Category: media

April 5, 2019: Analyzing the White Supremacist Roots of Anti-Muslim Violence

this is such an excellent discussion about white supremacy and anti-muslim racism (starts at 6:30). so proud of Halima Aweis, Hibah Arshad and Navaira Aslam for understanding history, systems, and the deep connections b/w various forms of violence all around the globe. thank u Darien Lamen for producing such an informative news program, where there is an opportunity for uninterrupted, complex analysis. if u want to be in solidarity with the muslim community, pls listen here.

The Diversity Advantage on WXXI’s Connections

Part of the panel for “From Inclusion to Equity: The Diversity Advantage” will be on WXXI’s Connections tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 22nd at 12pm. This will be a preview of the community discussion happening at the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence on Jan 26th at 2pm. Pls tune in 🙂

That Clip of Queer Eye’s Tan France Schooling Hasan Minhaj on Clothes and Browness Nearly Killed Me

AYMANN ISMAIL: I was hooked right away, starting with the moment France pronounces Minhaj’s name correctly. That may not seem like much, but as a Muslim who has wasted way too much of his life teaching people how to pronounce my name (“It sounds like Matt Damon, except without the D”), there was already a giant smile on my face. Minhaj radiates joy, and then France radiates that same joy when Minhaj pronounces his name correctly. I was beaming watching more handsome versions of me quip about a life I recognize. Is this how most people feel when they watch TV? More here.

Mara Ahmed’s unwavering lens

Am so very moved by and thankful for E.C. Salibian’s attentive, honest, and profound writing about my work. Published in the first issue ever of the Rochester Beacon (a group of veteran journalists and others with deep ties to the Rochester community providing local news coverage and analysis), the article quotes/mentions so many people I love and am grateful for. This gives me more pleasure than anything. Thank you Nilofar Saleem, Saleem Murtaza, Aitezaz Ahmed, Gibran Ahmed, Mimi Ahmed, Muhammad Shafiq, Cat Ashworth, Rajesh Barnabas, Mariko Yamada, Joyce Edwards, Surbhi Dewan, Donna K. Khorsheed, and Tonya Noel ♥

Read article here.

Connections: Discussing satire, and the controversy surrounding the cartoon of Serena Williams

A discussion about #racism #sexism #cartoons and #satire in the context of the #USOpen final b/w #SerenaWilliams and #NaomiOsaka for #WXXINews with Amanda Chestnut, Dick Roberts and myself. More here.

You can stream A Thin Wall anywhere in the world

Happy independence from colonialism to all our South Asian fam and friends! In order to celebrate, we have made A Thin Wall available for streaming everywhere. You can watch it on Amazon Prime Movies and Videos in the USA and UK and on Vimeo in the rest of the world! Pls check it out today and share with friends 🙂

I Wanna Be Ready by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul.

Ailey has said that one of America’s richest treasures is the African-American cultural heritage —“sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” This enduring classic is a tribute to that tradition, born out of the choreographer’s “blood memories” of his childhood in rural Texas and the Baptist Church.

Today marks the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company’s 60th year. This is a video performance of “I Wanna Be Ready” from ‘Revelations’ performed by Matthew Rushing.

New technology is forcing us to confront the ethics of bringing people back from the dead

Rahnama’s augmented-eternity programs are still in development, but another researcher had developed a slightly different kind of working prototype. Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder of Russian AI start-up Luka, launched a program on their app last year that allows the public to engage with Roman Mazurenko, Kuyda’s best friend, who was killed in car accident in 2015. Kuyda’s aim was to use digital-afterlife technology to create a memorial in the form of a chatbot available to anyone interested in talking to Roman.

[…] Fans of the sci-fi show Black Mirror may recognize a similar situation as the premise of a 2013 episode titled “Be Right Back.” In this story, a widow uses a service to collect her dead partner’s digital footprint (texts, emails, photos, audio recordings) to reconstitute him first into a chatbot able to exchange text messages with her, and then ultimately into a realistic android. The narrative suggests that attempts to preserve our loved ones in a digital afterlife will result in painful repercussions. It also raises the question of whether a service able to turn a dead person into a chatbot would be venturing into an ethical gray area, interfering with our ability to process the reality of death. More here.