v Speaker 1>next question, this is a mouthful yeah, yes, yes, And

0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.560
<v Speaker 1>that's why I put it there. So you put these

0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:14.640
<v Speaker 1>women at an intersection of do you comply with God

0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.560
<v Speaker 1>or do you comply with the police? And if you don't,

0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:21.840
<v Speaker 1>if you don't know anything about the Muslim faith, you

0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:25.760
<v Speaker 1>do know something about faith in general. And there are people,

0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:31.080
<v Speaker 1>countless people, millions, maybe billions of people who have chosen

0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:36.879
<v Speaker 1>God throughout the existence of human beings over whatever else.

0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.199
<v Speaker 1>Faith is that strong belief in a better tomorrow for

0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.600
<v Speaker 1>yourself and your posterity. Is that strong A higher power,

0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.840
<v Speaker 1>a purpose is that strong. It's that powerful of a motivator.

0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:51.760
<v Speaker 1>Once upon a time, we had a Muslim man coming

0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.479
<v Speaker 1>here just to tag onto that where do they pray thing?

0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.080
<v Speaker 1>He came and prayed in our studio. He did his

0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:01.800
<v Speaker 1>episode with his name Resistance is Beautiful. Please look him

0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.639
<v Speaker 1>up on social media. Is a real one. Love that guy.

0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:06.960
<v Speaker 1>He had to take a moment to pray. For those

0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.480
<v Speaker 1>who don't know, Muslim people will pray five times a day.

0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.280
<v Speaker 1>And this studio never felt more blessed than that moment.

0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:19.160
<v Speaker 1>And we're not overly you know, religious folks here, that's

0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.960
<v Speaker 1>not what we are. But there's something very special and

0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:26.520
<v Speaker 1>very sacred about a person following their faith. And here

0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:28.480
<v Speaker 1>on this show, we wanted to bring your attention to

0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:30.199
<v Speaker 1>the fact that this is a thing that's happening to

0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:35.119
<v Speaker 1>our Muslim sisters, that they deserve your protection, they deserve

0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.880
<v Speaker 1>your voice, they deserve your support. And when and if

0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.800
<v Speaker 1>legislation makes its way to protect Hijabi women in the

0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.720
<v Speaker 1>same way that the Crown Act was passed and so

0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.120
<v Speaker 1>forth and so on, we need to show up for them,

0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.640
<v Speaker 1>because they deserve that, and anyone who chooses to exercise

0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:58.159
<v Speaker 1>their religious freedoms however they however, it's consistent with their faith,

0:22:58.320 --> 0:22:59.960
<v Speaker 1>so food for thought, bearing in mind,