Was honored to speak at today's No Ban No Wall rally in our beautiful downtown. An electric crowd of at least 300 people withstood the freezing cold to make their voices heard. Below is the text of my speech Dear brothers and sisters in humanity Dear brothers and sisters in justice My name is Ahmed Abdelmageed I am a Muslim, Palestinian, immigrant American I've been to many events like this And I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with events like these I hate that our nation a nation that claims democracy as its credence a nation that boasts human rights as its practice A nation that is strengthened by the people who come to its shores from all walks of life To put their sweat, blood and tears to make it home Is currently ripping apart the very fabric of its own society By labeling By categorizing By generalizing By demonizing But at the same time I love that every time a threat exposes certain fragilities within our democracy Every time there is an exposed hypocrisy Every time we feel a tug that could tear the fabric of our society You show up You show up to remind everyone that WE the people will not stand idly by while justice is being trampled upon That we the people will not succumb to fear mongering That we the people will stand up for what is right That we are not here solely because we belong to a group targeted by hate We are here for justice We are here for equality We are here for one another So when you are targeted for where you come from then you and I are one So today, I am not only Palestinian, I am Syrian, I am Iranian, I am Sudanese, I am Iraqi, I am Somali, I am Yemeni, I am Libyan and I am Mexican When you are targeted for your skin color then you and I are one So today I am not only white, I am brown, I am black, I am red and I am yellow When you are targeted for what you believe then you and I are one So today I am Muslim I am Christian I am Jew I am each and everyone of you For we are the United in the United States of America Dear brothers and sisters in justice What is of utmost importance at this time is for those who do good to continue to do so. You're the constant in the equation, the rest is variables And remember we can individually pray for peace but we must all work for justice #NoBanNoWall #MuslimBan #ImmigrantsWelcome
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AuthorPalestinian, Muslim, American, Husband, Father, Academic, Pharmacist, Coffee Addict, Nutella phene, Pseudo writer, Soccer player, former Canadian, Community servant, Pinch hitter imam, interfaith ninja, Intellectual vigilante, and the undisputed KING of snark Archives
December 2022
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