[Applause]
for some of you I may look different but
I’m your ordinary Muslim woman that you
see on the streets at a grocery store or
at the mall I’m a mother of four and
grandmother of two adorable grandkids I
shop at some of the same stores that you
all shop at Costco Target Trader Joe’s
I was a soccer mom a Girl Scouts mom a
Boy Scouts mom a PTA member some of the
stuff that a lot of moms get involved in
I’m very best I’m very honored do the
for the careers that my kids have chosen
and I’m very proud to be an Eagle Scout
mom if you look around the room you will
not find any two people who look the
same unless they’re identical twins
we all have differences we all have
challenges at school at work at home
with our parents with our siblings with
our friends but we work through those
differences with respect we don’t expect
people to change
when I started meet a Muslim were
conversations it was all about
getting to know your neighbors
I’m very blessed to be living in the
community that I live in today forty
years ago when I moved to the United
States from Pakistan I did not envision
that after living here for such a long
time I will be holding meet a Muslim
conversations to educate my community
about Who I am I thought they will know
by now
it didn’t happen I have been an active
member of my community for almost two
decades I do a lot of interfaith work
and every time that we do events it’s
like preaching to the choir it’s the
same faces the same people which is not
bad at all
preaching to the choir in fact is good
because it helps deepen the
understanding about the issue and it
gives you the tools to answer questions
or comments that are posed to you
in 2012 there was a shooting at a Sikh
Gurdwara in Wisconsin there were six
Sikh men that were killed there in my
community we held a huge vigil hundreds
of people were there when I went to the
vigil I started thinking that why do we
come together after the fact when
something happens we come together why
don’t we do something proactively but
since I had no plans no nothing concrete
in my mind nothing panned out
but after San Bernardino shootings that
happened in our own backyards I decided
it was time to take action
I put an announcement in my local
newspaper titled meet a Muslim and I
went to the coffee shop that I had
chosen to hold this event there were 20
people 30 minutes before the event
started and by the time the event ended
they were over hundred people it was
overwhelming I thought I just took my
laptop with me I thought somebody will
show up I’ll talk to them if nobody
comes out do my work and come back home
I didn’t realize that people were so
thirsty
to learn about Islam and Muslims it gave
me a jump start since then I have done
over 80 such events and the average
attendance at each event is close to 40
people the questions that I’m mostly
asked is like what is the difference
between Shia and Sunni why are women
oppressed in Islam why are people
getting radicalized today some of the
things that are in the news that people
hear all the time and that those are the
questions that they ask my own friends
don’t ask me questions because I think
they will offend me this gives them a
platform not only to them but to
everybody I wanted to provide a safe and
conducive environment where people could
come and ask questions without feeling
judged without feeling that they are
going to be there going to offend me I
wanted them to be able to ask any
question but at the same time I informed
them that I’m a layperson
I’m not an expert or any scholar in any
shape or form that I will try to answer
their question to the best of my ability
in the most sincere and honest rate that
I can there are a lot of misconceptions
misunderstandings and stereotyping done
for Muslims I want to tackle and answer
those those scenarios at one of my
events
an elderly man came and he told the
organizers he came before the event
started he told the organizers that he
will slash my throat if I offended him
and he also said that he was armed with
a knife but I heard that my jaw just
dropped I could not imagine a fellow
community member a fellow American would
say such an intense thing to me I had to
take a deep breath and move on with my
event add another such event a woman
came up to me after the event ended and
she said that I cannot talk anything in
dissent of my government and I asked her
why she said just you can’t I said I’m
as American as you are I think I have
the right and neither duty and the duty
to talk if things are being done in my
name by my government that are unjust
and unfair she goes no you can’t because
you’re wearing this she circled my face
telling me that I’m very heavy job that
I’m a Muslim woman that I don’t have the
same right as she does so this is the
time that we are living in
people are taking things in their
control they feel that it’s okay to say
or do things the way they please it’s
very scary because
most as Muslim I’m afraid of somebody
walking towards me on the street and
probably they’re afraid of me because of
all the stuff that they hear in the news
they don’t know what to expect and I
don’t know what to expect of them
meddlesome conversations are all about
getting to know your neighbor we want to
know who lives in our neighborhood we
want to come out of our comfort zone and
get to know them because people when
they see us on the streets all they know
that there are some countries of which
Muslims are banned from coming to the
United States they don’t remember the
countries or anything all they see is
this Muslim person is banned from coming
to this country and they’re bad people
can you imagine living in your home or
going to your school or anywhere and
people looking at you in person
listen I’m thinking maybe we learn about
a person but I don’t belong here I
should go away it’s a very disheartened
either there are enemies there in memory
evening dinner and we do the rent they
need their community members children
socialize and we get to know each other
so we have
that’s it
we buy something
didn’t I
but today I can guarantee you
Oh
yourself but that’s what we need to do
we need to be the best out of it we need
to make sure that you know
into the fire to carry on conversations
about the song
but we have to drive Wrangler barriers
so that
these individuals
like I said not really
smile smile is a weakness
the conversation mr. cha
initiating some of their bills
trying right away describe a
conversation because it’s a person
interaction that really makes a
difference
I started
it
our actions may be right
but we
in the passion because you need to
change
this
[Applause]
for some of you I may look different but
I’m your ordinary Muslim woman that you
see on the streets at a grocery store or
at the mall I’m a mother of four and
grandmother of two adorable grandkids I
shop at some of the same stores that you
all shop at Costco Target Trader Joe’s
I was a soccer mom a Girl Scouts mom a
Boy Scouts mom a PTA member some of the
stuff that a lot of moms get involved in
I’m very best I’m very honored do the
for the careers that my kids have chosen
and I’m very proud to be an Eagle Scout
mom if you look around the room you will
not find any two people who look the
same unless they’re identical twins
we all have differences we all have
challenges at school at work at home
with our parents with our siblings with
our friends but we work through those
differences with respect we don’t expect
people to change
when I started meet a Muslim were
conversations it was all about
getting to know your neighbors
I’m very blessed to be living in the
community that I live in today forty
years ago when I moved to the United
States from Pakistan I did not envision
that after living here for such a long
time I will be holding meet a Muslim
conversations to educate my community
about Who I am I thought they will know
by now
it didn’t happen I have been an active
member of my community for almost two
decades I do a lot of interfaith work
and every time that we do events it’s
like preaching to the choir it’s the
same faces the same people which is not
bad at all
preaching to the choir in fact is good
because it helps deepen the
understanding about the issue and it
gives you the tools to answer questions
or comments that are posed to you
in 2012 there was a shooting at a Sikh
Gurdwara in Wisconsin there were six
Sikh men that were killed there in my
community we held a huge vigil hundreds
of people were there when I went to the
vigil I started thinking that why do we
come together after the fact when
something happens we come together why
don’t we do something proactively but
since I had no plans no nothing concrete
in my mind nothing panned out
but after San Bernardino shootings that
happened in our own backyards I decided
it was time to take action
I put an announcement in my local
newspaper titled meet a Muslim and I
went to the coffee shop that I had
chosen to hold this event there were 20
people 30 minutes before the event
started and by the time the event ended
they were over hundred people it was
overwhelming I thought I just took my
laptop with me I thought somebody will
show up I’ll talk to them if nobody
comes out do my work and come back home
I didn’t realize that people were so
thirsty
to learn about Islam and Muslims it gave
me a jump start since then I have done
over 80 such events and the average
attendance at each event is close to 40
people the questions that I’m mostly
asked is like what is the difference
between Shia and Sunni why are women
oppressed in Islam why are people
getting radicalized today some of the
things that are in the news that people
hear all the time and that those are the
questions that they ask my own friends
don’t ask me questions because I think
they will offend me this gives them a
platform not only to them but to
everybody I wanted to provide a safe and
conducive environment where people could
come and ask questions without feeling
judged without feeling that they are
going to be there going to offend me I
wanted them to be able to ask any
question but at the same time I informed
them that I’m a layperson
I’m not an expert or any scholar in any
shape or form that I will try to answer
their question to the best of my ability
in the most sincere and honest rate that
I can there are a lot of misconceptions
misunderstandings and stereotyping done
for Muslims I want to tackle and answer
those those scenarios at one of my
events
an elderly man came and he told the
organizers he came before the event
started he told the organizers that he
will slash my throat if I offended him
and he also said that he was armed with
a knife but I heard that my jaw just
dropped I could not imagine a fellow
community member a fellow American would
say such an intense thing to me I had to
take a deep breath and move on with my
event add another such event a woman
came up to me after the event ended and
she said that I cannot talk anything in
dissent of my government and I asked her
why she said just you can’t I said I’m
as American as you are I think I have
the right and neither duty and the duty
to talk if things are being done in my
name by my government that are unjust
and unfair she goes no you can’t because
you’re wearing this she circled my face
telling me that I’m very heavy job that
I’m a Muslim woman that I don’t have the
same right as she does so this is the
time that we are living in
people are taking things in their
control they feel that it’s okay to say
or do things the way they please it’s
very scary because
most as Muslim I’m afraid of somebody
walking towards me on the street and
probably they’re afraid of me because of
all the stuff that they hear in the news
they don’t know what to expect and I
don’t know what to expect of them
meddlesome conversations are all about
getting to know your neighbor we want to
know who lives in our neighborhood we
want to come out of our comfort zone and
get to know them because people when
they see us on the streets all they know
that there are some countries of which
Muslims are banned from coming to the
United States they don’t remember the
countries or anything all they see is
this Muslim person is banned from coming
to this country and they’re bad people
can you imagine living in your home or
going to your school or anywhere and
people looking at you in person
listen I’m thinking maybe we learn about
a person but I don’t belong here I
should go away it’s a very disheartened
either there are enemies there in memory
evening dinner and we do the rent they
need their community members children
socialize and we get to know each other
so we have
that’s it
we buy something
didn’t I
but today I can guarantee you
Oh
yourself but that’s what we need to do
we need to be the best out of it we need
to make sure that you know
into the fire to carry on conversations
about the song
but we have to drive Wrangler barriers
so that
these individuals
like I said not really
smile smile is a weakness
the conversation mr. cha
initiating some of their bills
trying right away describe a
conversation because it’s a person
interaction that really makes a
difference
I started
it
our actions may be right
but we
in the passion because you need to
change
this
[Applause]
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