MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY Middle East Books and More visitors watch a scene from “Naila and the Uprising,” when President George H.W. Bush warns that U.S. loan guarantees would stop unless Israel halts its settlement building.

Dream, Jodeh was elected in 2020.

“My parents, Mohamad and Siham, came to Colorado from Palestine as immigrants and refugees in 1974, looking for the American Dream, for safety, opportunity and freedom. And they found it,” she said. They started a small business from scratch, and then another, as their family grew. By the time the Denver-born Jodeh was 8, she was working at the family deli on weekends and vacations, interacting with people from all walks of life. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but those interactions normalized diverse lifestyles and identities.”

In the summer, her mom took the kids to visit family in Palestine, where they were exposed to war, violence and oppression. She recognized the same oppression they experienced in Palestine was manifesting itself in different forms for vulnerable and marginalized communities in the U.S. Since she and her siblings were raised with the expectation that they would be of service to their community, she has devoted her career to public service.

She urged the museum to continue to say the names, honor and memorialize the Palestinian villages, like Deir Yassin, that were “erased from the maps but not from our hearts” in 1948. She also noted the importance of remembering the innocents killed after violent police encounters, like 23year-old Elijah McClain, a Black man from Aurora, CO who died after a police assault, and so many Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers. —Delinda C. Hanley “Naila and the Uprising” Screening

Attendees marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Nov. 29 by taking a tour of the Museum of the Palestinian People, followed by a screening of “Naila and the Uprising” next door at Middle East Books and More.

This must-see film, directed by awardwinning filmmaker Julia Bacha, chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh and a fierce community of women at the frontlines of the First Intifada in the late 1980s. It was especially fitting to watch archival footage and interviews with courageous women activists while women are currently protesting in Iran and a third Palestinian intifada may already be underway.

Viewers were stirred by the tremendous power of nonviolent organizing and the sacrifices women make when they take the lead in struggles for rights and justice. They were also angered as these same women were sidelined and stripped of their roles in the peace talks that brought no peace.

“Naila and the Uprising” shows that women are often at the forefront of struggles around the world, but too often remain on the margins of the history told by men. —Delinda C. Hanley

CAIR-LA Celebrates 26th Annual Gala Dinner

More than 1,500 people attended the Council on American-Islamic Relations- Los Angeles’ (CAIR-LA) 26th Annual Gala Dinner on Oct. 29 at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim, CA. The theme of the banquet was “Resilient in Our Pursuit of Justice.” Zahra Billoo of CAIR’s office in the San Francisco Bay Area emceed the event.

Dr. Yusef Salaam, a member of the Exonerated Five (a group of five Black young men wrongly convicted in the brutal 1989 rape and assault of a woman in New York’s Central Park), was presented with the Champion of Justice Award. He gave a moving speech about how his Muslim faith and the pursuit of justice transformed his early adulthood and sustained him for nearly seven years in prison.

Hussam Ayloush, CAIR-LA executive director and CAIR California CEO, explained that CAIR switched from the Hilton Hotel to the Marriott Hotel for the evening’s event because Hilton operates a new hotel on the site of a Uyghur mosque that the Chinese government demolished in 2018. CAIR asked Hilton to back out of the deal, but the company refused. In addition to the Uyghurs, Ayloush highlighted CAIR’s recent work to uplift the struggles of the people of Palestine, Syria and Kashmir.

Former South African Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool, a member of the antiapartheid movement in South Africa and a leader in the African National Congress, offered hope to those still fighting for freedom. He also emphasized the importance of continuing to press forward after victories. “We knew that the defeat of the forces of evil, of racism, against Blacks [in South Africa] was not enough, and we need to defeat the forces behind Islamophobia and all the other evil forces,” he said. “I met with Nelson Mandela after he was out of prison. He told me, ‘My brother Ebrahim, now is the time to fight discrimination against Muslims,’ and that’s what we did.”

Sheikh AbdulNasir Jangda, the founder and director of the Qalam Institute, deliv-