Monday evening, May 2nd, there was a screening of The Muslims I Know at the Irondequoit Public Library. The screening was organized by Judith Bello, facilitated by George Payne, and sponsored by Gandhi Earth Keepers International, Metro Justice Peace Action and Education, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Rochester Chapter. Fifteen years after 9/11, and 8 years after the release of my film, I’ve become wary of doing post-screening Q&As. It’s mentally exhausting to answer the same basic questions about Islam and Muslims over and over again and it’s emotionally depleting to sense any kind of resistance to the film’s efforts to humanize people who are regularly stereotyped and discriminated against. But I was in for a surprise. All the questions that came my way were well-thought out and the answers I offered were used to further the discussion in deep and meaningful ways. We talked about American Empire and the War on Terror, about consumerism and capitalist greed and whether other ways of being were imminent, we talked about nationalism and industrialization, and about templates for co-existence. One young woman was particularly sharp and inquisitive. As we were trying to illustrate the long history of Muslims in America, she pointed out Thomas Jefferson’s Quran and how Islamic principles and ideas are probably inseparable from the founding of what we understand to be the American state. All in all, it was a wonderful evening that left me hopeful and energized. Thank you to the organizers and to all who attended on a Monday evening. [Photograph by George Payne]
