thank you so much
we’re gathered here today to talk about
taking flight and that’s a bit ironic
for me and to give you some context
about why that is
my name is yad and I’m an American
Muslim student from Princeton New Jersey
and I’m just interested in biting my
tongue you see the thing is for American
Muslims taking flight isn’t easy
metaphorically or physically I took a
flight to come here to go on a trip with
my friends and taking flight as a Muslim
can be in angst and anxious almost every
Muslim can tell you stories about being
profiled in airports but I’m not here to
talk about what it’s like to fly as a
Muslim there are hashtags for that I’m
here to talk about metaphorically what
taking flight means to Muslim
communities around the world and other
communities taking flight to me means
thriving and it isn’t easy always is an
American Muslim to thrive to have the
spaces to thrive because my question to
all of you is what do you need to thrive
our answers might vary but invariably
the one constant is that we all need
space to thrive an airplane can’t fly
unless it has the air to navigate and in
the same way we can’t thrive realize our
full potentials if we don’t have spaces
schools like this one but so many spaces
where we can realize our full potential
where we can I haven’t used an
opportunities to be our best selves and
that’s why I started an organization at
the end of my eighth grade year
rediff I we’re a collection of nearly
500 kids from around the world
advocating unapologetically for social
justice too many of us feel alone
unheard belittled marginalized and we
exist to advocate and to enfranchise
because we all deserve spaces to speak
about the truths that we’re grappling
with and feel and actualize our full
potential so that’s what I do and that’s
my contact
but when I think about taking flight I
think about how lucky I am to be in a
platform like this today I think about
the privileges my intersecting
privileges that have informed this
moment and I think about how many people
have been granted those same privileges
those same opportunities because taking
flight is hard for so many of us and
I’ve been so fortunate to be on stages
like that some people ask me what is it
like to the American Muslim today and I
tell them I characterized the experience
of American Muslim young people that’s
constantly being on the defense and what
I mean by that is similar to the
characters on my jumper today football
players soccer players I’m from America
I apologize in soccer if you’re on
defense all the time how can you score
and when it’s liked the American Muslim
today is to be constantly thwarting
attacks against our humanity against our
integrity against our quality you
constantly feel invalidated and our
faith and our identity that’s what I
would characterize our experience as and
how can we score and I’m not here to say
we’re not scoring we are we are thriving
there American Muslims all around the
world who are thriving in every way
possible but we have to wait for that
little in-between moment that breakaway
we should have an open field to score
but that isn’t happening
we’re being limited bombarded and I’m
also not here to say that the American
Muslim community is the first to
experience this or the community
experiencing this to the most extreme
extent I am here to say that it is
pronounced particularly right now for
the most communities all around the
world but I’m also here to say the black
communities LGBT folk so many
marginalized peoples are constantly
being too mean are constantly being told
that they don’t matter that they’re
lesser and I’m here to say that we need
to empower those people and it’s not
just minorities young people how many
times have you been told that we need to
thrive and succeed later that things are
for later I’m here to say there for now
it’s as if people are telling us don’t
score in the first
laughs that’s ludicrous the first half
is crucial we need to be scoring and
contributing positively to society we
have contributions that we need to be
making we can’t be inhibited
I refuse to be inhibited so that’s why I
advocate the way that I do and what my
idea worth spreading is what I want to
impart upon all of you today is that so
many people feel like they’re constantly
on the defense right whether it’s women
black communities Muslim communities but
we all deserve to score
we all deserve to have the opportunity
to be able to take flight and soar and
it doesn’t matter what analogy we’re
using because whether we’re on a field
or we’re on a plane we are experiencing
turbulence and I’m not here to say that
we’ll ever eradicate turbulence there
will always be hard times but who you
love how you pray the color of your skin
should not free determine how much
turbulence you will experience our
hardships will come inevitably but it
should not be that because of the way
that I was born I will inevitably
experience certain hardships and that’s
important for us to swallow and
recognize and challenge because if we’re
interested in the future and the goals
of our progress of our society we need
to be pushing people to score so what I
want to say to all of you today is
something that I tell anyone when they
ask me for advice and a lot of people
ask me as a youth activist as a youth
entrepreneur what do you want to tell
other young see what do you want tell
other people and what I say is run and
while using a lot of sports analogies
I’m not quite good at athletics oh I
don’t mean physical running I mean we
all have something that ignites the
passion in our stomach that makes your
eyes light up we all have that thing do
it run with it now find that breakaway
past the other players create that space
and soar that’s your right that’s your
duty we need to be running with these
ideas with our passions until we can
feel the wind against our hair
and we look back for two reasons to see
how far we’ve come and to see who we’ve
left behind and that’s the step that
we’re all too often missing because a
lot of us are thriving but how many of
us are taking the time to realize okay
I’m here I’m on this platform who isn’t
here who isn’t in this room and what can
I do to get them to this to this point
so we need to find those people we need
to look back and see who did we leave
behind and carry them on our backs
forward that’s what this moment demands
as an American Muslim right now if I
tweet about today right now and I get
more than 10 retweets the trolls will
come out and attack me because my name
sounds Muslim to them because my name
means fear to them because where I come
from is foreign to them and they hate me
based on that alone that’s my reality
and for so many of us there are moments
where we feel invalidated and fearful of
who we are and how we identify and we
shouldn’t and my page to you today let’s
pass to one another let’s create these
spaces where we can feel full where we
can be ourselves where we can join on
the same team instead of being pitted
against one another because we can all
play in different styles we can have our
own Flair’s we can have our own
different moves we can pass one another
we can be one hell of a beautiful team
and I reckon we can score one hell of a
spectacular goal together what so many
millions of spectacular goals together
cohesive collaborations and
contributions to society that make this
world a more full and beautiful place
that’s what this moment demands let’s
pass to one another let’s pass the mic
buttsfast the ball let’s take flight
together let’s score together I don’t
care what the analogy or metaphor is
let’s do it together let’s recognize our
differences and do something positive
with them who’s with me
I’m with you I’m with you thank you
how old are you I’m 18 years old see if
I’ve been like you 18 I think I’ll be
running the planet by now I don’t know
about that but I love is that you’ve
come to this decision so early that
you’ve can’t you’ve obviously spent time
thinking about it and and I love that
you’re so in touch with the reality of
what it is to be an American Muslim and
and as you say be in defense yeah and
and always interested cause listening to
you you know you sort of talked about
there are people that aren’t here people
are in the room and but you’re coming
from a position of being one of those
people yeah so you’ve made a real
transition to saying yes I’m
marginalized and yes I want to be there
to support others yeah I mean the thing
about it is there are all things that we
experience privilege from and there are
all things that we experience
discrimination for right and I’ve been
very fortunate to have a lot of
religious in my life the fact that I’m
in this room right now that I could
travel from the u.s. to the UK that I
could experience the safety has informed
my perspective right so while I might be
marginalized in one regard I’m not here
to say I’m exclusively a victim
I’m also complicit in so much
marginalization of other communities and
and I have to be able to challenge that
and see yes okay so maybe in some way
I’m marginalized in a way that we all
are but who else is being marginalized
more right how can I say right that I’m
experience suffering when the Syrian
refugees 22 million people are displaced
yes
I’m suffering in some regards but I’m
more interested in talking about
collective suffering the people after me
our ability for each and every person to
realize their full potential and I think
that that is a human want and something
that we’re all passionate we all want to
feel safe and loved and accepted and we
all care about that it’s just a matter
of finding the space to do that and I’ve
been fortunate to have the flip there’s
the final spaces and create an
organization how the resources and
community to do so and it’s just a
matter of us working together to create
those spaces for all of us oh I just
love that thank you I love that you can
you know you can see where you have
capacity and you can turn other people
when I live when I look at you when I
look at you
you know I think I think swag and swag
stands for seriously wild audacious
goals I love that that’s what I love
standing back there working out my
acronyms and I really think because you
know this kind of idea of saying what
can we do what can we do what can you do
we talked before about one person making
a difference what you’re encouraging is
all to do is to look at ourselves and
say so what do we have
yeah we have all this but what would it
look like if we did this what would it
look like if we could talk we did
together absolutely as a community so
please give it up for this amazing chat
thank you thank you so much
[Applause]
we’re gathered here today to talk about
taking flight and that’s a bit ironic
for me and to give you some context
about why that is
my name is yad and I’m an American
Muslim student from Princeton New Jersey
and I’m just interested in biting my
tongue you see the thing is for American
Muslims taking flight isn’t easy
metaphorically or physically I took a
flight to come here to go on a trip with
my friends and taking flight as a Muslim
can be in angst and anxious almost every
Muslim can tell you stories about being
profiled in airports but I’m not here to
talk about what it’s like to fly as a
Muslim there are hashtags for that I’m
here to talk about metaphorically what
taking flight means to Muslim
communities around the world and other
communities taking flight to me means
thriving and it isn’t easy always is an
American Muslim to thrive to have the
spaces to thrive because my question to
all of you is what do you need to thrive
our answers might vary but invariably
the one constant is that we all need
space to thrive an airplane can’t fly
unless it has the air to navigate and in
the same way we can’t thrive realize our
full potentials if we don’t have spaces
schools like this one but so many spaces
where we can realize our full potential
where we can I haven’t used an
opportunities to be our best selves and
that’s why I started an organization at
the end of my eighth grade year
rediff I we’re a collection of nearly
500 kids from around the world
advocating unapologetically for social
justice too many of us feel alone
unheard belittled marginalized and we
exist to advocate and to enfranchise
because we all deserve spaces to speak
about the truths that we’re grappling
with and feel and actualize our full
potential so that’s what I do and that’s
my contact
but when I think about taking flight I
think about how lucky I am to be in a
platform like this today I think about
the privileges my intersecting
privileges that have informed this
moment and I think about how many people
have been granted those same privileges
those same opportunities because taking
flight is hard for so many of us and
I’ve been so fortunate to be on stages
like that some people ask me what is it
like to the American Muslim today and I
tell them I characterized the experience
of American Muslim young people that’s
constantly being on the defense and what
I mean by that is similar to the
characters on my jumper today football
players soccer players I’m from America
I apologize in soccer if you’re on
defense all the time how can you score
and when it’s liked the American Muslim
today is to be constantly thwarting
attacks against our humanity against our
integrity against our quality you
constantly feel invalidated and our
faith and our identity that’s what I
would characterize our experience as and
how can we score and I’m not here to say
we’re not scoring we are we are thriving
there American Muslims all around the
world who are thriving in every way
possible but we have to wait for that
little in-between moment that breakaway
we should have an open field to score
but that isn’t happening
we’re being limited bombarded and I’m
also not here to say that the American
Muslim community is the first to
experience this or the community
experiencing this to the most extreme
extent I am here to say that it is
pronounced particularly right now for
the most communities all around the
world but I’m also here to say the black
communities LGBT folk so many
marginalized peoples are constantly
being too mean are constantly being told
that they don’t matter that they’re
lesser and I’m here to say that we need
to empower those people and it’s not
just minorities young people how many
times have you been told that we need to
thrive and succeed later that things are
for later I’m here to say there for now
it’s as if people are telling us don’t
score in the first
laughs that’s ludicrous the first half
is crucial we need to be scoring and
contributing positively to society we
have contributions that we need to be
making we can’t be inhibited
I refuse to be inhibited so that’s why I
advocate the way that I do and what my
idea worth spreading is what I want to
impart upon all of you today is that so
many people feel like they’re constantly
on the defense right whether it’s women
black communities Muslim communities but
we all deserve to score
we all deserve to have the opportunity
to be able to take flight and soar and
it doesn’t matter what analogy we’re
using because whether we’re on a field
or we’re on a plane we are experiencing
turbulence and I’m not here to say that
we’ll ever eradicate turbulence there
will always be hard times but who you
love how you pray the color of your skin
should not free determine how much
turbulence you will experience our
hardships will come inevitably but it
should not be that because of the way
that I was born I will inevitably
experience certain hardships and that’s
important for us to swallow and
recognize and challenge because if we’re
interested in the future and the goals
of our progress of our society we need
to be pushing people to score so what I
want to say to all of you today is
something that I tell anyone when they
ask me for advice and a lot of people
ask me as a youth activist as a youth
entrepreneur what do you want to tell
other young see what do you want tell
other people and what I say is run and
while using a lot of sports analogies
I’m not quite good at athletics oh I
don’t mean physical running I mean we
all have something that ignites the
passion in our stomach that makes your
eyes light up we all have that thing do
it run with it now find that breakaway
past the other players create that space
and soar that’s your right that’s your
duty we need to be running with these
ideas with our passions until we can
feel the wind against our hair
and we look back for two reasons to see
how far we’ve come and to see who we’ve
left behind and that’s the step that
we’re all too often missing because a
lot of us are thriving but how many of
us are taking the time to realize okay
I’m here I’m on this platform who isn’t
here who isn’t in this room and what can
I do to get them to this to this point
so we need to find those people we need
to look back and see who did we leave
behind and carry them on our backs
forward that’s what this moment demands
as an American Muslim right now if I
tweet about today right now and I get
more than 10 retweets the trolls will
come out and attack me because my name
sounds Muslim to them because my name
means fear to them because where I come
from is foreign to them and they hate me
based on that alone that’s my reality
and for so many of us there are moments
where we feel invalidated and fearful of
who we are and how we identify and we
shouldn’t and my page to you today let’s
pass to one another let’s create these
spaces where we can feel full where we
can be ourselves where we can join on
the same team instead of being pitted
against one another because we can all
play in different styles we can have our
own Flair’s we can have our own
different moves we can pass one another
we can be one hell of a beautiful team
and I reckon we can score one hell of a
spectacular goal together what so many
millions of spectacular goals together
cohesive collaborations and
contributions to society that make this
world a more full and beautiful place
that’s what this moment demands let’s
pass to one another let’s pass the mic
buttsfast the ball let’s take flight
together let’s score together I don’t
care what the analogy or metaphor is
let’s do it together let’s recognize our
differences and do something positive
with them who’s with me
I’m with you I’m with you thank you
how old are you I’m 18 years old see if
I’ve been like you 18 I think I’ll be
running the planet by now I don’t know
about that but I love is that you’ve
come to this decision so early that
you’ve can’t you’ve obviously spent time
thinking about it and and I love that
you’re so in touch with the reality of
what it is to be an American Muslim and
and as you say be in defense yeah and
and always interested cause listening to
you you know you sort of talked about
there are people that aren’t here people
are in the room and but you’re coming
from a position of being one of those
people yeah so you’ve made a real
transition to saying yes I’m
marginalized and yes I want to be there
to support others yeah I mean the thing
about it is there are all things that we
experience privilege from and there are
all things that we experience
discrimination for right and I’ve been
very fortunate to have a lot of
religious in my life the fact that I’m
in this room right now that I could
travel from the u.s. to the UK that I
could experience the safety has informed
my perspective right so while I might be
marginalized in one regard I’m not here
to say I’m exclusively a victim
I’m also complicit in so much
marginalization of other communities and
and I have to be able to challenge that
and see yes okay so maybe in some way
I’m marginalized in a way that we all
are but who else is being marginalized
more right how can I say right that I’m
experience suffering when the Syrian
refugees 22 million people are displaced
yes
I’m suffering in some regards but I’m
more interested in talking about
collective suffering the people after me
our ability for each and every person to
realize their full potential and I think
that that is a human want and something
that we’re all passionate we all want to
feel safe and loved and accepted and we
all care about that it’s just a matter
of finding the space to do that and I’ve
been fortunate to have the flip there’s
the final spaces and create an
organization how the resources and
community to do so and it’s just a
matter of us working together to create
those spaces for all of us oh I just
love that thank you I love that you can
you know you can see where you have
capacity and you can turn other people
when I live when I look at you when I
look at you
you know I think I think swag and swag
stands for seriously wild audacious
goals I love that that’s what I love
standing back there working out my
acronyms and I really think because you
know this kind of idea of saying what
can we do what can we do what can you do
we talked before about one person making
a difference what you’re encouraging is
all to do is to look at ourselves and
say so what do we have
yeah we have all this but what would it
look like if we did this what would it
look like if we could talk we did
together absolutely as a community so
please give it up for this amazing chat
thank you thank you so much
[Applause]
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