[Applause]
the first plane had hit and I watched in
silence I closed my eyes and I pray to
Allah please Allah make it be mistake
make it be accident
the second plane hit it is not accident
my family so worried because my brother
Kareem he live in New York nobody know
where he is
finally the phone rang I hope it was
cutting but no it is my children school
they tell me there is bomb threat they
tell me there is mob I don’t know this
word in English shoo mob when I arrived
at the school I understand the meaning
of the word mob there were crowds of men
and women they had no mercy in their
eyes they were swearing and screaming
USA USA go back to your country you
terrorists it was so ugly
I grabbed my children and I put them in
the car I was about to drive home when I
noticed my friend a mossad she is trying
to enter the mosque when this young man
he hit her it was in that moment that I
hear Mama’s voice you are Laila and for
the first time in my life I felt that
power that power that mama always tell
me I had I get out of the car lock the
door children and I walk towards the boy
I can hear my friend screaming Laila
don’t go near them Laila what are you
doing but I did not stop walking I
grabbed that boy his eyes they look like
wild animal is this solution is this
helping people in New York no don’t call
me terrorists I am NOT listen to me I
know you are angry I am angry to my
brother he live in New York and I don’t
know if he is alive or dead don’t spit
at me listen to me this is not Islam
murder is Haram it is forbidden it is
in Quran we create you different nations
and tribes so that you know each other
get to know me get to know my community
we are good people we want peace Islam
it means peace get to know me my name is
Leila get to know me
get to know me remove the veil from your
heart you see I wear bail on my head by
my heart my heart is not covered remove
the veil from your heart and you will
realize we are one people I pray to
Allah for that boy I pray to Allah to
my name is Rosina Malik and I’m a
chicago-based playwright and solo
performance artist and that was an
excerpt from my one-woman play unveiled
I discovered theater and playwriting in
high school and I loved the art of
telling a story there is a verse in the
Quran that says noon by the pen and what
they write and growing up the elders
from my community would explain the
verse by saying God is taking an oath
God is swearing by the pen and they
would say never underestimate the power
of the pen so as a storyteller I knew
that I had to do something because every
time I turned on the TV I would either
see violent extremists being the voice
of my faith or I would see TV shows and
movies where whenever there was any sort
of Muslim representation it wasn’t a
character it was a caricature it was the
same old terrorist villain plotting and
the women in their veils were weak and
oppressed and needed to be saved
or they were plotting with the men what
I never saw was normal people normal
citizens just trying to live their life
and when a community is never depicted
as normal it’s a form of dehumanization
that can ultimately lead to a hate crime
after 9/11 there were so many hate
crimes not just towards Muslims Arab
Christians were killed Sikhs Hindus it
impacted everyone and that’s when I
realized I needed to do something so I
picked up the pen and I wrote my
one-woman play unveiled and the moment I
did that simple act of picking up the
pen the world opened up to me and
amazing
people came into my life people like an
filmer at the 16th Street Theatre in
Chicago her mission is to tell
everyone’s story and when she saw me
perform unveiled she said that’s a story
we never see so she produced my show and
once I had picked up the pen I couldn’t
put it down
I wrote my second play yes Mina’s
necklace and then I wrote my third play
the mecha tells and my plays were being
produced all over the country my
one-woman show unveiled was being
invited to universities and synagogues
and mosques and churches all over the
country and I realized that I wasn’t
just challenging stereotypes I was
smashing them and I realized the power
of art we have to protect the arts I
have I’ve been touring my show all over
the country I’ve been in big cities I’ve
been in small towns and in both big
cities and small towns I’m seeing a lot
of theaters closed and they’re closing
because people are not showing up
they’re not buying tickets they’re not
donating and when we don’t support the
arts there’s a lot at stake some people
say education is the answer and that’s
true it is but it’s not enough we should
never forget that during the Holocaust
those showers or gas chambers were built
by very educated men and women education
has its place but it’s just not enough
we need the arts because the arts can
they can speak to your intellect but
they can also speak to your heart they
can touch your heart and that’s what
good storytelling can do it can move you
so we have to protect the arts
especially in these times where hate
speech is on the rise and whenever’s
hate speech is on the rise
you will see a rise in hate crime so
show up support the arts and never
forget the power of the pen thank you
[Applause] you
the first plane had hit and I watched in
silence I closed my eyes and I pray to
Allah please Allah make it be mistake
make it be accident
the second plane hit it is not accident
my family so worried because my brother
Kareem he live in New York nobody know
where he is
finally the phone rang I hope it was
cutting but no it is my children school
they tell me there is bomb threat they
tell me there is mob I don’t know this
word in English shoo mob when I arrived
at the school I understand the meaning
of the word mob there were crowds of men
and women they had no mercy in their
eyes they were swearing and screaming
USA USA go back to your country you
terrorists it was so ugly
I grabbed my children and I put them in
the car I was about to drive home when I
noticed my friend a mossad she is trying
to enter the mosque when this young man
he hit her it was in that moment that I
hear Mama’s voice you are Laila and for
the first time in my life I felt that
power that power that mama always tell
me I had I get out of the car lock the
door children and I walk towards the boy
I can hear my friend screaming Laila
don’t go near them Laila what are you
doing but I did not stop walking I
grabbed that boy his eyes they look like
wild animal is this solution is this
helping people in New York no don’t call
me terrorists I am NOT listen to me I
know you are angry I am angry to my
brother he live in New York and I don’t
know if he is alive or dead don’t spit
at me listen to me this is not Islam
murder is Haram it is forbidden it is
in Quran we create you different nations
and tribes so that you know each other
get to know me get to know my community
we are good people we want peace Islam
it means peace get to know me my name is
Leila get to know me
get to know me remove the veil from your
heart you see I wear bail on my head by
my heart my heart is not covered remove
the veil from your heart and you will
realize we are one people I pray to
Allah for that boy I pray to Allah to
my name is Rosina Malik and I’m a
chicago-based playwright and solo
performance artist and that was an
excerpt from my one-woman play unveiled
I discovered theater and playwriting in
high school and I loved the art of
telling a story there is a verse in the
Quran that says noon by the pen and what
they write and growing up the elders
from my community would explain the
verse by saying God is taking an oath
God is swearing by the pen and they
would say never underestimate the power
of the pen so as a storyteller I knew
that I had to do something because every
time I turned on the TV I would either
see violent extremists being the voice
of my faith or I would see TV shows and
movies where whenever there was any sort
of Muslim representation it wasn’t a
character it was a caricature it was the
same old terrorist villain plotting and
the women in their veils were weak and
oppressed and needed to be saved
or they were plotting with the men what
I never saw was normal people normal
citizens just trying to live their life
and when a community is never depicted
as normal it’s a form of dehumanization
that can ultimately lead to a hate crime
after 9/11 there were so many hate
crimes not just towards Muslims Arab
Christians were killed Sikhs Hindus it
impacted everyone and that’s when I
realized I needed to do something so I
picked up the pen and I wrote my
one-woman play unveiled and the moment I
did that simple act of picking up the
pen the world opened up to me and
amazing
people came into my life people like an
filmer at the 16th Street Theatre in
Chicago her mission is to tell
everyone’s story and when she saw me
perform unveiled she said that’s a story
we never see so she produced my show and
once I had picked up the pen I couldn’t
put it down
I wrote my second play yes Mina’s
necklace and then I wrote my third play
the mecha tells and my plays were being
produced all over the country my
one-woman show unveiled was being
invited to universities and synagogues
and mosques and churches all over the
country and I realized that I wasn’t
just challenging stereotypes I was
smashing them and I realized the power
of art we have to protect the arts I
have I’ve been touring my show all over
the country I’ve been in big cities I’ve
been in small towns and in both big
cities and small towns I’m seeing a lot
of theaters closed and they’re closing
because people are not showing up
they’re not buying tickets they’re not
donating and when we don’t support the
arts there’s a lot at stake some people
say education is the answer and that’s
true it is but it’s not enough we should
never forget that during the Holocaust
those showers or gas chambers were built
by very educated men and women education
has its place but it’s just not enough
we need the arts because the arts can
they can speak to your intellect but
they can also speak to your heart they
can touch your heart and that’s what
good storytelling can do it can move you
so we have to protect the arts
especially in these times where hate
speech is on the rise and whenever’s
hate speech is on the rise
you will see a rise in hate crime so
show up support the arts and never
forget the power of the pen thank you
[Applause] you
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