 Over 8,000 Palestinians have been murdered, killed in the arbitrary and endless bombardment of Reza. The only crime that the dead are guilty of is the fact that they were born Palestinian, in my opinion. The bombing continues as we speak, despite the United Nations voting to have a pause in the bombing so that humanitarian relief can be brought to the Palestinians. Unfortunately, about a couple of weeks ago, the United States used its veto power to go against any type of pause in the bombardment. I'm sure you all know that it's been told many times by now that it's the food, water, basic necessities of life, fuel to keep generators operating in hospitals and ambulances from running out of gas. It's prohibited from entering Gaza and what fuel that is left is minimal at best and probably days until it runs out completely, which will pose probably another catastrophic humanitarian crisis for those babies who might be in incubators for surgeries, for ambulances trying to go and rescue those who need rescuing. Something also that has not been reported in the news, but I probably should first tell you that I am Palestinian. I was born and raised here, but my family is from the West Bank. And so the news that I want to share is that apparently that there is actions that are being taken by the Israeli government now, where they are arbitrarily arresting people in mass in the West Bank. So the West Bank has also not been spared. And not only that, settler violence that is being perpetuated by the settlers and protected by the Israeli soldiers, programs as you will. They are going into villages now and it's being documented, setting anything ablaze, killing, maiming Palestinians, uprooting olive groves that have been passed down to generations for generation. So there is that going on, but of course it's radio silence as far as what is happening. So growing up as a Palestinian, what I see happening now, it's nothing new. The only thing new about it is the scale that's being conducted on. But for the past 75 years, this is the reality that has visited the Palestinians day after day after day. Gaza, since probably 2000, has been routinely bombarded every few years in response to the Palestinians trying to defend themselves. We're exercising the right to be heard by simply amassing at the border in Gaza a few years back on the March of Return, but was portrayed by the media as an attempted incursion into the Israeli proper. Over 1,000 Palestinians died for simply protesting their right to return to their homes. There was a nonviolent event that took place. So what is happening now is not being reported in the Western media, which may be no surprise to those who might be attending this meeting tonight. But the only thing I could say is, the information is always out there, and there are many places to get information. Seek those out. They're readily available, whether it's... I'll go ahead and make the plug, I guess. Antiwar.com is a great website that has many articles on what's happening. Counterpunch is another resource. Electronic Intifada is another source. Mondo Weiss is another source. There are many sources, web magazines, if you will. Democracy now gives you an understanding of the two narrative of what is happening to the Palestinian people. So yeah, without taking too much time, I'd pass it on to my colleague, Lena. Thank you so much, Riyadh, for sharing your experience and talking a little bit more about what the Palestinians are experiencing. And although mainstream media doesn't cover these things, I think it's really, really important that those of us who may not necessarily have family at home who can tell you these things, arm yourself with knowledge. So a lot of these places that Riyadh mentioned, I think, are important to go to. I go to Democracy Now every day, religiously. They have people on the ground that are reporting. I go to Al Jazeera all the time. They also are a great source of knowledge. I had learned a couple from Riyadh. So I think it's really important right now that we arm ourselves with knowledge. Of course, it's really important to take self-care. I am going through media overload right now, and I can tell you right now, it's not always the greatest place to be. But you know, it's a balance. You have to care for yourself, but at the same time, you can't shut your eyes. The world is no longer shutting its eyes to the murder that's going on in the occupied land of Palestine. I wanted to start off by some of the core issues that we have. Riyadh already touched about over a couple of them. But I think that it's important for you and the community to arm yourself with knowledge. So when you come upon other members in the community, when you come upon other people at your workplace in the line at the checkout counter and the topic comes up as it often does right now, we're facing a genocide, then you can arm yourself with what to say. Some of the central things that we as an organization are talking about is understanding also, like Riyadh said, that this is nothing new. This is not about what Hamas did just on October 7th. But this is about the Middle East. It's like a decades long illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the denial of Palestinian human rights. In addition, the only way to permanently stop the violence is to end the occupation, which kills hundreds of Palestinian civilians every year and subjects more and more men and children to systematic racist oppression. You know, Riyadh said that he always has to erase the numbers and I guess I'm always on pins and needles when you talk about the numbers. Over 8,000 Palestinians dead, 3,500 of them are children. It's important to arm yourself with knowledge because the fact is that more children have been killed since October 7th than it's basically the world's largest global loss of children within one year has happened since October 7th. So the world cannot return to the status quo in which Israeli human rights abuses continuously increase, Palestinian rights decrease and Palestinian men, women and children die without any public notice until war breaks out. Our nation must intervene to end this violence before more innocent people die. Stop aiding and embedding the occupation and start applying the values of universal human rights to all victims of oppression no matter what their nationality is, their skin color or religion. Now, it's really important to understand too that we need to first end the violence, ceasefire is one of the main things that is happening right now. The United Nations resolution that Riyadh just mentioned, you know, there was a hundred and I think it was a majority, I think 120 nations against 18 were in favor of the resolution to ceasefire and to bring humanitarian aid. That says something. United States was one of the few that were against. Canada didn't say anything. So one of the things that we're asking for, right, the ceasefire now, the Biden administration must take the lead to establish a ceasefire negotiations and the apartheid style occupation of Gaza and work toward a just and enduring peace with Israeli and Palestinian people. All reasonable people want this violence to stop and a permanent stop to the violence starts with recognizing the decades of occupation and apartheid that has occurred with the Israeli government. Now, another theme that I wanted to mention was and a lot of resistance that the community might see when you are attempting to stand up for what's happening right now in Palestine is a lot of people may call you anti-Semitic. You know, recently this weekend, we saw a huge demonstration in Grand Central Station. Thousands of people coming together to call for a ceasefire. Jewish voices for peace led that demonstration. So let's not call this anti-Semitic when many, many Jewish voices are saying, not in our name, not in our name. And it's out there in the news. So equip yourself with knowledge. Know the core things that we're asking for. So I wanted to get into some more basics about knowing your rights in general when it comes to political discussions. The first one is the First Amendment. First amendment of the United States. Oh, so much better. Thank you. The first part of knowing your rights is the first amendment of the United States Constitution, the right to freedom of expression, including partaking in the world. As we see public outrage rise to know your rights during this time. Now, we also have to know that the First Amendment right is not absolute. It has to be based on time, place and manner of activity. So it depends on where you are and what you're doing. You don't have the right to express yourself anywhere. You can't be unless you work for care and express, you know, to political discourse because it's not a right in your workplace. It's a private place of employment. And so your employer has the right to dictate what you say and what you do during your type of work, right? So those are the one of the important things to know is about the First Amendment. And though, yes, it is there to protect us, it's not completely absolute. Now, all types of expression are usually protected in public forums like parks, sidewalks, streets, and other areas where the public has been granted office, granted access, like in front of government buildings, for example. For example, we had a huge protest this weekend in San Francisco, Brother Riyadh was there, the one in San Jose at City Hall. These public places are great places to demonstrate and express your dissent about what's going on right now. However, you also have to understand that, you know, there's limitations to that. So the protest at Grand Central Station this weekend, for example, they arrested about 400 people. Why? For civil disobedience, they caused a huge stoppage during rush hour traffic. So that gave the police officers cause to arrest several people because they were not enabling traffic to go forward. So there's things like that that are important to understand. So especially when you have young ones with you, and you know, maybe some elderly, which are also coming out to protest, it's really important to understand these things to keep yourself safe. Another one is private property owners, however, are permitted to dictate their own rules that may limit free speech. Again, your private employer or private property, I think, you know, a lot of people having demonstrations and congressmen, the homes of congressmen, for example, and they're getting arrested that way as well. So we need to make sure that we express ourselves at the right time and the right place. So another thing to remember, that the right of freedom of speech and extent to defamation, obscenity, and threats, more so threats if you're looking in the public. So if you're in the public, you know, and you start threatening somebody and start fighting, obviously, that gives cause for authorities to try to apprehend you and stop that. So we don't want to give them a reason to do that. We're here, millions and millions of people peacefully protesting what's going on. So you have the right to protest, but so do other people. So also know that if you are out at a protest for anything, your freedom of speech also means that counter demonstrators are also afforded the same thing. You know, they can say what they want to say, but remember, when they go low, you go high. You know, you just can ignore them and continue doing what you're doing. Megathons and bullhorns may be used. Permits are required for music and drums and things like that, but always if you're organizing or in a protest, try to know what the local permits are. Let's see. And when you're in a public space, you can photograph anything in plain view. So that's like a really big one. Plain view anything that you have like in a public space where you are not expected to have. Oh, wow. Thank you. I was really straining there for a second. Okay, so you're in a protest, right? You need to know that while you're in a protest, if you go there, other people also have the right to protest, right? That's part of being in a public space, the right to have people videotape you. That's something that's allowed in a public space because there's no expectation of what we call privacy. Now, if it's in somebody's home, that's illegal. You can't videotape somebody without their consent, but in a public space, you can. So that's very important to understand. Another thing is that police officers may not confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant, nor may they delete data under any circumstances. So that's really important to understand in this day of social media when we're seeing things live. However, they may order citizens to seize activities that they determine are interfering with law enforcement operations. I don't think that, you know, taking a video of something that's really important for the public to know is disruptive. Now, another important thing to know is when you're at these demonstrations, what happens if the police stops me? First of all, stay calm. You have your rights. Make sure to keep your hands visible. You don't want to make any sudden movements. Don't argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if you believe that they're violating your rights. If you are protesting, point out that you're not disrupting anybody else's activity, right? Like at Grand Central Station, they, you know, took about 400 people and put them in arrest because they were disturbing the peace, right? They were causing traffic to stop. And name your First Amendment rights. That's always really important to assert your rights whenever you're in a situation like that. If you're stopped, ask the officer if you're free to leave. If the answer is yes, just calmly walk away. Now, if you are under arrest or detained, you have the right to ask why. Usually say you wish to remain silent and ask a lawyer immediately. You don't have to explain anything honestly. You should use your right to remain silent because sometimes things will be used against you later and put out of context. And that's not a wise thing to do when you're in that type of situation. So do not say anything or sign anything without a lawyer. Very important to note, we have many people who call us at care with that exact same situation. Law enforcement officers are at their door. The FBI is asking for an interview. And what do we tell them? Don't say anything and lawyer up. Another thing that's really, really important to know is that you never have to consent to the search of yourself or belongings. If you do explicitly consent, it can affect you later in court. So just basically say, you know, plead the fifth amendment. I have the right to remain silent. I need my attorney. And then also, I do not consent to the search. Police may patch you down if they suspect that you have a weapon. That's why it's really important if anybody stops you to keep your hands visible at that time. Keep phone numbers on your person in case you are detained or arrested. You can put care in your phone. And or, you know, if you have an attorney or a trusted advisor, somebody you can, you know, an emergency contact like that, keep that on your phone as well. If you're arrested for an infraction and you have a valid ID on your person, the police must give you a ticket and release you on the spot unless you refuse to sign. Now, what happens if you believe that your rights have been violated? When you can write down everything that you can remember, including the law enforcement's badge and patrol car numbers, the agency that they work for, very practical advice if you ever get in any kind of situation, you know, at a demonstration, or, you know, if, if you're just driving down the street and somebody targets you because of the color of your skin or they, or they just, you know, want to ask you extra questions that they don't need to. Always remember what the incident was, what time did it happen, when did it happen, where did it happen, who did you talk to, get contact information of anybody who may have witnessed that. Social media is also great. Everybody's recording things these days. So if you see that somebody's recording a video, get it from them. Take photographs of any injuries you may have received. And once you have all this information, you can file a written complaint with the agency's internal affairs division or civil complaint board. Sorry guys, I have a lot to cover. Are there any questions so far? Okay, great, great. So now, you know, we're in a really difficult environment where we're having a lot of protests. We have, we have a lot of people who are actually being fired because they come out in support of Palestine and against the killing of innocent civilians as an unequal, unequivalent attack against civilians is not self-defense. So a lot of people are getting slack from this within the Muslim community. People in your school, for example, you know, at your work, you may also face the same issue. You know, we've had university professors who have gotten fired because of their asking for ceasefire. We have, you know, school teachers who are being asked to sign statements saying that they won't oppose Israel. You know, we have school districts right now that are coming up in support of Israel. It's, it's getting really dicey. And so it's really important to know, you know, what you can do and where you can go for the help that you need. For example, let's start off at school. I know we all have children. We want them to be safe. We want them to not have to go through this. But the fact of the reality is, as a Muslim growing up in America, sometimes you will have to deal with these things. So it's better to arm yourself with the knowledge that you need in order to make your, make sure that your child is safe. For example, many community members have received emails from schools and universities, right? Like I just said, with one-sided comments supporting Israel, these statements fail to acknowledge the dispossession of the Palestinian people under illegal Israeli occupation or their humanity as they're bombarded and killed by Israeli forces. So, you know, we know that these statements are upsetting and hurtful, but we should also know that we're out there. We shouldn't be caught unaware when it comes to responding to these things. Care has actually taken the time to develop letters that can be used and downloaded to send to your school at university. And so you can use this as a powerful tool to even, if you want to respond with a letter or use it as a template when you're speaking to somebody, I think it's a really important tool to know as a Muslim parent and convey that to your children. So another big one is the workplace. So a lot of us are, you know, unfortunately facing discrimination in the workplace, getting fired, not getting opportunities at certain universities because of their stance, because of, you know, their stance against genocide. It's really a shame, but it's happening. Yes. And a lot of the things that I'm referring to right now are on our website care SFBA, the Palestine toolkit. So a lot of this information that I'm talking to you about is there. All of these templates and letters exist there for you. So please do take advantage of them. Download them and just save them. You never know. So at the workplace, another big thing is the First Amendment does protect private sector employees from being fired and applies to government entities is the problem. So the First Amendment doesn't apply to your employer necessarily, right? It only applies if like it's a government entity. Like so if you're, you know, at work and it's the government or if the government is the one who's like funding a program, right? And they discriminate against you, then that's when the First Amendment comes into place. And well title seven of the Civil Rights Act covers six protected categories, including religion, sex, race and politics. It's important to know that political expression is not included in that, not in the state of California anyway. So that's important to know, right? We have this First Amendment, right? We have civil rights, the Civil Rights Act, right? But political speech is not necessarily covered on that. However, California does have a law where an employer, which keeps an employer from discriminating against an employee for political activity and affiliation, that's labor code 1101 and 1102. And so this prohibits employers in California from setting any policy that prevents employees from engaging in political activity. For example, you know, I mean, this has happened in Nicaragua all the time, like, okay, well, you, you're coming to work, you have to go vote for this political party. So if anything happens like that at work, and they say, okay, you're not allowed to go to this protest, you have to sign this agreement, like many teachers in Texas are having to sign agreements where they agree not to go against Israel, that, you know, if it was in California, we could bring up this labor code 1101 and 1102. Also, employers cannot attempt to control and employs political activities by threatening to engage in retaliation, right? Retaliating in any way against an employee for his or her political beliefs and activities. Also, you know, you can fight that that is wrongful termination as well. So, you know, within this whole umbrella of rights, we have a lot of gray area, we have a lot of circumstances, right? Because, you know, employers have also in California as an at will state, which means that an employer can fire you for any reason, right? So there's there's a lot of different competing things, but the most important thing to note, if that does happen, is that you need to write it down. And you need to send them a certified copy of it and file a notice with them. Another wonderful thing that CARE has on its toolkit is a download of a letter to an employer where it cites the law, and it tells them what your rights are. So that's another thing that you should try to empower yourself with. Yeah, would you like to cover hate incidents? That's okay. It's okay. Yeah. Okay, so hate incidents and hate crimes. So, you know, right now, the level of Islamophobia has gone up. Unfortunately, you know, many people within the community have experienced violence. Immediately, what comes to my mind is Wadia Al-Fayyum, who's a six year old boy who was murdered, him, Palestinian and his mother almost died, stabbed to death by a man, you know, who thought that a young boy was a threat. So, you know, these hate incidences, these hate crimes are on the rise. So we want you to protect yourself. So at all times, be vigilant and be aware of your surroundings. Traveling groups when possible and make sure somebody knows where you are. Deescalate also is really important. You know, we see that happening at a global scale. Everybody's asking for deescalation. We should also practice that in our daily lives. What to do if you experience or witness a hate crime? First, get to a safe place and seek support. Document the hate incident and crime. So in this digital age, it's really important to document everything to take time. And the great thing is that if you have a phone and you take a picture, if you don't remember where you were, you can just look at that picture and say, okay, it was December 3rd at 2.30. So that's another easy way to document date and time. Snap a picture. Be upstanding. If you see someone experiencing hate, step in. If it's a safe thing to do, but don't intervene physically, please keep yourself safe, of course, and report any incidences of hate to the local police and care. Even if it's just words and not necessarily a crime, you know, there's lots of gray area there. There's like, for example, the hate crime may not necessarily be physical violence. It can be an environment of intimidation. And also, it creates a record. So 101 Lawyer 101 has always created a record of everything. You always have to keep that and then ask for legal help and then give your attorney your documentation. And then really important, do not engage, do not retaliate. Don't name call. Don't feel embarrassed or ashamed. It can often feel awkward and a little, I guess, alarming when you're faced with a hate crime, you know, and you see it there. But when you have the knowledge of something beforehand, I think that's powerful. So that's it for now. Thank you, everyone, for listening. I'm going to pass it to Usman. Yeah, really briefly. I'm going to hand it to Riyadh really quick, just for a few more words. Just coming up when you want to. So there's a lot that I'd like to say, but the truth is, this is not the best time to say it. So I'll just put whatever I can out there until Brother Usman tells me, give me back the mic. One thing that Sister Lena had mentioned earlier was not to engage at protests. This is actually something that I want to just spend literally seconds on. If you have somebody who is against the protest, against the rights and the plight of the Palestinians or whatever it is that you are out there promoting, I would not engage with them. And the reason is it doesn't serve any purpose. It truly does not serve any purpose. If anything, you could find yourself in a hole or a legal battle. People who do this, I honestly think it's a calculated effort to see if you can fumble in your words, to see if they can have you become reactionary or become emotional. And I think it's very important to ignore, because we're not there to debate. We understand what the truth is. We understand what the reality is. We are not in the business of trying to convince some person who advocates or justifies or silent about the mass murder, the ethnic cleansing, the genocide that's taking in Palestine. Why would you want to spend a second trying to talk to somebody about that? That's not the place or time. You're there to exercise your voice and in support of your Muslim brothers, not to entertain some clown who might have a very high voice. And it always reminds me of a great quote by Desmond Tutu who once said, I think to a son, and I hope I don't get this quote wrong, he says, don't increase the volume of your voice. Increase the substance of your argument. So I don't think it serves any purpose. We should not dignify any clown who wants to ruffle our feathers at any organized gathering. Real quickly, as a Palestinian living in a Palestinian household and an activist household for all my life, I've always seen, I've always anticipated watching interviews, hearing, do you condemn this? Do you condemn? Always, always beginning in the conversation. It's always a condition. Things have changed. For the first time, I'm seeing now academics and government officials on both sides, Palestinian, non-Palestinian, turning that question around because it is a form of psychological warfare because it finds yourself coming from behind and not starting on an equal plane when you are trying to discuss what is happening. And there is no shame to it. The Western media is consistently doing it even to this day as I sit here on this table. If I see another interview when I go home tonight, it's going to be, do you condemn the very first thing? It's funny because if you brothers and sisters are asked the same thing or put in that same situation, this is what I'm telling my kids. This is what I'm telling my friends who might not know about the plight of the Palestinians. But then again, they're learning very quickly not by choice because I'm informing them. If somebody asked you, do you condemn? First of all, I would dance. Well, first of all, I'm not a part of Hamas. I don't live in Gaza. I'm not an official spokesman, so I don't know what you're talking about. But clearly, let's say that person who is asking you is a supporter of Israel, and that's why he's asking you, do you condemn Hamas? You should say, well, clearly you're the one who supports Israel. So let me ask you, do you condemn home demolitions, mass bombardment of innocent populations, first evictions, upbringing of olive trees, apartheid that is recognized by pretty much the whole entire world now? Do you condemn Israel for the past 75 years of gaining, naming, first home evictions, arbitrary checkpoints, the humiliation, the disgraceful treatment of the Palestinians? Clearly, you're a supporter of Israel, so tell me, do you condemn 75 years of that? When you have the courage to condemn such treatment, such a history, such a narrative, then you will earn the moral authority to ask me if I condemn Hamas. But only until then, don't ask me if I condemn Hamas. And by the way, Hamas is no grassroots organization. It's documented, it's public knowledge. Hamas was created and funded by Israel. Alhamdulillah. I'm glad to see the escalation of the points and the tone here because, granted, what I will say, I'm usually called collected, much like my colleagues who have been here, but the truth and the reality is, my blood is boiling. Probably like most of you, I would imagine like all of us, wherever we are, whatever we're seeing, whatever we're experiencing, your blood should be boiling. And I will say, I will also preface this by saying before talking about actual community safety and some of these strategies, literally 24 hours ago, maybe even less than 24 hours ago. For all of us at Tune In on social media, Instagram, Twitter, wherever we get our news from, I'll mention Dr. Tala Jahn Khan, 54 years old, the mother, pediatrician, mother of two, brutally, brutally murdered in Texas, sitting outside her apartment or in her apartment complex, just sitting there, unexpected, not knowing, not knowing what to, what is about to happen. So, what I want to do and what I want to inform us in the short time that I have is to build this general awareness and to really, you know, assess where you are, what your safety is, what it looks like, what your options are, wherever you might be, because the reality, brothers and sisters, the reality is, regardless of where you are, no matter where it is, school, the bus, the store, wherever it might be, the potential for a risk or for your safety to experience something happening, a hate crime, an incident of harassment or bias, it's higher than ever. So, I'm going to walk us through a little bit of what de-escalation may look like in a few, before we broke out for Isha, I had briefly mentioned and I'll run through this again really quick, some of the information that I shared, but when thinking about community safety, I want to preface it again with what just happened and what we've just seen, as many of us are on social media, Twitter, Instagram, all of that. We saw the headline for Dr. Tala Jahan Khan, a mother, a pediatrician, a mother of two who was unaware. She was sitting in her apartment complex, just sitting on a picnic bench and she was attacked from nowhere and brutally, brutally murdered. And this isn't the first instance of hate, harassment, bias, or hate crimes that we have seen over the past three weeks or so. Exponentially, they are growing and they are continuing to affect everybody and not just, and it can happen anywhere. I'll say again, it can happen in school with your kids, it can happen on the store, on the bus, public transit, wherever you might be. So, my brothers and sisters, for all of you, some general info, really work and be aware of your surroundings and be aware of where you are, what's going on. And I know a lot of us already are. A lot of us have that built into us. I know I do. A lot of us already are hyper aware of our environment, of our exit routes, of who's around us, who's talking to us, who's there, wherever we might be and I don't want to build paranoia or any of those feelings for anybody, but I do want to say as general guidance, it is more than important to know where you are and who you are with, what your surroundings look like. So, I want to talk a little bit in terms of community safety about something called bystander intervention. And we lead this training across the country quite a bit myself, but I want to say this specific information is especially around these verbal instances of harassment, bias, hate that we have seen. And I'll start with those steps and then we'll also look at some of the more complicated and more additional strategies that I'm able to provide for all of you. And the reality is in these 10, 15 minutes that I have with you all, you're not going to get everything down. You're not going to be understand everything fully, but you'll have these conversations and you'll have this general knowledge in the back of your mind so that when you are in a high intensity situation or you are worried about your safety that you have some actions at your disposal and you'll be able to protect yourself, your family and anybody else that is around you. So really quick, I want to run us through some basic steps for especially for verbal interaction and engagement. So with that in mind, the first step that I'll cover really briefly is assessing your environment, assessing your situation. So I've already mentioned a little bit of being aware of where you are, who you're with, who's around you, what is going on. And I want to add a little tidbit that I tell especially the kids and the students that I work with everywhere. I wear headphones pretty much everywhere. I'm listening to a podcast, my Islamic lecture, whatever it might be. And those airpods, especially the Apple ones, they're noise canceling. So do yourself a favor, do everybody a favor, keep one in, keep one out. That way you can hear, you can listen to what you're playing, what you got going on on your phone, you can kind of tune into that. But you also have a little bit of leeway there because you're able to hear and kind of be involved in the environment that you are around. So by all means do what you want to do, take care of that, but also be aware of your general environment. So that's assessing the situation and assessing what's going on. And then the second big step that we talk about is what it looks like to get others involved, especially as a bystander, right? So really briefly by a show of hands here, how many of us have heard of something called the bystander effect? Anyone know one of us? Okay, I'll give a quick definition for us. So the bystander effect, a psychological phenomenon, where the more people that are that are there to experience or witness an event happening, the less likely any of them will actually be to step in and to help. And the reason this happens is because as humans, a lot of us naturally disperse our responsibility onto the people around us. So in this case, if I notice somebody who may be getting yelled at or maybe being harassed somewhere, I'll look around and I'll see other people here, other people witnessing this. And I'll tell myself, Hey, it's not up to me, somebody else will step in, somebody else will give a call to a security guard or the manager, whatever it is, somebody else will get involved. So why would I do it? But the reality is, is that you have the power to give and return people's responsibility back to them. And that is by getting them involved and doing something really easy, like giving them directions on what to do. So directions, they don't have to be complicated. They don't have to be really intricate. It could be something as simple as, Hey, Riyadh, do you see what's going on back there? Do you see what's happening? I think that we should get involved. Can you maybe take a video of what is happening? So we have some documentation, we have some proof, we have some evidence. And maybe Lena is it possible for you to tell somebody, tell the people behind us, tell the bus driver if we're on transit, tell the security guard in the store, the manager, employee, whoever it might be. So by naturally by giving folks directions, you get them involved and it can be easy, especially for those of us who may feel a little less comfortable being the ones to step in and actually intervene and actually be there. It's a really easy way to get other folks involved in this situation. And at the end of the day, your numbers a lot of the times are really important for safety, for not just yourself, for that person that's being targeted, and also for the people that are around you. So that's our first two. And then we look at what intervening calmly looks like. So unlike the way I feel right now with my blood boiling and my anger and my emotions at an all time high, I would say it is important in the direct moment in the high intensity moment that you really keep calm and collected and take a second for yourself to process what is happening, what is going on. And then from there, once you get others involved to you actually intervene calmly. So that could be something really easy, walking up to that person who may be being harassed here, introducing yourself. It doesn't have to be by name. It's up to you if you want to use your name or not. But for instance, I walk up to somebody and I could be like, Hi, my name is Usman. I've seen what's going on or I see what's happening. I would like to be here with you to support you as okay if I maybe sit next to you. And then you can strike up a conversation. Sometimes you don't have to introduce yourself that way. Sometimes you could just start a conversation or dialogue like you know them. It could be I like your shoes. I like your I like that shirt. Or, you know, I noticed the art that you have, you know, that's really cool. Like, we talk about it, something as simple to make it clear that you're there, not as somebody that's going to make their life more difficult. You're going to be there to support them. And you make that very clear. And that is also important with something like nonverbal cues here. I know that oftentimes in our life and around us, there can be a language barrier, especially if it's somebody that we do not know or that we're in public. So think about something like especially us as Muslims, I think a lot of our first reaction when we see someone, when we greet someone is something as simple as a hand over the heart. And that's really important because that shows and that implies that you're there for somebody. You're there with peace, you're agreeing them with blessings, right? And that you're not there to pile on, especially because that person that might be being targeted that may be experiencing this, they already have their sentence, their senses heightened, they're already on guard, might be defensive. So you don't want to, you don't want to ruffle their feathers even more here. So that's intervening calmly. And you also just some general knowledge asking for permission if possible before doing anything. Sometimes folks will say they don't need your support, or they don't need your help that you're okay to, you know, they can handle it on their own. And that's okay. You can respect that respect their agency. But what I will tell you and what I will advise all of you is if somebody tells you that in the moment, you can let them know something super simple. You can say, Hey, that's okay. You know, that's all right. But I'll still be here in the background or we'll still be here a little bit of a distance just in case something happens, or just in case we are needed or anything is needed for us to provide support. And that way, again, it's very reassuring and something super easy for you to do. And for your party to do also. And then why this is important is because when we're looking at bicenter intervention, especially at this verbal harassment level, which is really common, which we all have seen, as my colleagues have already mentioned quite a few times, right? Don't engage with that person. Don't engage with whatever nonsense, whatever hatred, whatever vile and whatever vile opinion that they are expressing and harassing somebody with that is not our role. That is not what's important. What's important is that you are there for that person that is being targeted. And you are there in the vicinity with whoever you are that you are with, and you're there to provide support. So whatever it is, even if they escalate verbally, whatever it is that they say they're trying to provoke you, you're trying to get a response out of you, a reaction out of you, don't give them any of that. Don't buy into it. What you can do and what is more valuable is you focus your energy, your effort and your support on that person that is being targeted. You can talk to them directly, continue to talk to that person, continue to engage and build dialogue with that person that's being targeted. And I'm not saying to turn your back entirely on someone, especially because it could be in public. You don't know what they might have on them, what their intentions might be. But I will say that to focus your attention on that person that's being targeted and really hone in there. And also a lot of times other instances that you can include here are also things like creating a physical barrier if need be with more people and kind of isolating that person out of this situation. Because in reality, I can't run through the way I would normally do a training where I have us all act this out or I have us all walk through a variety of these scenarios. But as you can imagine and kind of think about in your head as you walk through this scenario, if you isolate that person out of here, they will feel less inclined to continue. And they'll essentially talk to what's kind of like a brick wall, basically ice them out of this scenario. And that's the major steps here. And also, like my colleagues have said, resources continue to support people, something that you can offer, continue to be there for that person, especially as things deescalate around us. And that's really quick. I know that's not a whole training, a whole two hours plus. But I do want to continue with more general info because I think while this is important and an important strategy for us to have, the reality is that we need as much support and we need as much kind of education and knowledge as we all can get for us to be prepared and for us to kind of act accordingly, especially in the heat of the moment. So I do want to cover something else that I think is really relevant, especially for a variety of instances. And this could also be relevant for those kids that are in school and seeing their friends being bullied or seeing people around them that are being harassed for whatever it is, especially now with folks speaking out and being more and more vocal about Palestine, which is good, which is needed. We're also seeing that people are feeling more inclined to attack other folks for their opinion and attack them for being on the right side of history and of our times today. So I do want to cover some additional strategies and we call these the 5Ds of de-escalation. Other folks call them the 5Ds of bicenter intervention. But there are five really helpful tips that I'll provide to all of us. And again, nothing is black and white. Nothing is concrete. Everything is, you know, circumstantial depending on what we're experiencing. But these strategies are really helpful and really help you think through what de-escalation might look like. So that first D of de-escalation distracts sometimes a really subtle method of intervention that can shift the focus of something, the harassment of the incident, by disrupting it. So that could be something really easy, like spilling my drink on purpose. But it creates a distraction, creates something to shift the attention, the focus on something else, and allows that person that might be being targeted to kind of leave the situation and get some safety and create some general distance. And this is also the strategy that I mentioned where you can pretend to know the person that's being harassed. I'm going to act, you know, kind of excited to have a randomly run into that person as well. So a distraction a lot of times could be really helpful. And then delegate. I've already mentioned this, but get others involved, right? Give them directions to make them return their responsibility and their agency back to them that they should be acting. You see what's happening over there. I think we should be acting now. Riyadh, can you maybe take a video? Lena, can you tell the folks behind us? Tell the bus driver whoever it might be. And then again, more basic information, but documenting everything that you've seen, write it down, record it, take a video, take a picture, have evidence of everything that is happening, whatever it might be. It could be very valuable here. And that's kind of what's secondarily intervening is called also that strategy of recording video or picture evidence of what is unfolding in front of you. And a lot of times that could deescalate a situation in itself. I know a lot of us that are on social media, we saw that barbecue Becky incident happened in Lake Merritt, right? A white lady harassing a black family trying to have a barbecue on Lake Merritt just live in their life being normal, you know, enjoying a normal day. And she was harassing them. When folks started videoing her or started putting her on blast, that way she ended up backing away, shying away and backing down from the scenario because she didn't want her any kind of documented evidence of her harassment and of her behavior. So document everything that you can. And then there are other two strategies that are valuable to as well. Delaying a situation sometimes, you know, this is again just general support can help to reduce someone's immediate trauma by talking with them or offering resources, and maybe even offering if you can walk with them to their direction or what to their destination. Sorry. And then also the last point that I'll mention really briefly again, it's just I don't recommend this everywhere, but you can be direct with folks sometimes in our different groups in our different social groups that we may maybe in sometimes being direct with that person can actually de-escalate the situation. But again, I wouldn't recommend that in like somewhere random somewhere in public that you might be especially with somebody that might be harassing you. I would recommend this generally around people that you know, or in those social circles also. So that's some important tidbits on what de-escalation could look like. And again, that's very brief, very fast. But I want to say just kind of thinking through this and envisioning this have this conversation with people that you're around. You'll be able to talk about de-escalation and what it might look like. But I don't want to stop there. What I want to finish off with is an important tidbit of information that many of us have been wondering. Many of us have been thinking how I feel powerless. I feel helpless. I feel like I have nothing that I can do. But the reality is, even us here, you know, in this digital age of media with all the resources that we have, you have a number of ways that you can get involved and make an impact. And that is through direct action for all of us, young, old student, worker, whoever you might be, direct action works. Direct action is important. And I'll lay this out for you in three really simple and easy ways for you to think about and that have been guiding me, especially as I feel uneasy and as I felt powerless and helpless. I remind myself these points because they keep me going and they keep me motivated. And I would like to do the same as a reminder for all of you. So the first really simple and basic way that I'll lay this out is strengthening your iman. I am not a sheikh. I am not a prophet. I am not a sheikh. I am not a kateeb. But I am, you know, a child of immigrants, Muslim parents, Muslim myself, student of deen. And I will say the first, that's the easiest thing that we could do in this moment, strengthen your iman, return to Allah, pray, make dua. These things are really valuable. And these are really important for us to keep our perspective and to stay grounded and to provide support from wherever it is that we are. Very, very valuable. And I can't emphasize that enough because really we need to control what it is that we can control as humans and in this moment. So we can control how we present ourselves, how we pray, how we talk to Allah, how we make dua. We can control these things. And also be a part of your community. Be a part of what goes on. That's here at MCC East Bay, wherever you are from tuning in from. Be a part of what happens in your community. Attend your masjid, attend your youth programs. Be involved in what's happening around the news, around your community. It's very important as we continue to talk about what support looks like. You need to be there for your brothers and your sisters. I can't emphasize that enough because truly it is like a strength in numbers game, right? We have a voice. We have the power and we have the ability to come together and to support one another. And at a time like this, that is needed more than ever. So be a part of your community and really, again, strengthen your iman. Take those steps for yourself. And secondly, again, learn your history. Super simple. Something that you can do at home. We have more resources now than any time in history. And it's all right here in your pocket. Literally, you have access to more information than probably most of our ancestors ever did throughout their lives. And I will say learning your history means your own family history also. Most of us children of immigrants, immigrants ourselves, refugees, we come from backgrounds of colonization, of this occupational backgrounds, whether it's Pakistan, India, most of the entirety of Africa, South America, wherever it is, us as immigrants, a lot of us have these similar backgrounds as well of occupation, of harassment, of colonial struggles. So learn that history, learn how your ancestors, maybe not even your ancestors, but how in those times, folks came together, how they decolonized, what they did, how they resisted. This is important because this is not something that's isolated from all of our histories. This is something as Muslims and something as immigrants, children of immigrants that means something to us. This is our history as well. And also learn about what's going on. Brother Riyadh mentioned a little bit of what's happening in Palestine, but educate yourself on the history here, not just what happened in the last month, last few weeks. Learn about the history of occupation and of the struggles and the colonization of the region and of Palestine. Learn about these. They are doing teachings and sit-ins, educational programs all over, not just us at CARE, other organizations. We have the luxury, especially here in California, of having access to these programs and to these resources. So learn that history from the start and educate yourself on it and have those conversations with your classmates, with your friends, with your parents, with your children. Have these conversations and explaining to them of not packing down and really talking about what's happening and why we should be tuning in, why we should be protesting, why we should be active, why now more than ever we cannot sit at home and just be silent and just pretend like things are going to resolve themselves or that we have nothing that we can do. And I would say a quote that I read that I think is really important and I'll echo to y'all here too is that your ancestors did not resist colonization for you to remain silent and for you to live in that luxury of silence because silence is complicity, my friends. So be involved, say something, speak out and that is the final point that I'll mention and I'll wrap up with this point too and kind of tie everything together for us. Be involved in more direct action. That means protest. That means be a part of these community movements because your voice matters and that is something that nobody can take away from us. We have the power to come together. We have the power to be involved in these struggles and everything that we can. And I'll mention again, I really, really some folks might call it contested. Other folks might call it controversial. It doesn't matter. It works. Learn about boycotting. Learn about something like BDS, boycotting, divestment and sanctions. Learn about these organizations and their strategies because Islamic history and also just general history, like for the civil rights movement and other times boycotting has been incredibly valuable and is a way because most folks, the reality is care about money and they care about the power that comes with that. So boycotting is a way that you and I and our families can get involved and I'm not saying to boycott every single brand because then the reality is we won't be able to survive, but you can start with three really easy ones, all right? Start with what we've already been doing companies like Starbucks, Disney Plus, McDonald's. Those are three really simple and easy things to boycott and then we can work our way to other groups and other resources as well. So focus there and learn about the history of something like BDS and why I say that's controversial is because in a lot of states, more than 28 of them, they have specifically mentioned BDS being extensively banned in their legislation and that's not an accident. What you'll learn is that the reason why this is banned is simply because it works, because it's effective, because it actually creates power and creates an opportunity for change and that is how you and I in this corrupt system that we are in can really make an impact also. So it's kind of twofold, right? Being involved in these different movements and also showing economically and financially that we will not buy in to any of the corruption and to any of this occupation. And I will say again, not your Imam or not your Khatib, I'm just a brother in the community like all or you know like most of us, but I will say you will probably have a lot of uncomfortable conversations, a lot of uncomfortable conversations with co-workers, with classmates, with whoever it is that you might run into, but so what? We need to be vocal and we need to be together and rise up and you know not back down. It is our duty, it is our responsibility to stand up for what is right and for what justice and because Islam at the end of the day is a religion, yes it's a religion of peace, but it's also the religion of justice as well. And I'll mention really quickly Surah Taha for all of us. In that Surah it talks about Musa A.S. and his experiences and what I'll mention for us is when Musa A.S. would call out to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala whether it was him going to face the Firon, whether it was him facing the magicians of that time or him standing in front of the water with nowhere to go and his people behind him and being cornered by the military, Allah had always reassured him and started with that revelation saying Latakaf, Latakaf in every verse there and Latakaf means do not be afraid, do not fear and I say that same advice to all of us, do not fear those uncomfortable conversations, do not fear what is going on, stand up for what is right because Allah reassured us of this, Allah reassured us that we are supported, that we have this backing, that we have the guidance that we need, it's reassured for us and those are really three simple and easy things for us to get involved and I'll run through them, just name drop them. The first one is strength in your iman, second one learning your history and learning the history of the Palestinian, our Palestinian brothers and sisters and being involved in direct action and the final drop that I'll quote or that I'll quote and end with here is just another verse from the Quran and some more guidance but it's Maqaru Maqar Allah, Allah Huqayru Al-Maqirin and I apologize for my pronunciation, I will say they plan and Allah plans but Allah is the greatest of all planners, my brothers and sisters and I'll wrap up what it is that we hosted here and what our talk was like but I do want to make space, I know we have folks on a live stream, we also have folks here in person so I want to make time for questions if folks have some please feel free and know that you have resources at your disposal, us at care, other orgs, I can't name drop every single one but there are a lot of resources especially here in the community so if anybody has questions do you have access to the live stream by Jen? Okay no problem, if not I'll wrap up with if any of my colleagues want to say any final words, if not my name is Usman, again we run the programs at the Council of American Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay Area, I want to thank you all for tuning in and for giving me this platform to speak and again I'm just a brother, just a member of community like the rest of us and I want to say to get involved, to take action and don't let anybody silence you, thank you. Oh they're still on? Okay well I hope they heard that then, yeah is there any questions? Oh they're wondering, I was for the brothers that were here in attendance I was explaining to them the use of words and how words convey a lot of meaning and how they affect the narrative and how the story is told, we are told that there is a conflict in Palestine and I've told the brothers here that I submit that there is absolutely no conflict, there is no conflict, did we call the Algerian and the French situation a conflict? No we called it what it was a brutal occupation and which took the lives of one million Algerians in order to gain their freedom, did we call it a black and white issue in South Africa? No we called it what it was a racist apartheid regime, so what do we have here in Palestine is a genocidal government that is ethnically cleansing the indigenous population of Palestine, it is not a conflict it's an occupation, it's an apartheid and so brothers and sisters when you encounter these opportunities where you might be confronted voluntarily or involuntarily to talk about what is happening understand that words have meaning and they have an effect and so look for those words you know when you watch the news tonight of course as we all have witnessed many Israelis were killed but Palestinians seem to die they just die they're not killed they just die so it's these little things these racist ways of describing one population against the next that affects the way people think especially the person who might not be educated about what is happening and of course we all know that ignorance is no short of ignorance in this world and if we don't have people informed if we do not allow people to understand the true story of what is happening in Palestine the same history will be doomed to repeat itself so that's kind of what I was speaking with the brothers here in attendance that the language is another front I would call it in the information war information war which I think we have a lot of ground to make up but we should start at home when we educate our kids when we explain to them that our fellow brothers our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in a different distant land are suffering I don't think it's something that we should do I think it's it as an Arabic the word is wajib it's a duty it is a duty because because I submit that if the whole ummah the whole Muslim Arab and non-Muslim population of the world do not stand up and recognize what is happening to the Palestinians then I will submit to you that the rest of the Muslim world will suffer the fate of the Palestinians and one might argue that that is already happening that it is already happening on some level so do not think that what is happening in Palestine does not affect you it will it will and this world is becoming a much smaller place a much smaller village every day and so with that thank you and I'll just add on a little bit to Riyadh so eloquently shared a lot of this is psychological right it's these kind of like fear tactics that people who have some form of authority are trying to impose on to you also don't waver don't back down like Riyadh said earlier when they asked you do you condemn the actions of Hamas well do you condemn the illegal occupation and the killing and the brutal genocide and ethnic cleansing that has been happening ask these questions continue to engage and dialogue that way and don't allow people to psychologically torment or control the way that you view what the reality is and what the actual real facts are here right and just something again that he mentioned it's linked fate what happens to one group what happens to one whether it's a religious group it's an ethnic group it is you know racial racial group whatever it might be the reality is what happens to one group could very easily happen to the rest of us and to our own communities to our own people so that is again all the more important why we need to educate ourselves and why we cannot allow people to silence us and allow them to control our narratives and the way that we view and uphold ourselves and our communities and again a little Islamic guidance like the prophet said I some had mentioned that the umma is one body so what happens to one part of the umma the rest of us feel and the rest of us regardless of where we are regardless of what our connection might be we feel that pain and we feel that struggle so again with everything that we've laid out it's all the more important for us not to allow the rest of the world to write us off or to make us feel like we don't have any kind of power or any kind of influence that's not true and you have the power through direct action which we've already kind of went through and I did want to take a sec to hand it to Lina here we had a question online that she wanted to go ahead and answer and provide some more guidance for and maybe Riyadh and I can jump into if need be inshallah yeah definitely thank you so much Usman for your encouraging words you know I feel like many of us in our community are feeling that pain right that pain of the umma and so during this time please do take care of yourselves it's really important to have some self-care to have some boundaries with the social media I can say it but it's harder to do I know I know but please do care for yourself and your kids you know right now and this time I feel like what causes me the most pain are the children that are dying so I guess this is kind of a segue to the question that I've got here question do you have any advice for protection and vigilance while working at a Muslim school now you know I feel like if you are at a Muslim school you're probably at a place where you don't have to face as much public censure as you do in private or in public schools that's why we have the bullet anti-bullying report where we have the bullying report that care does every year and this is for schools right it's meant to you know as a reporting mechanism for children who are in public schools but I think that many of these principles can also be applied in this context right because our kids they don't know sometimes that they're bullying bullied they don't understand what's going on and they need to be educated because bullying doesn't just happen in the school context right it happens at the grocery store it happens playing basketball outside with your friends it happens in any context many contexts you know that children find themselves in the playground for example and so it's important I think if you're working in a Muslim school to have educational programs about bullying like what is it how do you target it how do you know that you're being bullied and also like important to note social media is really important because that's where a lot of bullying occurs and so you know trying to monitor social media maybe even having presentations at your school you know Usman does great bystander intervention training that can also apply to the bullying context so that's really important as well and you know know your rights presentation like these you know our children are young they're smart and they understand a lot more than we give them credit to so I think it's important to educate them as well if you're in a Muslim school you have that ability to really be a voice of truth right you understand what's going on right now in the conflict you can even talk to the children about what they may see in CNN what their friends and call us may be seeing it it creates a sense of cohesion and I think it's really important and and a wonderful opportunity to work at a Muslim school because you have that ability to to teach these children skills that they might not get elsewhere I'll I'll give it to Usman and Riyadh for any comments and just one final drop online ca.cair.com that's Care California's website you can click on our office San Francisco Bay Area and literally the first big banner that you see on our local website or even on any of the websites for the California team it'll be this Palestine resource guide or this toolkit that has everything that we've talked about today so letters to your employers protections for school for bullying your rights when protesting all this information all this documentation it's all published for everybody to access so I would highly highly recommend that you take some time to look at it and take some time to go through it and also just bookmark it on your browser or bookmark it on your phone that way just in the chance that we might need it that you have access to it and you're able to look through it it's there for you it's there for the whole community and you know I highly recommend to use that and it's not just us from care other organizations also have these resources that are published to I highly recommend our colleagues all around they do everybody's committed to the work and alhamdulillah use these resources like I said we have access to more resources and our ancestors probably did throughout their lives literally our phone has everything on it so use it for good and use it for knowledge and education for yourself and we're out did you have any final words if not I think we do have one more question I think the question is how do we navigate a scenario where a teacher is showing pro-israel propaganda to young children I've discussed it with the teacher but she has been framing it as religious history and curriculum I think Lena if you want to answer that for us with a little bit of background here thank you probably have a little more advice and knowledge here uh yeah definitely thank you so much Usman uh so how do we navigate that difficult scenario where you have a teacher um that's the one spreading pro-israel propaganda you know in that particular case we have a power imbalance right we have the children and then we have a teacher who's doing this I think that the next obvious step to take is take this up with the school I'm not sure if you have but definitely there needs to be a report that's made and I know that we've actually care has actually dealt with this similar instance before so first you know there needs to be a report that first you need to notify the school usually it needs to do it you need to do it in writing writing and depending you know on the circumstances of how many times this may have been you know it's always important to get other statements from kids or parents that may have heard similar things from their kids you know so that you can substantiate it right because a teacher she's not being recorded while she's teaching children so it's important that you gather your evidence substantiate it talk to people within your community um and hopefully the school is willing to address it however we know from recent news that many schools are actually coming up with pro-israel statements themselves so then at that point it's important to go to the next level right so that's when you get the school district involved and that's when you get organizations like care involved you know that's part of what we do I myself am not a civil rights attorney at care immigration department but I know that there's a lot of work that goes into that there's a lot of mediation sometimes that happens between different organizations at the school who have a voice and sometimes you know a school is a place where that dialogue can happen and so there's there's a lot of different things that can happen in that scenario but of course first and foremost try to talk to your child about it tell them you know that there's a lot of different stories that are being told in the media and not all of them are true and not to feel disempowered by that to support them because I've even that even happened to me when I was young you know and teachers will tell you certain things like take off your job things like that so it happens quite often you know not all teachers are perfect and so we need to address the situation so I want to say a couple words I work directly in the civil rights department and without identifying the parties involved I will say that things do work like brother was man has mentioned direct action works when you utilize the proper resources we have we have a family that contacted us recently because their school superintendent and there are many superintendents not just one that have been putting pro-israeli statements out with choice adjectives to describe Palestinians no surprise you know and before I tell you what happened I just first of all I just want to say real quickly I find it absolutely outrageous and curious that somehow all of a sudden in the United States of America school administrators have now it's like they added a new task to their job description and that is taking a side in me the brutal occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people I mean I don't understand you know why why are they well actually I know why but I just find that amazing that they've taken upon themselves to take a position on what is happening and what's even more outrageous is the fact that they're speaking out in favor of Israel is causing a climate that is making our children unsafe and afraid and I'm not just saying that I am directly involved with speaking to parents and kids who are afraid of going to school because of the statement that's been put out they are the sisters some have been reportedly taking off their hijab because they are seniors and they are concerned about whether their admissions into college next year inshallah is going to be accepted and and after that employers because now of what's been happening in Harvard and the that attempt to intimidate those Palestinian law students so there is a real climate that's causing fear with our children it's it's real and I've I've seen it and I and I'm currently dealing with it um so back to my point though these parents reached out to us and we provided them with what we had available at that moment and they utilize some resources that we had and they sent it to the superintendent letters that we had prepared that would make it look like it's coming from them uh really well written and as a result they were given a meeting an audience with the superintendent uh superintendent had apologized and had said that he had meant no home or or did not want to create an environment that was unsafe for the kids so that's just words but actually this particular individual uh followed it followed through by sending out to the district a second letter revising what he said the first time and to the satisfaction of the Muslim parents they were happy with the second letter uh a more balanced statement um so think that was direct action that these parents were empowered we told them to speak we gave them the resources that they could use so they could advocate on behalf of themselves and their children so things do work there are wins there are many wins but the idea is to be consistent and the idea is to always speak the truth to power the idea is never to sit down and to think this does not affect me or my household uh never never you know they say in this era truth is a controversial thing well that's I think that's a sad statement but I just want to let everybody know that that I can always speak for myself and for my household for my children I told them they must always keep their head up and always speak the truth um you know on them with the history on them with their rights let them know who has their back that you always support them let them know that we live in this country and that the law is for our benefit it's not against us well if you see something happening report it don't try to hide from it you know we have the freedom to speak out here uh sister Lena had described those situations that you need to be concerned about speaking out but essentially outside of the outside of the workplace we live in a free country where you can say what you want and sometimes even push the envelope you can say what you want I believe that I think a lot of the the the doubting the self-doubting comes from perhaps if and this is just my opinion maybe from the more recent immigrant community so I'm saying now to those who might be missing immigrants you have more freedom than you give yourself credit for that you think you know you have the right to speak it's not a crime um because if you're silent it does do things it either means you're complicit or unfortunately it means you empower those who intend to marginalize our races moving forward we must always learn that speaking out is the the most basic thing we can do so I'm kind of going off on a tangent but I just wanted to share real quickly that small win that I've just been made aware of this past week where the Muslim family now locally is like thank you but we no longer need assistance because we are satisfied with the outcome of what's been as what has happened so yeah it's fun to learn jizakalak here again to everybody that attended for everybody that tuned in and from the river to the sea Palestine will be free take care salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh