usually take it as an opportunity to
tell them that my name is an Asian word
rooted in our mayic Arabic Hebrew and
many of the other languages from the
cradle of civilization and even though
Microsoft insists on marking my name as
a typo I feel proud every time I tell
people that Selma means the peaceful
girl but my name is only the first word
in my ever-growing and ever-changing
scrapbook of identity it’s filled with
soccer fields my most recent play lists
rows upon rows of books and scribbles in
every open spaces poetry for as long as
I could remember I would take little
snippets of each person I met like
tearing out the edges of colorful photos
and fitting them into the story that I
call my life but now as a 13 year old
I’m realizing my story is not going to
be as easy to write as I had imagined it
all started on the bus ride home from
school when a young boy was standing
over one of the three Muslim students
calling him a son of Isis a towelhead a
terrorist and threatening to bring his
father’s gun the next day to shoot and
kill him
my wide eyes only showed a fraction of
my surprise and the realization that I
had a one in three chance of being that
kid I remember the surprised expressions
on my classmates faces when I told them
I was Muslim because apparently I don’t
act or look at the part for the first
time I realized some people expected me
to choose between being American and
being Muslim I went to the internet for
explanations and
came back full handed with images of
violence terrorism and many distorted
stories about my faith stories I knew to
be untrue
I learned that more than half of
Americans have an unfavorable view of
Muslims I decided to do an anon an
anonymous survey at my school and
unfortunately my classmates are no
exception to this statistic so it seems
a villain has emerged in my life story
it’s called Islamophobia the fear of
Muslims but I’m afraid I’m afraid of
hate and the potential it has to destroy
everything we have ever found worth
living for like love and each other but
out of fear came wisdom I learned
courage is not the absence of fear but
the acknowledgement that there are more
important things to do than be afraid
it’s the acknowledgment that what we
have to live for is important enough to
be courageous on flight back against
fear they call it Islamic obeah and what
I have for you is a middle schooler
solution see villains are useful in a
good story
authors invent villains not to win but
to challenge heroes to fight for what
they believe in so who decided I was the
villain a bunch of terrorists cheap
media the truth is I’m not the terrorist
in this story hate is and if we don’t
want to become victims of hate then we
have to become the authors of our own
life stories not passive observers or
bystanders now I’m not afraid I’m not
afraid because I’m not alone the more I
learn the more I realize how my story is
just one page and a much larger tale the
story of humanity is filled with
villains with different agendas but it’s
also filled with heroes real ones that
succeeded in becoming respected authors
of humanity’s timeline I’m talking about
civil rights activists
or a woman who fought for way they’d
deserved I’m talking about Nelson
Mandela Mahatma Gandhi Rosa Parks in
Muhammad Ali and from these individuals
I’ve learned that it’s our
responsibility to finish our chapter so
how are we going to let ours end I
believe that if anything this is an
opportunity for us to create another one
of history’s proudest moments Nelson
Mandela said no one is born hating
another person because of the color of
his skin or his background or his
religion people must learn to hate and
if they can learn to hate then they can
are we not teachers I don’t think we’re
teaching enough we are seekers seeking
to find a purpose for the headlines in
our names this is no longer a game a
story yes but we were made for progress
and nothing less my name is the risk
that never got passed translation and
Security checks and love love was the
doctor that came after the eulogy was
written and by love I don’t mean the
trodden trail along the bodies of
strangers I mean the blood that leaves
your fingertips when someone holds it
real tight because this love goes beyond
what blood defines this this is our
right I stretch my wings past the pages
of the textbook that teaches me the
foundation of my presence I will not
allow myself to be reduced into five
paragraphs that won’t hold this kind of
essence wipe away all remnants of
aggression we’ve learned our lesson
people tell me to look outside the box
but all I needs and all I need is a
mirror I refuse to search beyond myself
and what stands behind me
headlines want to find me in a world
where people cannot see beyond the Train
on my skin I am proud of my origin I’m
American I’m Muslim I am a doctrine of
constellations thought on my palms
because I stretched my hands through the
cracks of this broken sky when you look
at me you don’t see a terrorist but a
girl who’s probably too young for this
and when people tell me to go back to
where I came from I’ll take a deep
breath and leave the smell of my lungs
in the air and every breath sound will
give me will fill this nation with the
scent of my identity I make my own
entity everyone else covers their eyes
and runs and standing I’m moving in my
roots as well holds me back from running
over a cliff I can only hope my roots
are strong enough we need to build
bridges not walls uniting us proud
Americans
Oliver hurts me together when the beat
of our anthem calls terrorism has never
had a religion realize that each color
of our rainbow has held a gun some
people are just colorblind I realize
this is dramatically written thought
provoking stricken or maybe you’re half
listening but listen we are the reality
we just have to stop making it a show I
can see something through the cracks and
new paint that smother the graffiti
beneath it that’s it enough is enough
of hating for no reason these labels are
just labels so join me in this new era
we will make waves to wash away the
rubble of our mistakes so come together
and rise it do not be still did not
tremble in the wake of injustice
we will fight this ignite this my name
wasn’t given to be put simply on a
gravestone peace must have a legacy
so therefore the peaceful girl will rise
up and live on thank you
[Applause] [Music]