WEBVTT - Solvable: Stereotypical Refugee Narratives 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:24.956 Bushkin, This is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg. I remember trying 0:00:24.996 --> 0:00:27.916 to compare everything I was experiencing too American movies I 0:00:27.956 --> 0:00:30.756 had seen, like, Okay, where's Bruce Wellis? I can't find him? 0:00:30.796 --> 0:00:33.596 Where all these people you know who fall? South Dakota 0:00:33.716 --> 0:00:38.276 is very different from Syria. Ahmed Botter became a refugee 0:00:38.316 --> 0:00:42.396 as a young kid. Like him, around the world, seven 0:00:42.476 --> 0:00:47.756 point one million school aged children are refugees. Although Bater 0:00:47.836 --> 0:00:52.956 witnessed serious destruction and devastation, he doesn't define himself by 0:00:52.996 --> 0:00:56.436 his displacement alone. Well. First, I think you have to 0:00:56.476 --> 0:00:59.076 realize that you have a story to tell, and then 0:00:59.116 --> 0:01:01.716 you have to realize how you can tell that story. 0:01:02.196 --> 0:01:04.996 His Boter entered high school, he started to explore his 0:01:05.116 --> 0:01:08.196 identity more and more. I started to kind of grapple 0:01:08.596 --> 0:01:12.316 with what it meant to be an Iraqi American Muslim refugee. 0:01:12.596 --> 0:01:15.356 It was just a beginning. Yes, he realized he was 0:01:15.396 --> 0:01:18.916 a refugee, and yes he was displaced, but he was 0:01:19.036 --> 0:01:22.676 also a poet and later a college graduate. He began 0:01:22.716 --> 0:01:24.876 to carve od a space where all the parts of 0:01:24.876 --> 0:01:28.236 his identity could coexist. As a young person, publishing is 0:01:28.316 --> 0:01:31.356 this thing that's so exclusive and this thing that's only 0:01:31.396 --> 0:01:33.516 the few of us get access to, and I thought, okay, 0:01:33.516 --> 0:01:37.116 Well designed the website and then started by just me 0:01:37.196 --> 0:01:40.876 begging my classmates to submit. Botter's website expanded and then 0:01:40.916 --> 0:01:46.476 it evolved into a platform called Narratio Today. Narratio published 0:01:46.516 --> 0:01:50.436 his work from eighteen different countries and both partnerships with 0:01:50.556 --> 0:01:54.676 the UN and the MET that created spaces for displaced 0:01:54.716 --> 0:01:57.996 young people to feel that they can transcend the tragedy 0:01:58.076 --> 0:02:02.156 that may have initially caused their displacement. A generation of 0:02:02.156 --> 0:02:06.796 people transcending the stereotypes put upon them. Botter has compiled 0:02:06.836 --> 0:02:10.036 their stories and poems into a new book. It's called 0:02:10.276 --> 0:02:14.596 While the Earth Sleeps. We Travel in moving from Baghdad 0:02:14.636 --> 0:02:18.716 to Syria, to South Dakota and later Houston, Texas, Botter 0:02:18.796 --> 0:02:21.996 realized his story was weady, but that didn't mean it 0:02:22.076 --> 0:02:25.476 had to weigh him down. We're faced with a negativity loop. 0:02:25.516 --> 0:02:30.316 When we hear the word refugee, we immediately think of pain, 0:02:30.476 --> 0:02:34.756 We immediately think of tragedy. But by creating spaces where 0:02:34.796 --> 0:02:40.196 refugees themselves can go from passive victims to individuals who 0:02:40.236 --> 0:02:44.636 have full control of their stories. This is solvable. My 0:02:44.716 --> 0:02:48.116 co host Ann Apple Bomb spoke with Botter about his platform, 0:02:48.236 --> 0:02:51.076 the radio, and how he's helping young people around the 0:02:51.076 --> 0:02:54.476 world see their own potential and put it into words. 0:03:02.436 --> 0:03:04.676 So this palm as in the middle of the book, 0:03:05.516 --> 0:03:08.996 and it's called Our Earth and Yours. I wrote this 0:03:09.316 --> 0:03:14.436 a couple of years ago, Our Earth and Yours. Some 0:03:14.516 --> 0:03:19.556 boats ask the sea's permission before sailing. Others have no 0:03:19.636 --> 0:03:25.436 choice but to introduce themselves hurriedly, forcefully, holding bodies that 0:03:25.516 --> 0:03:29.996 tell stories in dark rooms, over rusty space heaters and 0:03:30.116 --> 0:03:34.316 pristine rugs. They say that a country lives inside a body, 0:03:34.436 --> 0:03:37.876 but it will always die outside of it. What is 0:03:37.916 --> 0:03:41.956 a border but a stubborn scar, a past pain that 0:03:42.036 --> 0:03:46.036 no longer persists, but a reminder that you will never 0:03:46.076 --> 0:03:50.636 return to your previous form. Permanence is an illusion we 0:03:50.676 --> 0:03:54.756 are forbidden to taste. My name is Amat Bedder. I'm 0:03:54.756 --> 0:03:58.396 an Iraqi American writer, social entrepreneur and former refugee, and 0:03:58.876 --> 0:04:01.476 on July twenty fifth, two thousand and six, our home 0:04:01.516 --> 0:04:04.316 in Baghdad was bombed. I wasn't home, I was away 0:04:04.316 --> 0:04:07.716 with my grandparents, and I came home the next day 0:04:07.796 --> 0:04:12.676 and found out what happened. Luckily everyone survived. It was 0:04:12.996 --> 0:04:15.876 a dead missile. And then, you know, a week later 0:04:15.916 --> 0:04:18.636 we moved to Syria, which was taken in refugees at 0:04:18.676 --> 0:04:21.236 the time. This was before the war, to be clear. Yes, 0:04:21.356 --> 0:04:23.076 this was between two thousand and six and two thousand 0:04:23.116 --> 0:04:25.876 and eight. We were going back and forth between Syria 0:04:25.876 --> 0:04:28.516 and Iraq just to visit family. My parents were on 0:04:28.596 --> 0:04:31.956 paid leave, you know, they were civil engineers and baghadad 0:04:32.036 --> 0:04:35.316 for over twenty years. And then during one of those trips, 0:04:35.356 --> 0:04:38.716 we heard about this UN program that would we settle refugees, 0:04:39.436 --> 0:04:41.356 and my dad thought, we really don't have, you know, 0:04:41.396 --> 0:04:44.516 anything to lose, and he applied and we were very 0:04:44.556 --> 0:04:46.636 lucky to be among you know, just the one percent 0:04:46.716 --> 0:04:49.756 of all refugees that are resettled. And we landed in 0:04:49.796 --> 0:04:52.116 the US on May nineteen, two thousand and eight. So 0:04:52.156 --> 0:04:54.276 after two years in Syria, we left Iraq in two 0:04:54.276 --> 0:04:58.076 thousand and six and flew out from Damascus and to 0:04:58.116 --> 0:05:00.396 Budapest and then Budapeshi New York City, and then New 0:05:00.476 --> 0:05:03.836 York City to Chicago, and then Chicago finally to fall 0:05:03.876 --> 0:05:07.356 South Dakota. That must have been very jarring that transition 0:05:07.476 --> 0:05:10.036 from Iraq to Syria to sell to Koa. You know, 0:05:10.036 --> 0:05:12.556 it was exciting. Yeah, two thousand and eight, so it 0:05:12.676 --> 0:05:15.796 was just nine going on ten. And that age is 0:05:15.876 --> 0:05:18.596 so exciting because you're just a sponge. You just want 0:05:18.596 --> 0:05:21.276 to take everything in. And I remember trying to compare 0:05:21.356 --> 0:05:24.196 everything I was experiencing to American movies I had seen, 0:05:24.556 --> 0:05:26.316 you know, I had seen all these action movies with 0:05:26.316 --> 0:05:28.996 Bruce Willis and all of these kind of films that 0:05:29.076 --> 0:05:32.116 framed how I understood America to be. And all of 0:05:32.156 --> 0:05:34.276 a sudden, you know, we spent the night in New 0:05:34.356 --> 0:05:36.436 York City before flying out to Chicago, and I was 0:05:36.476 --> 0:05:38.476 just like, Okay, where's Bruce Willis. I can't find him 0:05:38.516 --> 0:05:41.356 where all these people? But it was exciting. It was exciting. 0:05:41.396 --> 0:05:43.796 Obviously it was a completely new place, you know, to 0:05:44.036 --> 0:05:47.316 fall South Dakota is very different from from Syria, and 0:05:47.316 --> 0:05:50.196 we were living there. But I was eager to kind 0:05:50.236 --> 0:05:52.916 of just dive in and meet people and get a 0:05:52.996 --> 0:05:56.076 chance to connect. My English wasn't really great at the time. 0:05:56.116 --> 0:05:58.716 I had taken some classes in Syria, so I had 0:05:58.756 --> 0:06:03.436 to adapt quickly. But you never felt any sense of displacement. Initially, 0:06:03.476 --> 0:06:06.476 I don't think I understood what displacement meant or my 0:06:06.516 --> 0:06:09.516 own relationship to it. But I thought, well, this is 0:06:09.556 --> 0:06:12.236 just a new place we're moving to. But I think 0:06:12.276 --> 0:06:14.396 as I got older, as I started high school, I 0:06:14.396 --> 0:06:17.036 started to kind of grapple with what it meant to, 0:06:17.236 --> 0:06:19.956 you know, be an Iraqi American Muslim refugee. I was like, 0:06:20.036 --> 0:06:23.116 we call this immigration, we call this, you know, moving 0:06:23.156 --> 0:06:26.716 from one place in another, We call this displacement. Did 0:06:26.756 --> 0:06:29.796 you feel at that time or do you think about 0:06:29.796 --> 0:06:32.876 this now that the either that a kind of a 0:06:32.996 --> 0:06:36.236 stereotype was being thrust upon you. You know, you are 0:06:36.276 --> 0:06:38.916 a Muslim refugee at a time when people are worried 0:06:38.916 --> 0:06:42.316 about Muslim refugees. Did you have to grapple with that? 0:06:42.516 --> 0:06:46.556 Did you disagree with being typecast that way? I think 0:06:46.556 --> 0:06:49.996 I didn't realize what I was up against in terms 0:06:49.996 --> 0:06:53.996 of those identities until I actually started to realize how 0:06:54.036 --> 0:06:56.676 I can claim them and how I can express them 0:06:56.676 --> 0:07:02.236 and maneuver and negotiate each of them and their intersections 0:07:02.316 --> 0:07:07.396 and their tensions. So, for you, telling stories was initially 0:07:07.516 --> 0:07:10.996 a way to solve this personal problem, this personal question 0:07:11.036 --> 0:07:14.316 of how you fit in exactly. It was a way 0:07:14.316 --> 0:07:17.396 of asking, Okay, well what is my personal story? And 0:07:17.436 --> 0:07:20.716 then how can I share it? And who will listen? 0:07:21.156 --> 0:07:24.076 And once I figured out that folks were interested in 0:07:24.156 --> 0:07:28.356 hearing it, then I quickly learned how I could begin 0:07:28.396 --> 0:07:30.876 to tell it. And then that's how the journey began. 0:07:31.716 --> 0:07:34.836 How did you get from that personal realization from the 0:07:34.916 --> 0:07:40.516 understanding that stories would help you to the founding of Naratio, 0:07:41.076 --> 0:07:44.356 which is designed to help other people sell their stories. 0:07:44.956 --> 0:07:48.156 The summer after my freshman year, I was invited to 0:07:48.236 --> 0:07:51.796 a conference in DC Journalism conference and for the conference, 0:07:51.836 --> 0:07:53.836 they said you have to make a website or a 0:07:53.876 --> 0:07:56.676 blog for your work. And this was the first time 0:07:56.716 --> 0:07:58.796 that I realized that me trying to figure out what 0:07:58.876 --> 0:08:01.116 it meant to be an Iraqi American list some refugee 0:08:01.836 --> 0:08:03.996 was actually of interest to other people who were either 0:08:04.036 --> 0:08:07.316 going through the same thing or we're just interested in 0:08:07.356 --> 0:08:10.516 what that exploration meant. And so from there I thought, Okay, 0:08:10.556 --> 0:08:13.956 well I want to explore this and I'm going to 0:08:14.036 --> 0:08:16.356 do that through my writing and through my poetry and 0:08:16.396 --> 0:08:20.196 through this kind of initial website and then that website 0:08:20.196 --> 0:08:23.276 that they had us create for that conference. All of 0:08:23.316 --> 0:08:25.396 a sudden, I had classed me into asking me about it, 0:08:25.516 --> 0:08:27.436 reading the work and saying, okay, well, I didn't know 0:08:27.516 --> 0:08:28.956 that this is what it meant to be an Iraqi 0:08:28.956 --> 0:08:31.716 American Muslim refugee, or I didn't know about you know, 0:08:31.796 --> 0:08:34.716 that specific aspect of those identities, And all of a 0:08:34.756 --> 0:08:36.676 sudden I thought, okay, well, this was good and this 0:08:36.756 --> 0:08:39.836 was empowering, but why not make it something that's available 0:08:39.876 --> 0:08:43.556 to other young people. And then in my junior year 0:08:43.836 --> 0:08:46.276 of high school, I decided, okay, well, let me start 0:08:46.276 --> 0:08:48.596 a website where I can invite other young people to 0:08:48.636 --> 0:08:51.516 publish their work, whether that's poems, whether that's stories, whether 0:08:51.556 --> 0:08:55.596 that's artwork or films, and I have a space that 0:08:55.716 --> 0:09:00.396 cultivates this force, this creative force of young people, and 0:09:00.436 --> 0:09:03.636 to make it publishing accessible to them. And then it 0:09:03.676 --> 0:09:06.236 grew to do to workshops and so the very first 0:09:06.396 --> 0:09:08.316 art a workshop I did here in Houston with a 0:09:08.356 --> 0:09:11.676 local resettlement agency, I met with an amazing group of 0:09:11.796 --> 0:09:15.596 recently arrived refuge youth and we talked about stories. We 0:09:15.676 --> 0:09:17.876 talked about our own stories the ways that we can 0:09:17.916 --> 0:09:22.676 share them. But ultimately that workshop was the first time 0:09:22.716 --> 0:09:24.996 I was able to go beyond my own story and 0:09:25.036 --> 0:09:27.516 think about the spaces that my own story can create 0:09:27.676 --> 0:09:31.076 for other stories to exist beside it and beyond it. 0:09:31.956 --> 0:09:34.796 Narratio kind of that came out of this realization that 0:09:34.796 --> 0:09:37.516 we need to make publishing accessible. And then now what's 0:09:37.516 --> 0:09:40.476 grown to include, you know, not only just the online publishing, 0:09:40.556 --> 0:09:42.956 but also a fellowship program that we have in partnership 0:09:42.956 --> 0:09:46.556 with the MET, you know, different partnerships with the un 0:09:46.676 --> 0:09:50.516 different collaborations, and now we published work from eighteen countries 0:09:50.556 --> 0:09:53.676 and you know the work. The work has grown and 0:09:53.756 --> 0:09:56.996 what is the problem that this site is designed to solve? 0:09:57.076 --> 0:09:59.116 How would you describe it? Is it the problem of 0:09:59.756 --> 0:10:02.916 people feeling displaced or there or there are other kinds 0:10:02.956 --> 0:10:05.996 of issues you're trying to get to. What it's really 0:10:06.036 --> 0:10:09.356 trying to do is allow for a space that allows 0:10:09.436 --> 0:10:13.356 displace young people to share the fullest extent of their 0:10:13.756 --> 0:10:17.476 experiences on their own terms. What oftentimes tends to happen 0:10:17.836 --> 0:10:20.836 when we think of stories of displacements or the stories 0:10:20.836 --> 0:10:23.436 of those that happened to be displaced, we think of war, 0:10:23.636 --> 0:10:27.156 we think of violence, we think of persecution, and that's 0:10:27.236 --> 0:10:30.196 definitely part of the story, but that's all we hear about. 0:10:30.516 --> 0:10:33.436 With Narratio, we wanted to create a platform and a 0:10:33.476 --> 0:10:37.596 series of initiatives that created spaces for displace young people 0:10:37.596 --> 0:10:40.916 to feel that they can transcend the tragedy that may 0:10:40.916 --> 0:10:44.956 have initially caused their displacement. And so for the fellowship specifically, 0:10:44.996 --> 0:10:47.396 the first year was focused on poetry, and so I 0:10:47.436 --> 0:10:50.276 spent some time in Syracuse. I met with the fellows 0:10:50.276 --> 0:10:53.596 for the month organize a series of workshops and partnership 0:10:53.636 --> 0:10:56.836 with the university there and the Ancient New East Gallery 0:10:56.876 --> 0:10:59.716 at the MAP And the co director for the program 0:10:59.756 --> 0:11:03.196 was a professor at Syracuse, professor by Snort Quists an amazing, 0:11:03.316 --> 0:11:07.236 amazing human And what we did was each fellow selected 0:11:07.276 --> 0:11:10.556 an object from the Ancient East Gallery and reimagine their 0:11:10.596 --> 0:11:13.756 labels as a poem, but taking to account their own 0:11:13.796 --> 0:11:16.996 personal stories, their own personal identities, and then they get 0:11:17.036 --> 0:11:19.796 to perform those poems at the Royal Assyrian Court in 0:11:19.876 --> 0:11:22.316 those galleries by the end of the summer, and that 0:11:22.356 --> 0:11:24.716 program has continued. They've been able to perform their work 0:11:25.236 --> 0:11:27.956 at the un They've had a photography exhibit in a 0:11:27.996 --> 0:11:32.436 performance at Christie's, in addition to local performances and exhibits 0:11:32.436 --> 0:11:36.156 in Syracuse. And so we're really trying to create a 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:39.996 collective of cultural producers that then can take control of 0:11:40.036 --> 0:11:44.236 their own stories and redefine the kind of the singular 0:11:44.316 --> 0:11:47.836 narrative that you know is dominant around displacement, which tends 0:11:47.836 --> 0:11:53.516 to focus on tragedy. Explain to me why the dominant 0:11:53.556 --> 0:11:57.916 tragedy narrative is a problem. How does it trouble people, 0:11:57.956 --> 0:12:02.276 how does it affect them? The dominant narrative that's limited 0:12:02.316 --> 0:12:07.676 by the tragedy really ends up creating this story of 0:12:07.836 --> 0:12:11.356 victimhood as a story that's limited by victimhood, and we 0:12:11.396 --> 0:12:13.316 have to be able to move beyond that. But we 0:12:13.356 --> 0:12:16.156 have to be able to move beyond it by asking 0:12:16.196 --> 0:12:18.476 those very individuals how they want to be able to 0:12:18.476 --> 0:12:22.036 share their stories. We can't just have an agenda and 0:12:22.076 --> 0:12:23.996 then say, oh, this is where your story fits in, 0:12:24.116 --> 0:12:26.636 or your story of tragedy fits in. We have to 0:12:26.676 --> 0:12:29.476 meet folks where they're at, ask them about the fullest 0:12:29.516 --> 0:12:31.876 extent of their experiences, and then ask them how they 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:34.796 want to be able to represent themselves. What's the risk 0:12:34.876 --> 0:12:38.636 for young people who don't have this kind of opportunity. Well, first, 0:12:38.676 --> 0:12:40.876 I think you have to realize that you have a 0:12:40.916 --> 0:12:43.836 story to tell, and then you have to realize how 0:12:43.836 --> 0:12:47.436 you can tell that story. What you're risking if that 0:12:47.556 --> 0:12:52.076 doesn't happen. Is again that narrative of tragedy being becoming 0:12:52.076 --> 0:12:56.156 the dominant one. And also there's so much personal development 0:12:56.236 --> 0:12:59.956 that happens once you realize that you have something to 0:12:59.956 --> 0:13:02.716 share with the world and that you are in control 0:13:02.756 --> 0:13:04.676 of what you want to share with the world. And 0:13:04.716 --> 0:13:07.956 also want to be clear that not everyone should be 0:13:07.996 --> 0:13:10.156 forced to tell their own story. That's another aspect of this. 0:13:10.156 --> 0:13:13.196 This is an invitation rather than a mandate, right, This 0:13:13.276 --> 0:13:16.036 is something that we try to kind of offer and 0:13:16.076 --> 0:13:18.636 then if it's something that's of interest, then you know, 0:13:18.676 --> 0:13:22.396 we work with those young people. But if again, this 0:13:22.476 --> 0:13:26.316 work and this mission is really aimed at providing these 0:13:26.356 --> 0:13:29.796 spaces and then opening up opportunities for those spaces and 0:13:29.836 --> 0:13:33.476 those individuals to grow on their own. And again, ownership 0:13:33.516 --> 0:13:37.236 and agency is at the heart of this work. Your 0:13:37.316 --> 0:13:40.356 new book, While the Earth Sleeps, We Travel is a 0:13:40.356 --> 0:13:43.956 collection of poetry and prose, is by you, some by 0:13:44.196 --> 0:13:47.436 fellow young refugees. Tell me about how you choose the 0:13:47.436 --> 0:13:50.156 pieces for the book and how you organized it. Yeah, So, 0:13:50.276 --> 0:13:54.036 beginning in twenty eighteen, I started traveling to Greece and 0:13:54.236 --> 0:13:57.836 Trinad and Tobago and across the US, but mainly in Syracuse, 0:13:58.396 --> 0:14:01.876 really doing the storytelling workshops and interviews with displace young 0:14:01.916 --> 0:14:05.276 people in camps, outside of camps, and really asking this 0:14:05.316 --> 0:14:08.796 fundamental question of how do you see yourself and how 0:14:08.836 --> 0:14:11.956 do you think the world sees you? And what's that 0:14:12.036 --> 0:14:14.836 relationship between those two questions and how would you define 0:14:14.876 --> 0:14:17.396 it through your own respective medium? Do you want to 0:14:17.396 --> 0:14:19.036 write a poem, do you want to share a photograph? 0:14:19.076 --> 0:14:21.396 Do you want to share a painting? Now, in terms 0:14:21.436 --> 0:14:24.316 of the process of how it came to be, you know, 0:14:24.356 --> 0:14:26.916 it was a year of the collection process and then 0:14:26.956 --> 0:14:29.716 about a year just trying to figure out the structure 0:14:29.756 --> 0:14:32.036 of it. You know, how do you fit a drawing 0:14:32.076 --> 0:14:35.276 by a six year old girl with you know, an 0:14:35.276 --> 0:14:39.036 interview and a series of photographs or paintings by a 0:14:39.116 --> 0:14:41.756 twenty three year old man, you know, from all different 0:14:41.756 --> 0:14:44.676 parts of the world. You know, there's a series of 0:14:44.716 --> 0:14:47.756 my own poems that are structured throughout as a mediating 0:14:47.796 --> 0:14:51.196 force between you know, all of the pieces represented, and 0:14:51.236 --> 0:14:54.316 so it's a really multimodal collection that's been the labor 0:14:54.316 --> 0:14:56.276 of love for the last couple of years, and I'm very, 0:14:56.356 --> 0:14:59.516 very excited to share with the world. Do you think 0:14:59.556 --> 0:15:02.156 that the effect both of your book and your work, 0:15:02.316 --> 0:15:06.916 and of of course, of narratio is likely to have 0:15:06.996 --> 0:15:09.876 an impact on the narrative itself. Want to change the 0:15:09.956 --> 0:15:14.916 way society speaks more broadly about refugees or is the 0:15:14.956 --> 0:15:18.556 point really to help the refugees themselves. I think we 0:15:18.596 --> 0:15:21.836 can do both. I think one amplifies the other. You know, 0:15:21.836 --> 0:15:25.236 the mission is to create this global collective of displaced 0:15:25.236 --> 0:15:27.916 young people that are trained to tell their own stories 0:15:27.956 --> 0:15:31.796 on their own terms, as stakeholders in their communities, as leaders, 0:15:32.516 --> 0:15:35.716 as cultural producers, and we hope that by doing that 0:15:35.756 --> 0:15:39.076 work then we can change the narrative. What do you 0:15:39.076 --> 0:15:42.476 think readers will gain both from the book and from 0:15:42.516 --> 0:15:45.996 the material that's produced onto radio. I hope that readers 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:49.036 realize that kind of this distance we assume when we 0:15:49.116 --> 0:15:52.596 hear that word refugee, the distance between our experiences and 0:15:52.676 --> 0:15:56.636 theirs is actually much less than we think it is. 0:15:56.996 --> 0:16:00.436 There are issues that folks who happen to be displaced 0:16:00.476 --> 0:16:03.556 to have experienced that anyone can relate to, regardless if 0:16:03.276 --> 0:16:06.996 they've experienced displacement or not whether it's my own parents 0:16:06.996 --> 0:16:09.996 struggling to find jobs even though they had master's degrees 0:16:10.036 --> 0:16:13.436 in civil engineering, or you know, me and my younger 0:16:13.476 --> 0:16:16.356 sister trying to figure out, you know, just being high 0:16:16.356 --> 0:16:20.036 school students and where we fit in and and our 0:16:20.076 --> 0:16:23.556 own identities and negotiating those identities. These are all struggles 0:16:23.596 --> 0:16:26.796 that are universal and we can all relate to in 0:16:26.836 --> 0:16:29.756 some way, shape or form. Critically, the book is not 0:16:29.956 --> 0:16:33.996 about displacement. It's just about the expression, the creative expression 0:16:34.036 --> 0:16:36.356 of young people who happen to be displaced. It's a 0:16:36.436 --> 0:16:39.356 key distinction that I hope is clear and that I hope, 0:16:39.556 --> 0:16:45.076 you know, folks would appreciate. What are three things that 0:16:45.356 --> 0:16:49.876 listeners could do themselves to support the livelihoods of displace people, 0:16:49.956 --> 0:16:53.916 to support the integration of refugees, maybe in their own communities. 0:16:54.356 --> 0:16:57.276 So first, I think, you know, think about the stories 0:16:57.436 --> 0:17:00.276 that you've heard about refugees, either you know, in the 0:17:00.276 --> 0:17:02.876 news or in your own community. Think about the experiences 0:17:02.876 --> 0:17:06.036 you've had with folks that you've met, and really critically 0:17:06.076 --> 0:17:10.636 examine how that presentation is happening. And then from there, 0:17:10.796 --> 0:17:14.276 reimagine what comes to mind when you hear that word refugee. 0:17:14.356 --> 0:17:16.476 You know, it doesn't have to be this thing that's 0:17:16.476 --> 0:17:18.636 always so far away. It could be a neighbor, it 0:17:18.676 --> 0:17:21.076 could be someone that your kid goes to school with, 0:17:21.276 --> 0:17:24.396 a coworker. And then lastly, I think just learning to 0:17:24.596 --> 0:17:27.436 lead with your own personal experience. If you meet someone 0:17:27.476 --> 0:17:30.716 that happens to be displaced, or if you're happened to 0:17:30.756 --> 0:17:33.436 be highlighting the experiences of someone that happens to be 0:17:33.476 --> 0:17:36.916 displaced for an event that you're holding, allowed that individual 0:17:36.956 --> 0:17:40.996 the space and the opportunity to speak beyond the tragedy 0:17:41.036 --> 0:17:44.316 that may have been part of their story. Those three 0:17:44.356 --> 0:17:47.236 things are really key as we think about displacement, the 0:17:47.316 --> 0:17:50.996 narratives around displacement, and we lead this mission to create 0:17:51.036 --> 0:17:54.596 a three dimensional approach to how we think about displacement, 0:17:54.636 --> 0:17:57.436 how we think about migration, and how we think about refugees. 0:17:59.876 --> 0:18:02.836 Ahmed Botter is the founder of New Radio. You can 0:18:02.876 --> 0:18:06.156 find more information about his new book, While the Earth Sleeps, 0:18:06.196 --> 0:18:11.876 We Travel At Earth Sleeps, We Travel dot Com. Remember 0:18:11.916 --> 0:18:15.316 to check out our show notes to learn more. Solvable 0:18:15.396 --> 0:18:18.356 is brought to you by Pushkin Industries. Our show is 0:18:18.396 --> 0:18:23.516 produced by Camille Baptista, Senior Producer, Jocelyn Frank. Catherine Girardo 0:18:23.676 --> 0:18:26.916 is our managing producer, and our executive producer is Mia Loebell. 0:18:27.516 --> 0:18:30.996 Special thanks go to Heather Fane, Eric Sandler, Carly Migliori 0:18:31.076 --> 0:18:33.676 and Kadija Holland. I'm Jacob Weisberg.