[Applause]
missile here and is Mohamed Mahmoud
Rajab Ahmed Abdul Majeed alas man when a
mahadji
Amriki – chocolate reality America but
at Fischer Herman I’m Alfred Samia
tammini are being bad metelkova to
soo-hyun eeeh
well didna Abner Philistine fiower
I’ll ensure dolet Israeli we can draw
dimension áwhat we can omaha ham
silhouette but no alley Paloma Ellingham
Rafa Allah
horrible ha dude an Austrian Rafa and
hakumen must rheostat
in Palestinian what he could suffer
Lalaji
in Palestinian Fiorelli City not a voice
a hot loafers a diamond cutter
uber otra cosa Rimmel Rachel Arfa
individuality with Nina Doha Qatar who
and she’ll hire other I know any you
know with Rob benefit of LED kata a buoy
can miss all maybe add totally RCR at me
cannot news eraser with mean home
Kahneman our element Sir Humphrey in
Charlotte Qatar like in Qatar
Kibaki is a dual Arabiya mapped in the
halogen see a hotter well Oh Quinton
wallet with drop date fill ballad had
Ayane in no Anna
LT mechanical Martin Cunha – ramat
Elka feel ooh visit Amal gonna be called
basalt Oh muck limine fidelity Tata and
that is why my parents emphasized the
importance of education in general and
learning the English language in
particular because education meant a way
out for us education
was simply a survival mechanism
this is mr. Sauvage Eber
he was my fifth grade English teacher in
Qatar in public education you learn
English in fifth grade and you continue
through high school we learn the basics
of the English language basic sentence
structure and basic grammar after
graduating high school in 1996 I joined
my brother who had in Cleveland Ohio who
had just finished his dental education
from Case Western Reserve University a
few months into that we received a
landed immigrant status in Canada so I
moved to London Ontario where after
three years I earned my bachelor’s in
biology and my Canadian citizenship
after living in Canada for those three
years and in 2000 I moved to the United
States in pursuit of my doctor of
pharmacy degree I received that or I
earned that in 2004 from Ferris State
University after which I decided I’d
like to explore the west coast and go
live you know in a bigger city so I
moved to my first job in Seattle
Washington area in Seattle is also where
I married my beautiful wife Heather who
a few months into our marriage looks at
me and says you know this Michigan girl
really misses the snow you know I really
miss the four seasons can we move
somewhere where we can see the sea and
experience the four seasons you know
Seattle lots of rain and predominantly
two seasons so I looked at her and I
said this desert boy really does not
miss the snow
and no we’re not going anywhere couple
of months later we moved to Bangor Maine
where I got my job as a hospital
pharmacist for a few years my wife
opened a women’s clothing and
accessories boutique and a couple years
after that I actually helped with the
establishment of a new School of
Pharmacy in Bangor Maine as a founding
director of experiential education a
little about six-and-a-half years ago we
moved to Fort Wayne Indiana and after
the birth of our second child to get
closer to our families that live in
Michigan so this is my story as an
immigrant to the United States so as you
can see in the infamous bowl of skittles
I would be a brown one
you know Arab Muslim from the Middle
East all the attributes that would land
me smack dab in the middle of the brown
category now of course my shade of brown
is not to be confused with South
American brown or North African brown or
India brown and of course here I’m
talking about India Indian not red
Indian and for the geographically astute
who picked up on the fact that you know
Palestine is in Asia the L&S of my Asian
origin does not supersede all my other
brownness categories now of course I’d
be remiss if I don’t mention all the
advancements our society has made in
racial terminology so as a Muslim
American Arab American I am a minority
further subcategorized into’ an
immigrant which is a label that is
firmly established after you hear that
slight accent that still pops up even
after 22 years of living in the Western
world but who is the person behind the
label I am the husband of a beautiful
nurse I am the father of three gorgeous
children with unlimited potential I am
the friend the colleague the neighbor of
countless beautiful souls yet the entire
national discourse around me and others
like me strips me down to a label a
label that can be easily in some
instances and a lot of instances
unfortunately manipulated by media and
politicians to serve as a simple easy
answer to complex questions a label that
can be blamed or is blamed as the
situation is currently – a lot of things
from lack of jobs – terrorist activities
a label that blinds you to the human
that lives behind it and to the dreams
aspirations and hopes that they carry
with it so our immigrants really all
that bad let’s look at some numbers new
American economy is a group of 500
Republican Democrat and independent
mayors that govern approximately 35
million people and have a combined
economy for approximately 1.5 trillion
dollars they work on immigration reform
for Americans and they report on
immigrants and immigration status or
immigration numbers throughout the
states so in Indiana and according to
new American economy we are home to over
320,000 Hoosiers that were born outside
of the United States those foreign-born
Hoosiers have businesses that employ
approximately 67 thousand other Hoosiers
those businesses generated about two
hundred and forty four million dollars
in 2014 in business income and they have
earned again in 2014
8.1 billion dollars of which 702 million
dollars went to state and local tax 1.6
billion went to federal taxes now you
may say ok I’m it but what we’re talking
about here is really undocumented
immigrants ok
let’s look at some numbers from again
new American economy they report that
there are approximately eleven point
four million who are who live in the
u.s. that fall in the category of
undocumented immigrants approximately
107
thousand of those live in Indiana and in
2012 and 2013 87 percent of undocumented
males in the country were employed not
quite the picture of leeches on society
that’s painted sometimes in 2014 they
generated 1.3 billion dollars in Indiana
alone 65 million went to state and local
tax and 84 million went to federal taxes
and the issue of undocumented immigrants
is not a new one it’s been around for at
least 30 years and in some sectors of
our economy agriculture in particular
they are estimated to account to about
50% of crop workers there are some
industries that we have here that are
built upon undocumented immigrants and I
really hate the fact that I’m having to
discuss this with you in terms of
economic contribution to our society
okay now I do understand that as the
report puts it the issue of undocumented
immigrants is problematic and it is
challenging again as the report puts it
there are many compelling factors that
this issue is is challenging and
problematic one is you know it
undermines the rule of law it creates
potentially creates a or creates a
shadow economy that’s harder to regulate
and simply it’s an unfair unfair to the
millions of immigrants that came here
legally
and yes I do agree that it is
problematic and challenging but I also
understand that no one leaves their home
without a compelling reason you don’t
leave the place where you were born and
raised and have family and friends
without a reason and without without any
compelling reason and those people that
carry this label of undocumented
immigrant carry with them a lot of hope
a lot of fear a lot of aspirations
and a simple deport them all is simply
not the answer so some might still argue
you know what amid you know labeling and
categorizing is just a human trait we
all do it after all science tells us
that you know we collect evidence from
our environment and we interpret that
data and deduce action without really
much conscious thought of all the steps
involved think of walking breathing or
even driving your car and that that’s
just an efficient way that we’ve evolved
to do to live in the environment that we
live in and you know for example when
you see a snake you automatically within
a split-second recognize it as a snake
and you either run to proceed to run
away or proceed to remove the snake and
protect yourself and your environment
you know without a lot of conscious
thought in all the steps that are
involved in this process but we as human
beings cannot simply be reactive to a
primal instinct in our dealings with one
another when we extend this kind of
behavior to each other we lose the main
distinguishing factor that makes us
human we lose our ability to think we
lose our ability to choose we lose our
ability to make conscious decisions when
we extend this kind of behavior to
others and especially to those who do
not look like us again we lose that main
distinguishing factor that makes us
human I do agree that we here in America
are facing an existential threat that
threat is our own biases fueled by
ignorance is our lack of understanding
of one another
it is our lack of appreciation of the
value of the life of the other it is
time it is time for all of us to take a
deeper look at ourselves it is time for
us to address the politics of
fear-mongering and hate it is time for
us to look beyond the convenience of a
label
it is time for us to look for the AI
behind the immigrant my name is Ahmed
Abdul Majeed and I am an immigrant thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
missile here and is Mohamed Mahmoud
Rajab Ahmed Abdul Majeed alas man when a
mahadji
Amriki – chocolate reality America but
at Fischer Herman I’m Alfred Samia
tammini are being bad metelkova to
soo-hyun eeeh
well didna Abner Philistine fiower
I’ll ensure dolet Israeli we can draw
dimension áwhat we can omaha ham
silhouette but no alley Paloma Ellingham
Rafa Allah
horrible ha dude an Austrian Rafa and
hakumen must rheostat
in Palestinian what he could suffer
Lalaji
in Palestinian Fiorelli City not a voice
a hot loafers a diamond cutter
uber otra cosa Rimmel Rachel Arfa
individuality with Nina Doha Qatar who
and she’ll hire other I know any you
know with Rob benefit of LED kata a buoy
can miss all maybe add totally RCR at me
cannot news eraser with mean home
Kahneman our element Sir Humphrey in
Charlotte Qatar like in Qatar
Kibaki is a dual Arabiya mapped in the
halogen see a hotter well Oh Quinton
wallet with drop date fill ballad had
Ayane in no Anna
LT mechanical Martin Cunha – ramat
Elka feel ooh visit Amal gonna be called
basalt Oh muck limine fidelity Tata and
that is why my parents emphasized the
importance of education in general and
learning the English language in
particular because education meant a way
out for us education
was simply a survival mechanism
this is mr. Sauvage Eber
he was my fifth grade English teacher in
Qatar in public education you learn
English in fifth grade and you continue
through high school we learn the basics
of the English language basic sentence
structure and basic grammar after
graduating high school in 1996 I joined
my brother who had in Cleveland Ohio who
had just finished his dental education
from Case Western Reserve University a
few months into that we received a
landed immigrant status in Canada so I
moved to London Ontario where after
three years I earned my bachelor’s in
biology and my Canadian citizenship
after living in Canada for those three
years and in 2000 I moved to the United
States in pursuit of my doctor of
pharmacy degree I received that or I
earned that in 2004 from Ferris State
University after which I decided I’d
like to explore the west coast and go
live you know in a bigger city so I
moved to my first job in Seattle
Washington area in Seattle is also where
I married my beautiful wife Heather who
a few months into our marriage looks at
me and says you know this Michigan girl
really misses the snow you know I really
miss the four seasons can we move
somewhere where we can see the sea and
experience the four seasons you know
Seattle lots of rain and predominantly
two seasons so I looked at her and I
said this desert boy really does not
miss the snow
and no we’re not going anywhere couple
of months later we moved to Bangor Maine
where I got my job as a hospital
pharmacist for a few years my wife
opened a women’s clothing and
accessories boutique and a couple years
after that I actually helped with the
establishment of a new School of
Pharmacy in Bangor Maine as a founding
director of experiential education a
little about six-and-a-half years ago we
moved to Fort Wayne Indiana and after
the birth of our second child to get
closer to our families that live in
Michigan so this is my story as an
immigrant to the United States so as you
can see in the infamous bowl of skittles
I would be a brown one
you know Arab Muslim from the Middle
East all the attributes that would land
me smack dab in the middle of the brown
category now of course my shade of brown
is not to be confused with South
American brown or North African brown or
India brown and of course here I’m
talking about India Indian not red
Indian and for the geographically astute
who picked up on the fact that you know
Palestine is in Asia the L&S of my Asian
origin does not supersede all my other
brownness categories now of course I’d
be remiss if I don’t mention all the
advancements our society has made in
racial terminology so as a Muslim
American Arab American I am a minority
further subcategorized into’ an
immigrant which is a label that is
firmly established after you hear that
slight accent that still pops up even
after 22 years of living in the Western
world but who is the person behind the
label I am the husband of a beautiful
nurse I am the father of three gorgeous
children with unlimited potential I am
the friend the colleague the neighbor of
countless beautiful souls yet the entire
national discourse around me and others
like me strips me down to a label a
label that can be easily in some
instances and a lot of instances
unfortunately manipulated by media and
politicians to serve as a simple easy
answer to complex questions a label that
can be blamed or is blamed as the
situation is currently – a lot of things
from lack of jobs – terrorist activities
a label that blinds you to the human
that lives behind it and to the dreams
aspirations and hopes that they carry
with it so our immigrants really all
that bad let’s look at some numbers new
American economy is a group of 500
Republican Democrat and independent
mayors that govern approximately 35
million people and have a combined
economy for approximately 1.5 trillion
dollars they work on immigration reform
for Americans and they report on
immigrants and immigration status or
immigration numbers throughout the
states so in Indiana and according to
new American economy we are home to over
320,000 Hoosiers that were born outside
of the United States those foreign-born
Hoosiers have businesses that employ
approximately 67 thousand other Hoosiers
those businesses generated about two
hundred and forty four million dollars
in 2014 in business income and they have
earned again in 2014
8.1 billion dollars of which 702 million
dollars went to state and local tax 1.6
billion went to federal taxes now you
may say ok I’m it but what we’re talking
about here is really undocumented
immigrants ok
let’s look at some numbers from again
new American economy they report that
there are approximately eleven point
four million who are who live in the
u.s. that fall in the category of
undocumented immigrants approximately
107
thousand of those live in Indiana and in
2012 and 2013 87 percent of undocumented
males in the country were employed not
quite the picture of leeches on society
that’s painted sometimes in 2014 they
generated 1.3 billion dollars in Indiana
alone 65 million went to state and local
tax and 84 million went to federal taxes
and the issue of undocumented immigrants
is not a new one it’s been around for at
least 30 years and in some sectors of
our economy agriculture in particular
they are estimated to account to about
50% of crop workers there are some
industries that we have here that are
built upon undocumented immigrants and I
really hate the fact that I’m having to
discuss this with you in terms of
economic contribution to our society
okay now I do understand that as the
report puts it the issue of undocumented
immigrants is problematic and it is
challenging again as the report puts it
there are many compelling factors that
this issue is is challenging and
problematic one is you know it
undermines the rule of law it creates
potentially creates a or creates a
shadow economy that’s harder to regulate
and simply it’s an unfair unfair to the
millions of immigrants that came here
legally
and yes I do agree that it is
problematic and challenging but I also
understand that no one leaves their home
without a compelling reason you don’t
leave the place where you were born and
raised and have family and friends
without a reason and without without any
compelling reason and those people that
carry this label of undocumented
immigrant carry with them a lot of hope
a lot of fear a lot of aspirations
and a simple deport them all is simply
not the answer so some might still argue
you know what amid you know labeling and
categorizing is just a human trait we
all do it after all science tells us
that you know we collect evidence from
our environment and we interpret that
data and deduce action without really
much conscious thought of all the steps
involved think of walking breathing or
even driving your car and that that’s
just an efficient way that we’ve evolved
to do to live in the environment that we
live in and you know for example when
you see a snake you automatically within
a split-second recognize it as a snake
and you either run to proceed to run
away or proceed to remove the snake and
protect yourself and your environment
you know without a lot of conscious
thought in all the steps that are
involved in this process but we as human
beings cannot simply be reactive to a
primal instinct in our dealings with one
another when we extend this kind of
behavior to each other we lose the main
distinguishing factor that makes us
human we lose our ability to think we
lose our ability to choose we lose our
ability to make conscious decisions when
we extend this kind of behavior to
others and especially to those who do
not look like us again we lose that main
distinguishing factor that makes us
human I do agree that we here in America
are facing an existential threat that
threat is our own biases fueled by
ignorance is our lack of understanding
of one another
it is our lack of appreciation of the
value of the life of the other it is
time it is time for all of us to take a
deeper look at ourselves it is time for
us to address the politics of
fear-mongering and hate it is time for
us to look beyond the convenience of a
label
it is time for us to look for the AI
behind the immigrant my name is Ahmed
Abdul Majeed and I am an immigrant thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
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