SUNY Geneseo is hosting the third annual Consortium on High Achievement and Success (CHAS) Women of Color Conference and I just presented The Muslims I Know there. What a wonderful idea for a conference and what a lively and sharp bunch of students attending it.
At one point in the film someone says: I’m worried about terrorism these days and most terrorists in the world are Muslim.” I’ve screened this documentary 100s of times and there’s never been much of a reaction to this line. Today the entire auditorium, filled with young people of color, burst into laughter. Wow, they got it. Of course they did. This kind of distortion/reversal of reality is something familiar to all people of color. It’s part of our lived-in experience.
A young woman told me she was Sikh. Her father wears a turban. She was three years old when 9/11 happened and she’s experienced bigotry and fear ever since. Even though she’s not a Muslim, the film spoke to her in a very intimate way. We discussed the overlap between Islamophobia and racism. Another young woman said she was Hindu. She asked me how to parse Western stereotypes about sexism in one’s culture along with the struggles one must initiate and carry on inside one’s own community. We discussed the overlap between feminism and imperialism. A student sitting in the front row, who watched the whole film intently, told me she wanted to be a filmmaker and we discussed the importance of telling our own stories, in our own words, so that we can empower ourselves and our communities.
Loved every minute of it. After the screening, I joined the students in the first row. Here is a picture.
