KAL PENN: I’ve been seeing you everywhere the last couple of weeks, especially the last week and a half. We have the same [book publication] date, and I have been so excited to hear you tell your story. You sent me an early copy of the book. I was thumbing through just the photos at first. It’s the same photos that I have in my book [laughter] of the immigrant parents, and the ’70s, ’80s attire and the trips to South Asia. I feel like that experience of, at least what I felt was boundless possibility as a kid, going into this unlikely journey of entering worlds—mostly entertainment and then dabbling in public service; you’ve had this whole lifetime of public service. Were the parents an influence? What was the big insight that got you in there? HUMA ABEDIN: Kal, I want to gush about you for a minute, because I just want to tell you about you. [Holds up a copy of Penn’s book, showing many pages tabbed with page markers.] Look, these are my notes. PENN: Oh my god. ABEDIN: And yes, I compared early family photos. We’ve known each other in politics. I’ve obviously seen you—I’ve watched your shows. I know you’re super famous. But your story . . . I just opened the book, and I couldn’t put it down. I came away with such an extraordinary respect for your story.
COVER STORY
You asked about our immigrant parents and stories and grandparents: I opened my book with my grandmother. My father came from India, my mother came from Pakistan. Both immigrants, like your story. This notion of education being a religion of sacrifice—you know, the story you tell in your book about going to Gandhi’s ashram with your grandfather. And them not talking about being freedom fighters and all of that. I felt that very much in my family. My grandmother fought to go to school back in the time in India where girls were not sent—it was shameful to be sent outside the house. She would get on the back of an ox cart, in the back of the house [so as] not to bring shame to the family. Every time I think about those pinch-me moments that you and I have had in the White House [and] on Air Force One, I think about our grandparents and our parents and what they sacrificed to give us this extraordinary life of opportunity. PENN: I was one of those nerds in college and especially post-college who would Google “Why hasn’t Huma been doing all these interviews?” And then you realize it’s because of the nature of the role that you played and the type of public service you’ve done. I wanted to ask you whether, with your parents and the work that you chose, first of all, were they supportive of what you wanted to do early on? And was there a singular moment where they sort of said, “I’m proud of the work that you’re doing?” ABEDIN: I was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and
HUMA ABEDIN & KAL PENN THE AMERICAN DREAM CAN BE
HUMA ABEDIN, Former Vice Chairperson, Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential Campaign; Author, Both/ And: A Life in Many Worlds KAL PENN, Actor; Former Principal Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Author, You Can’t Be Serious
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THE COMMO N WE AL TH | February/March 2022
PHOTO BY BRIGITTE LACOMBE.
realized by people following different paths, including immigrant family experiences, career changes, and lots of hard work. From the November 9, 2021, online Inforum program “An Evening with Kal Penn and Huma Abedin.”
