we can all do with these issues. i don't have expertise but i can go and protest about something happening abroad. we are too comfortable. we are in a comfort zone and one of the reasons for is because people say the middle east is complicated. i think in our minds it's not complicated at all. is an identifiable set of solutions. we are on the side of the good guys and, therefore, it's very easy to take a stance, speak of oakley, join groups, go on protests. ..

look, i took part in a rally against austerity in 2011 a year after the british conservative government brought in unprecedented spending cuts. i was on stage at hyde park, a quarter of a million people marched against austerity in the u.k. and i am not saying muslims are the only people who wear beards but i take that as a rough indicator, looking at the crowd there were not many muslim faith as i could see. the same park where muslims gathered to protest against the invasion of iraq and the israeli bombing of gaza and danish cartoons of the profit. draw cartoons and bring the protests but you are about to lose your job or livelihood british pakistani and politician communities, some of the communities hardest hit by government economic policies, austerity, spending cuts and yet where are the muslims on these struggles, and these battles at

home which affect our daily lives and struggles. one last point about you were talking about siblings, you never fight with anyone as you do with siblings, i hope my sister is not watching. the problem with that analogy is sometimes i look at our community and don't think we do behave as a family at all. there is little evidence for that suggestion. sections of the community do but sections certainly don't and i give the example of those of us, those of you who have taken an unpopular spot that the majority has agreed with. i can only speak for myself but we don't feel we are a member of the family. no matter how much credit in your bank account or how much good work you have done there's a lot of suspicion, lack of trust which most families do have trust no matter how bad your son or daughter is you would give your life, in our

community you have this issue, one example from my own life, i have written 20, 30, 40 columns, bloggers about israel's oppression of gaza. i am accused of being assessed with palestine. i raised one column about anti-semitism, you sold out. what you doing for your career? what do you doing? you want to be popular, doesn't matter what you have done previously. if you write a anything that doesn't follow the party line you are a secret zionist. go to a white house conference you might as well be flying the drone itself that dropped the bomb on pakistani children. this is the level of discourse in our community which is one perceived about, not even -- suspicious of the motivations of those on the same journey.

the right part is broad and capacious in my view. you can be heading in the same direction that doing your struggle in a different way. you can be a doctor, engineer, politician or journalists, take more enraged or disengage stance but the idea that you can turn to your fellow muslim and say you are not doing it my way so you are a sellout, a failure, the community, that is a huge problem in our community that prevents us from being the family we should be. [applause] >> i am not attached to the examples, and families go to counseling says this isn't where we work it out. the community, families go to counseling, they don't invite people to weddings. they had it out, they disagree,

those are bonds that can't be broken so i agree the family isn't there. money is difficult, people are intermarried, some people are sunni or shi'ite and some don't think it is the best idea. in the end we are family. if we are not talking about the issues, if we are not fighting about the issues, they are under the rug. >> i agree with you. i agree with that. let's not be under any illusions. the people here are islam, people who came to the convention, not the same as the community out there. many people out there are not interested in going to counseling, who just wants to be negative and destructive and only want to take the simple

start, the ec stance, the black and white stance, the comfortable stance. i am not sure if we will hear from the audience. i love the idea that we went over those people. i always thought i would need a fixed in to deal with non muslims, opponents, people attacking me for being muslim and i found that people in my own community more which is a pretty depressing realization. >> the hardest thing, growing up, i had the most insults and the most questions from the muslim community. we need thicker skin in our community. last thing on the family example we talk about marriage counseling and family counseling. one thing we run into is many people don't know counseling resources exist. when i landed at the detroit airport and i was excited that

foot person at the coffee shop wanted to talk about my flight and all of that, he didn't know what islam is. had no idea why i was here. i came in before the convention. going wide about making sure 7 million muslims know about the community, low where the local mosque is. the thing i want to touch on is a lot of times we talk about this as talking versus doing, one protest versus another protest and i don't know that that works. it has got to be a life style. using myself as an example, had union staff. and the hotel staff, i don't know if i tipped as generously as when i had my food.

do i care about what i am buying. after the recent gaza attack did anyone download it? figure out -- a few of view, some of you are using it. it is not just the you go to a protest. protests are just one method of achieving change and alone like any other method are absolutely in the effective. if that is what we are doing that is not enough. talking is important too. one thing i said in the bay area one of the reasons the attack happened in gaza is it is not enough to share it on facebook or talk to family or friends or hold a town hall about the issues at the mosque. it sounds really terrible to say but there is a self-serving reason to care about the other issues. i could say we all agree that

our religion calls us to work for justice and working for justice is an act of worship and the issue that injustice is everywhere, you don't have to fly to palestine or pakistan or the white house, those are in our own communities so there is a religiously motivated reason to work for it but it is worth reiterating over and over again that when we are working on other issues, issues that affect other communities sometimes not even our own, but be real about what affects us, things like poverty and the mortgage crisis, those things affect our community too but we are not talking about it because those people can't afford to come to conventions. whether it affects me or doesn't i have religiously motivated reasons to work on it but also a selfish reason. all the issues i think i should care about like palestine, like building a mosque i going to be

more effective at mobilizing allies for those issues, garnering empathy for those issues if i was there. how many of us expect our neighbors to come to our mosque when we have an open house? a lot of them. and open house at my mosque i want you to come. how many of us are willing to go to the synagogue, to say we are here to stand with you, it was even an issue with the muslims should stand for ferguson. that should have been an automatic thing for us to do. >> go ahead. >> the point goes very briefly, very briefly, in the u.k. there was a gallery between a local mosque and a synagogue where people came to events and it stopped, why has it stopped?

because we would go to the synagogue and that is what we do. for our benefits and causes are we there for their causes? absolutely superb point. >> there is a lot of positive things happening in our community, a lot of different people involved in different things but our challenge is we try to capture it under the umbrella of this is the muslim community or this is the effort of this organization, when we have to live as human beings and get engage in things that matter to us. sometimes we live in a society that taps us into different segments of society we, which religion or race you are part of, we are falling victim to the same type of thinking and not understanding everything reconvene does has to be called upon by his inner faith and belief that god has chosen you for this mission, this purpose, this idea and is guiding you every day constantly regardless of your agenda, your race, your

generation. get involved where things matter and that is how we have to look get the life of the of human being, when you get involved in something that matters you got to make a difference, you should believe in making that difference. ferguson was not a question for me. it is if civil rights issue, a human-rights issue and as an african-american, a nephew issue or as a young brother issue that i see every day, you don't live in the south of america. it is a little different than the northern cities and it is a real challenge. raise issues still exist, still matter. where things matter muslims should be involved. where things matter muslims should be involved. [applause] >> i have a personal reflection on the flight over largely because i don't actually fit on planes, can't sleep or relax and i don't actually know how of plane flies. i can't stand up in it. i don't understand physics.

that is why i am here and don't have a real job. one thing i was thinking about was here we are again going to war with iraq and it brought me back to 2003 and it was an interesting time in my life and i promise it will make sense. 2003 i graduated from college. i thought i was going to go to law school. i went to law school and i was unbelievably miserable. i absolutely destructive and los law school. nick against lawyers but it was not for me. in my blinkered view of the world there were only two career options. either you are a doctor or a lawyer. it sounds ridiculous now. this is what i honestly thought. if i don't become a doctor or a lawyer i am going to become nothing. could be an accountant. i didn't even know that option existed also.

i can't count either so that wasn't an option. i remember feeling very profoundly like a personal failure and at the same time i was a street activist. please don't look me up on google before 2003. i was a lot heavier. doesn't make a lot of sense. we were organizing these protests against the iraq war and tens of thousands of people were coming out and it appeared to make no difference. all those people came on to the streets and nothing happened. global went ahead. was a terrible idea and it turned out to be even more of a terrible idea. the reason i bring this up is i want to ask each of you how has failure in any respect shaped your life and your career? sometimes there are a lot of communities, we talk about achievement and success and don't talk about how we deal with when things don't go our way and how sometimes sort of as we heard when didn't things don't go our way there are opportunities we don't see.

i wish when i was in that age group and that point in my life that i had heard there was value to not getting what i wanted and to seeing things not work out because it showed me things about myself i didn't understand. i wanted to start with miriyam ambirebrahimi and ask you what got you here? what are the experiences you wish you could share? this is called generation rise. what do we have to share with people out there? what do we wish they knew about us or about themselves? >> i came from a family where many people, many of my family members converted to islam. when my parents were raising me, islam was a part of my identity but i didn't connect to that. it wasn't until later on when i started reading the koran in the english translation after a spiritual experience that i

started wanting to take on being muslim and to live in it. that was so exciting and i am a passionate person. i was president of my student body counts land involved with local politics, i was so excited about how awesome muslim women are, i am a real muslim woman because identify with that but the more i learned about islam in my superexcitement to become a real understanding muslim, i started doubting my face because of what i learned about women's rights and rolls. i want to clarify what that means. i have individuals who thought they knew religion tell me we mentioned do this or that, shouldn't be involved with this. me up here, never. the way i speak loudly no. my personality entirely, i thought, was a test from god himself because he was trying to see whether or not i could keep quiet, he naturally made me this way and that caused me to doubt, is this the religion i want to

be a part of? many women have experienced that as well. one of the things that helped me through that even though it was painful and took many years to get out of it was that i started recognizing that the reason i felt this way was because sometimes in our communities we put people in positions of power who are not educated and not able to be relevant to be there. in the introduction to a book about the liberation of women, he talks about the 2 reasons we have issues in the muslim community when it comes to women. one of them is a misapplication of textual evidence so we use something and say we mentioned do this. when you look at that, it is not what it is supposed to mean. the second is having a bad assumption. sometimes a scholar is not a

scholar, a scholar may be a scholar, she is not a scholar, in another area. we take from the wrong people who don't necessarily understand our situation here so one of the reasons i felt the most difficult time in my life, trying to figure out whether or not i wanted to assert my islamic identity was finding what islam really is and it is an incredibly am powering, incredibly liberating and incredibly socially just life movement. for me islam changed my life in some most incredible way. after i went through the pain of thinking of what islam wanted from me. in one aspect my experience in trying to become scholarly cause me so much pain and risk in my personality, my relationships and my religion but also helps me understand islam is relevant, it relates to all these issues

we are talking about and loved every single person in this room, anyone who thinks about him and people who don't want to think about him, he is not far from us, but our community makes us feel that god is far from us. the second thing that affected me in my life was in middle school i went to a suburban school in the suburbs, in high school i went to the inner-city and i saw the differences in the resources, the consequences of what happens to a lot of my peers when i look at the tracks of life and the opportunities both were given. i did my master's in critical and social justice education, focus on critical studies for students of color in urban cities. on a personal level my life revolved around understanding what it is like to be in an area that policies of the united states keep in poverty even in education. on the second level, on the

research level, i am working with students now looking at research on policies that affect the way we put communities of color in particular spaces. so for example when ferguson happened i was so angry at everything going on but also at our reaction as the muslim community. i cannot believe we actually had questioned why we should be involved about what is going on and what is being allies regardless of faith, but somebody --kunta kinte was brought here from africa as a slave. listening to his life and experience that he went through being ripped from his family and what he had to go through, up this is not one person's story, this is the reality of so many of our brothers and sisters

brought here taken as free people and enslave the. that historically affect policies today. this isn't history. this is affecting communities today. for me the two things that affected my life that i am involved with right now is recognizing how painful is when islam is tied at the hands of individuals who may be very well intentioned but unfortunately did not truly completely understand the relevance to our place and time today. the second part is being part of living and loving individuals from different communities, experiencing what it is like to have education on both sides and understanding the people who shape our country today, individuals now who live on reservations, individuals who live in areas that are historically systemically oppress and individuals who we do not constantly talk about and represent in our own discussions. many of us felt isolated in our communities and i felt isolated

and continues to feel isolated and i am starting to be a scholar and i feel isolated. how many people with no faith can't come to something like this because they don't feel they will never be welcomed? they don't feel they will have a space where they can feel supported and that is not what the profit mohammed taught. let me finish this. through those processes i learned about individual responsibility because all of this is overwhelming. seeing people die and seeing all those images is so overwhelming and you can't take the ball on. one time riding with him, a woman walks up, and martial arts, checking her out and he is like noticing that his young brother's checking out this girl. in this case he could have told her turnaround, he is looking at you, could have told her leave. as the guy you are related to to

ask the question but he took personal responsibility, he turned his cheek, he didn't shame him or blame him or shame her or blame her, he just taught him that when he recognizes there is something going on internally to take a moment, take personal responsibility and do some type of action you have control over and for me i don't have control over everything going on and i am often overwhelmed but think about what i can i control? i have been in pain, all of you have been in pain because of other issues. what can you controlling your life? like my dad says whenever there's a problem is not something to be sad about. it is time to get excited. what can you do? take responsibility over the problems you have. [applause] >> very powerful, thank you for

that. those are passionate ideas that touched all of us and when i think about those who have come before we all have stories, family stories, community stories, things that touch us in terms of those who came before and made the sacrifice for us to be here today and i would have to say when i look prophetically at the life of the prophet mohammad i see someone driven to respond to his lord regardless of the conditions of circumstances we brought on him. you talked-about could contain which is tied to alex haley's history, great author and journalist in the united states tracing family back to him being muslim and surviving throughout all the odds to remain faithful, to know that god is still in control regardless of the condition you may be in and that

is profound the. i think about four particular people will talk about too. one is malcolm x, you and millions of others throughout the world, he stood for his principles, stood for his beliefs. and malcolm's secretary, of pioneer male officer, one day i was talking and she shared a story with me and to be brief with it, how was malcolm be on the rostrum, how was the outside the public face, he was the most righteous man that i knew. he was consistent with his principles. when i heard that i think about the politicians before the

microphone to speak for all, to champion these causes and are they the same behind closed doors? god is watchful at all times, not just when the news comes on, and i you consistent with your challenge? with how you respond to your challenge? that touched me to really be a person of balance and judge myself as it relates to various serious issues that come about in the community. usually when i'm working interface circles i get the question and i see any? am i shi'ite? as a convert, as an african-american which group will take place me in at that point and my response is always i am a practical muslim. i am a muslim. i look at the life that god prescribed for us through the koran and the life that god sets

as an example and extract those principles that will influence everyone's day and life. when i think about the muslim community in many instances i see a group of people who are culturally tied to a religion that has no bearing on culture at all. we are misinformed, not full be educated about the better ways that i like to look at the profit mohammed thinking of the word uswa, the way, it doesn't look the same, it doesn't have the same characteristics of what type of clothing or language or talk or cultural habit, it has a way of getting to truth, getting to the heart of the matter. a way of seeing the problem to seeing the solution to a problem. so the profit mohammad also touched the life of muhammad ali.

raise your hand if you know muhammad ali. i have been to eight different muslim countries, nine actually and every time i arrive at the airport i get the question after is a see my passport with the eagle on it and they see my name, where are you really from? i am from the united states. where's your father from? you know the series of questions. where's your father's father from? everyone from the u.s. is from somewhere else if that is what you mean. you are a muslim. you know who muhammad ali is? 100%, everyone i talked to said yes, muhammad ali. he is my uncle. oh! you are an american muslim! and it collects in simply because he is of figure that transcends this understanding of

boxers for muslims. the reality of his story is courage. his greatest fight was with the supreme court. his greatest fight was standing for his beliefs and his religion. he is still alive and still fighting, he has parkinson's in arizona. and continue his message of truth and standing firm for justice even when it's a gift to himself. when you look at a story closely he corrects the idea of being the greatest. he says only the god is the greatest. i am trying to live up to the potential he placed in me. these are figures we can call on and understand the narrative in these figures to say they are muslim and standing for the principles of islam. they touched my heart. the other two by mentioning -- or you look at their stories, you really kind of see passion around islam being inclusive and

measuring people based on the character, based on their character and not on the color of their skin or their social stability but really looking at the heart of the matter of what are you contributing to society and what has allah said you for. striving for the best in this light and make sure we receive the best of the hereafter. [applause] >> i struggled with this question about failures and challenges a lot and i don't want to repeat what has been said the two things and coming to mind. the first is i try not to see failures as failures. i tried to css from a lot and opportunities. that is true for whatever

attests or opportunity is. the second thing i don't know if it has been set yet is surrounding ourselves with the right people. every tests, whether it is how do we deal with international issues, how do we deal with depression, how do we deal with marital problems, any of those things, those are addressed so well when we are surrounded by the right people. families and parents with open and communicative relationships with their children, religious leaders who are qualified to be religious leaders but also who are aware of their limitations. it means organizations that are strong and thriving and funded and resources and it means the right spouse and the right friends because of those people will love you and help you know matter what you are going through. and when you fall and you are struggling they are going to be there for you. a lot of times it is easy to say my family is hard on me or my spouse is difficult or my

friends, we controlled those things. the focus is on what she controls. i control i spend time with. i control who i married, i control where i work and what i do for a living. i control which protests i go to. that is all in my hands. those two quick things, the first is see failures and mistakes and challenges as opportunities, because god is paying attention, because he loves us and the second is make sure you are with the right people because those opportunities very easily can be turned around and the disasters if we are not surrounded by the right people. if we are not in the right places and don't have access to the right resources. [applause] >> when i was a kid, i loved to

argue a lot. when i was a kid, i say. i really loved to argue when i was a kid. i used to fight a lot not just with siblings but classmates, i spent a lot of time in the corridor. you do a lot of the tension and the british way is quicker. i spend a lot of time in the corridor having been thrown out of classrooms for answering back etc. etc.. my parents spent a lot of time going to pare/teacher evening saying what is wrong with you? why don't you shut your mouth? interestingly, i now have a career based on running my mouth. allah works in mysterious ways. as a child i would get in trouble for having arguments because i would not know when to stop. not people come to pay me to go want television and radio to argue with people.

how lucky i am. i have an interesting job. i go to a gathering with friends my best friend is a doctor and my best friend is a dentist, how is life? how is your job? no one asks about their jobs. bless allah, back to the question about failure, personally i have done very well. i am doing very well, thank you very much but in terms of what i care about and what i campaigned about, i am a total failure. every issue that matters to me is a total failure. nothing i wrote or said stopped the iraq war in 2003. nothing i have done over the past 60 days in terms of arguing, tweeting, debating the israeli ambassador to london, nothing stopped israel from bombing gaza. nothing lifted the siege on the people of gaza. i did a debate that some of you will have seen, 1.6 million people and youtube, didn't stop

isis from be heading people or western politicians from passing laws or creating surveillance programs that discriminate against or demonize muslims. it didn't change the world view of islam or non muslims views of islam. a friend of mine who is a doctor once said to me if you just changed all your views, your life would be so much more fulfilling. it is so true. these protests against austerity, governments making cuts everywhere, nothing works, and you asked about failure, in a sense, how do i not go and cause harm and get depressed when you look at what you are fighting for and standing for and campaigning for, cal was panels, countless conferences and you see what is the visible change we are making in the community incrementally in the world, perhaps less so. you have to ask yourself what are you learning from failure?

the only thing i am learning from failure and die, we speak for myself, is really, it is a cliche but there's no end point to the journey. it is about the daily struggle, the lifestyle, it is about keeping doing what you're doing on a daily basis and if you haven't got the results in this world perhaps the next world tour in a few years time. that is what i would take from failure. it depends how you measure the failure and not connected to your daily principles. people like muhammad ali when they were giving up their belt and going to prison, they were a failure. he had lost in that fight. the american justice system had won but no one classes that as a failure today and i am sure he did not feel it was a failure at

the time. that is what i feel about failure. we have to remind ourselves it is about sticking to your principles, and the long game rather than a short game and recognizing the won't always be a victor or a light at the end of the tunnel. to enter the first audience question -- somebody asked me what are three steps we can take to get it to improve our domestic issue's involvement over the next ten years. three steps, ten years, someone from a business school i am guessing or a law school. not a law student. amazing question. i am sure there are dozens of steps over dozens of years. i am sure the panelists can answer. of the top of my head i would say educate yourself. every islamic conference people say education. when i say education i don't just mean a medical degree or a law degree or postgraduate

degree. i mean find out what is happening in your society and the world around you. the best line of the night, if you say this, whenever things matters where muslims should be but how do you know what matters unless you are reading newspapers and magazines. going on line, going on social media. when i see reading, media like nobody else you come to britain, 30 islamic channels in various languages. and what other people are saying, when our opponents say and other communities are saying. jon stewart said you don't know your own side of the argument until you know the other side of the argument and in our communities, conversations with people, the views reflect our of on narrow, closed minds that from one website or source of

information, educate yourself as broadly as possible you stand no chance when trying to debate these issues. number 2, how can you know what is important on national or local level if you are cloistered in your house, or community center. and reach out and find out what is going on in your comfort zone. and less you are reaching our making friends with not muslims, atheists, hindus and agnostics as christians and jews and common struggles i talked about earlier. only them can we form airlines is which will help us later on down the line. the first point i would say, the third argument, the third thing we need to do is we have to get off our backsides to come back, there is no problem, talk about

mobilizing 7 million muslims, 7 million as a tiny number when you think of what our opponents are worried about. the palestinians and muslims around the world. we are a big number of people and the fact the we don't mobilize, people talk about in europe, the argument in europe is there is a muslim take over coming and i always laugh. you wish muslims could take over europe. we can barely take over our own house, the kitchen. we are so disorganized and lazy. we must mobilize, we must be able to organize, must be able to do all the things we say but don't do. there is a beautiful paragraph those who haven't read it, the response to the recent outburst was an interesting response. he makes the very obvious point that in our community we pick up the phone and wring our friend to complain about what we have seen on tv about a government

decision. we won't pickup the phone and wring our congressman, our senator, our mayor. we complain to our imam about something happening in the mosque or whether this issue, we won't take part in the mosque or elect ourselves to a position to change that from happening. we are backseat drivers and the only way we can change any of this is to get into the front seat. [applause] >> there are a lot of questions and the question is around a number of themes and we don't have time for the questions so i thought i would start with a brief panic the to illustrate what i am getting at because there's something underscoring the questions that if we address maybe we can address may be some of these issues. a friend of mine was recently flying on a plane. all these muslims flying on planes, terrible. decided to prey on the plane and as he was spraying the stewardess came by to ask him

something and kind of nudged him and saw that he was clearly preoccupied and left. she came back later and said i apologize if i was interrupting you to which he responded it is okay, i was praying to which she responded that is okay. you don't have to do that, the planes are really safe. i thought it was a nice little moment of cultural miscommunication. what is a prayer? the reason i say that is one of the questions, divides in the community facing gender discrimination, facing pressures around career, lifestyle choices and when i thought i would end with his all of you are leaders in your field. all of you have your finger on the pulse of something that i myself tonight and others here may not. i wanted to ask you what is one positive trends you see in our communities? we tend to just get bad news. when you see something about islam on the news you have to

take a deep breath because it will stink. whether it is day today life for big picture politics or economic, cultural, whatever it is, something you share that you see happening now that is positive? >> this will make sense. one of the things you triggered for me earlier was 2003 and the iraq war demonstrations. i was in college and i remember a feeling of deceit and ineffectiveness and it is the journey. this is the task. i want to make clear because i feel there has been some touching on spirituality within everyone's comments but similar to the way we talk about doing and talking we have to talk about doing and spirituality sometimes as if they are separate things. most important in terms of positivity, i think, is that we

are starting to talk about it. we are starting to talk about engagement. a couple years ago i was meeting with an administrator at the university where they were having problems around palestine organizing because the students organizing for palestine were being targeted, they were being silenced, there were groups from off-campus targeting them and we were going to send this advocacy letter from all the lawyers at the table and one of the lawyers said where should we send it? we want to make sure you see it. the administrator look at us and smiled. he said we get so few letters from your side of the we are not going to lose it. we are going to notice when you're one letter comes in because it is not otherwise coming in. more recently around all of the organizing, the positive thing for me has been to see the community taking control. i feel like our generation, our

parents's generation and those younger than us because those of us on stage are getting older, are starting to mobilize. they are raising young kids to go into careers in the media so they are not just sharing those articles on facebook. they are calling the editor, they are calling a local elected officials. in the bay area where we have the most progressive elected officials imaginable in the entire united states, we have only one elected official who voted against the iron dome missile defense system and we are working on getting people to make sure she is appreciated, she knows the muslim community stands by her but there are those who voted for it and they are hearing from the community by the hundreds and thousands and that matters because they are noticing. is no longer a acceptable that our elected officials, our administrators, media

personalities a we don't know where your community is. we don't know what they think. the positivity has been immobilization. you would think i would want to end on a positive note but i want to say the concern i have when i see the mobilization we all saw this summer and were excited about and proud about was how do we sustain it. how do we make sure we continue to do it on every issue that matters but not just when our facebook friends says this is what we should do so personally what i established in my life and recommend for folks who are looking to make activism a life style, an ingrained part of who they are and what they do is to take it one day at a time. when someone converts to islam we tell them and work with them too slowly building up. those of use it grew up in pakistani households knows the

we don't pray -- we pray 17 -- and it is hard and it takes a really long time. you don't tell the new convert all right, welcome to islam. for a 17 tomorrow because that is not sustainable. the same thing is true for activism. you cannot be at a protest everyday. you cannot visit your elected officials every day and you cannot rock every unjust and inhumane company overnight. i quit walmart. that was -- it took some time. for those who shop at walmart you know how hard it is to avoid walmart. i quit walmart and i said what is next? nestle. i am still working on nestle because little did you know they own everything. it is one company at a time and if i drop all of them tomorrow that will last a day. in the same way if we tell

someone to pray 17 tomorrow that is not sustainable, so take your excitement, your energy and everything you learn this weekend and make a commitment to make one change and when you masters that change, when you are so comfortable with it you don't miss nestle drumsticks pick up something else and maybe it is coca-cola or maybe walmart but do it one step at a time in the same way that after ramadan, one piece of worship to your life until comfortable and then add the next. [applause] >> okay. so to be brief, we all have a spirit that animates our body regardless of age. if you are alive you are alive

because of the spirit god put in you. what i have seen recently, part of a generation now born muslim. there is this sense within the muslim community that you can inherit faith. it is the false idea. what i have seen and i give it to you in a story after i graduated high school i went to a high school in atlanta, a school that -- there was just this floyd of a generation of believing firmly in the idea of faith in god. it was this acceptance of faith in god. you see that come about. when you believe faithfully that god is real you know that he is the all knowing, the all wise. you have this attention within your relationship that helps govern your actions and behavior is. i say that to say people went wild.

they went to the far left of life and they had this two faced mentality toward the community where there would be the community as the -- we are all experiencing it. they had two faces, one before the community and one behind closed doors with friends etc.. so i left the united states, studied at the american university of dubai thinking i would be in a cultural environment where muslims would be muslim, i was studying international business, concerned about matters in the business world and international things that still have this core faith belief globally. to my shock, some of the main not be shocked but for me, living and sacrificing to the muslim in america really kind of standing up for my face to be with muslims that were muslim for 10, 15 generations, a thousand years, to find they

don't make was are dropping. for me it was devastating. i traveled 6,000 miles to the among people who don't believe in this religion with sincerity. there with five of us -- in the arab world friday is off. this was by opening, awakening, this is void of spirituality in human beings that has to be corrected. there is a problem here that is not being discussed. not just second-generation muslims in the african-american community or in america coming into this, quote, inheritance but this is a global fame of how these human being has to take charge of his life and come back to face. this is a real issue across the world but i want to stress it is an issue across america. just because we are physically there doesn't mean we are present. we have used and children who are in our midst who aren't

beingyouth and children who are in our midst who aren't being challenged to think for themselves but just to ask muslim. this amazing return of young adults to the -- they are coming back with life experiences that have redirected and changed their perspective. to say that this way of life is perfect for me and i want to be critically engaged, meaning thinking as i move through the growth in my speech about it, i want to be thinking, engaged on the highest levels so i can continue to receive the benefits and i am seeing it every day. young muslims coming and being sincere. for the first time, about who they are and being open about their faith and attention to their faith and i think this is

a wonderful occurrence. only by god we become muslim. and we bear witness to that every day. allah love as all and protect us always. [applause] >> something that gives me hope is that muslims really care and i mean care about what we have done. many of us, many of you have done something really messed that before. something that god will be displeased with me, and overwhelmed. and i am honored to get so many questions. he did this with a guy or this with a girl. i had these doubts in faith, i have done self arm, i have done

drugs, been sexually abused. and the ramifications of those issues, but over and over every single person wants to know what should i do with my relationship with allah from here on. to me the fact that people are driven by guilt is not necessarily at good thing but it is an indicator that we care and carried about a relationship with god is the most important care to have and that our community has its role means there is so much good and in addition to is that, one thing that i think our community is learning is that we can't preach to people in a way that causes them to hate themselves. the doom and gloom, i would summarize the best summary i can give to you is -- it is so

painful to hear the message when in reality the twenty-fifth chapter those of us to make big mistakes, huge sins, except for those who read and, believe and do righteous deed gone will change, he will replace their bad deeds with good deeds. the profit explain to us on the day of judgment of person is going to come and be really worried about their record because they know they messed up and when the records are shown to them, did you do this, this, this, of course, yes, he can't deny it, he knows he did it and is worried about the bigger stuff he's not seeing and got out of his incredible mercy tells him, replace those bad deeds with good ones. if a person repents, comes back to god, wants to live a life of pleasing him even if we mess up over and over, the process all over again, all the things we messed up on will be turned into

good deeds. .. [applause]

>> i didn't realize this was supposed to be some kind of youth-oriented thing until i turned up. i'm certainly not a representative of the youth. >> i don't think anyone is. >> no. the gray hair, and i'm 35. when i was a kid, we played outside. that's how old i am. >> [inaudible] >> there were a lot of us, indeed. so on that note, talking about the future -- as somebody's in the middle, not young, not old -- i'm a very negative perp, my wife will tell you that. the glass is always half empty. but let me be positive, and let me say this, what do you think is the number one, not number one, but the top criticisms that both muslim ands be nonmuslims have about the muslim community? i think it's their leadership. i think the years nonmuslims have said, ah, these muslims are run by extremists, people who don't want to integrate.

and in our community we've complained about self-appointed, a phrase only used -- we don't have good people, we don't have people speaking on our behalf. i'll give you this example, after 9/11 i was a researcher for a tv company, one of the main networks like nbc here, itv in the u.k. my boss said, well, go out and your job, muslim guy in the office, your job is to get some good muslim leaders to come on and talk about terrorism. people who speak really good english and are really dynamic and really this and that, be and i said, they don't exist. where am i supposed to find them? this is britain, 2001. if you look at what's happening in the british media now with muslims and in the states now, i think there are massive signs of

positive it. when -- positivity. i'm not the leader of anything. my leader is my wife. i don't lead anything -- [applause] and i couldn't lead anything, you know, i'm the last person to lead anything. if there's a fire, don't follow me. so let me just say these three, however, we have an imam, civil rights activist, we have a scholar and activist here. i would say look at these three people on stage. this is my fifth conference of 2014, i am absolutely inspired and energized by the people i meet. and sorry if i sound patronizing, but especially female leaders in our community picking fights with police commissionerses to congressmen to foreign governments. and i go back to the u.k. and say i'm inspired, that's positive. let's stop talking about the clicheed example of the bad muslim leader, let's look at the leaders we have now and say, you know what? we're in a good place right now.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, everyone, for an amazing panel, your insights. thank you for sticking around through it. please give them another round. [applause] and apologies if we kept you a little bit late. we're trying to be culturally sensitive by being a little off. >> this weekend on the c-span networks, american history tv is live from baltimore's fort mchenry for the 200th anniversary of the star spangled banner, sunday morning at 8:30 on c-span3. and later at 6 p.m., we'll tour fort mchenry and hear how war came to ballot hour in 1814, about the british barrage on the fort and why francis scott key was there to witness the fight. saturday night on c-span, george w. bush and bill clinton. and sunday afternoon at 3:30, live coverage of the harkin steak fry.

and sunday evening at 8, q&a with author rick perlstein on the evolution of the revolution in politics. and on booktv's "after words," ken silverstein on the secret world of oil. and then sunday night at 6:45 eastern on booktv, democratic senator from new york kirsten gillibrand on her layoff in politics and her -- her life in politics and her call for women to rise up. let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us t 202-626-3400, e-mail us at comments@c-span.org or send us a tweet at c-span, hashtag comments. like us on facebook, follow usen twitter. iml umented our or r or. >> hi, we're excited to announce launch week for the annual student cam documentary contest. this year's theme is the broadest ever, it's the three

branches and you. we'd like you to tell a story that demonstrates how a policy, a law or an action by either the executive, legislative or judicial branches of the federal government have affected you and your life or your community. the competition is open to students in grades 6-12 and students may work alone or in groups of up to three. contestants are asked to produce a 5-7 minute video documentary supporting their chosen topic and to include some c-span programming. that $100,000 in cash prizes will go to 150 students and the 53 teachers x the grand prize winner with the best overall entry will win $5,000. the deadline for entries this year is january 20, 2015, and winners will be announced in march. visit www.studentcam.org for more information on this year's contest, the three branches and you. >> a live picture this friday

morning from fort myer in virginia as the farewell ceremony is going on for senator levin and congressman buck mckeon. senator levin in his sixth term and congress canman mckeon -- congressman mckeon is in his 11th term. norgses norgses mr. speaker [inaudible conversations]

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[background sounds] >> and welcome to -- [inaudible] and today's armed fossors review in honor of departing members of congress.

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[background sounds] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the arrival of the official party.

today's honored guests, the honorable carl levin, chairman, senate armed services committee and the honorable howard "buck" mckeon accompanied by the host and co-host, the honorable chuck hagel, 24th secretary of defense and general martin e. dempsey, 18th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. [background sounds] >> please be seated. [background sounds]

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[background sounds] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the advancing of the colors and remain standing for the united states national anthem. >> forward, march! ♪ ♪

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[background sounds] [background sounds] >> the department of defense medal for distinguished public service is awarded to the honorable karl eleven for his --

carl levin for his distinguished service as chairman and ranking member of the senate armed services committee from january 1997 to january 2015. senator eleven has consistently been leading, a leading proponent for the strong national defense, an advocate for service members, veterans and their families that spans from the cold war to the conflicts in iraq, kosovo and afghanistan. dedicated to protecting our nation's security, his inspirational leadership for 36 sessions of congress has resulted in maintaining a military capable of defending the united states, its allies and its interests around the world. while fully supporting the men and women of our military and their families in keeping with their sacrifices. senator levin's peerless dedication to the men and women in uniform and their families led to a unanimous passing of the wounded warrior project and

repeal of the do not, don't ask, don't tell, body armor for service members in iraq, pay raises, support for health care and educational benefits for families as well as improved military voting rights and care for veterans. these distinguished accomplishments of senator heaven reflect great -- senator levin reflect great credit upon himself and the department of defense. signed, chuck hagel, secretary of defense. the department of defense medal for distinguished public service awarded to the honorable howard p. "buck" mckeon for distinguished public service as a member of the united states house of representatives from january 1993 to january 2015.

and as chairman, ranking member and member of the house armed services committee from january 1995 to january 2015. with uncommon devotion and steadfast leadership, congressman mckeon was an unwavering proponent for national defense and dedicated champion for the members of armed services deeply committed to protecting the nation's security. he led the committee's efforts to fund critical military operations worldwide and initiated the first overhaul of acquisition in years which helped shape the force to more capably meet the complex challenges of the threats of the 21st century. congress matching mckeon' -- congressman mckeon's onyielding dedication to support and protect key readiness programs and provide enhancements to troop force protection equipment is without peer. an aggressive supporter of military veterans, he advocated for the authorization of important veteran programs that

offered counseling, vocational training and college education. of equal significance, his personal leadership and bipartisan focus enabled the house to consistently pass a national defense authorization act. congressman mckeon courageously and selflessly led the armed forces committee in a bipartisan manner that exemplifies the values of service, duty and patriotism. the accomplishments of congressman mckeon reflect great credit upon himself, the department of defense. signed, chuck hagel, secretary of defense. ms. . [applause]

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[background sounds] >> ladies and gentlemen, secretary hagel. >> good morning. and thank you, thank you all for being here to help us honor two remarkable american leaders, two public servants who have devoted their careers, their lives to protecting america's security and supporting all of those who serve our country in unimoral. with -- uniform. with increasing pressure to reduce defense budgets, with the world growing more volatile and

complex and with the gears of government continuing to grind ever more slowly, chairman levin, chairman mckeon have worked tirelessly to help provide the department of defense with the resources it needs to do its job. they've helped make our military stronger and our country more secure through their leadership on defense issues and their commitment to our troops and our nation. one of their proudest, most important accomplishments has been upholding both armed service committees' longtime spirit of bipartisanship. they insure that congress continued its tradition of passing a national defense authorization act every year. given the paralysis and the gridlock that has stricken our nation's capital the in recent years, that is not a minimal achievement. it also represents a commitment to responsible and accountable governance, the kind you'd

expect from two leaders whose careers in public service date back to their time in their local city councils. they know about responsible, accountable leadership, responsible, accountable governance. during my service in the senate, carl levin was either the chairman or the ranking member of the to armed services committee. senator levin has served on that committee since coming to the senate 36 years ago. he is as dedicated a member of the senate armed services committee as it has ever had. a recent example of that dedication was his recent trip, like just a few days ago, to ukraine, iraq and jordan. and this is a senator who is retiring. during our years together in the senate, there was no colleague's advice that i respected more than carl levin's, and i often sought his advice on many issues. i've always appreciated his

straightforward style, his hon honesty, his outreach, his informed and clear thinking and maybe most importantly about carl levin, his decency and his civility. carl eleven is the kind of -- carl levin is the kind of elected leader america will always need, the kind i hope -- we all hope -- america will always have, the kind of leader who always does what he believes is the right thing, the right thing for his cup. he puts his country first. so does buck mckeon. so does buck mckeon. as an army grandparent, buck has always fought hard to provide our service members and their families with the resources and support that they need to always accomplish their mission. and after nearly 20 years in the house armed services committee, he's been among congress' strongest advocates for insuring that our military has the capabilities to meet the complex and challenging threats it faces

today and will face in the future. like carl levin, this retiring member of congress just returned from a trip to israel, jordan, egypt and morocco. and like carl levin, he's demonstrating his absolute commitment to our country and to our military right to the end of his career. over the past year and a half that i've been secretary of defense, i've counted on buck's advice, his honesty, his insights and, yes, his friendship. buck mckeon is a man of equal doses of immense courtesy, devotion, ability and character. it's rare, especially these days in our politics, to find an elected leader as open to a vigorous debate and different opinions, but yet respectful of others' opinions and points of view and willing to always listen as buck mckeon. like carl levin, buck mckeon

has never allowed politics to get personal. that's why both of these unique american leaders are so highly regarded and admired. they're not only admired in our country, but throughout the world. as we all know, there is always tension between the executive branch and the legislative branch. that is how our founders designed the system. but that tension forces us to work together to make our country better, our government stronger and more responsive and accountable. but it really depends to a great extent on the leaders themselves and their commitment to making it work. carl and buck have demonstrated that commitment throughout their careers. they have made their committees and government work, and they've dope it the right way -- done it the right way, the way americans deserve to be represented and the way americans can be proud of their representatives. they have always made the system work.

today given the multitude and diversity of complicated threats and challenges that face our country, the relationship between the department of defense and congress must go beyond checks and balances. it must be a partnership, a real partnership. where we work together for america's common good and our common defense. the department of defense and all its people will always be grateful for what chairman levin and chairman mckeon have done for them and our nation. we also appreciate their wives and their families. we appreciate the tremendous sacrifices of your families. thank you. to barbara and patricia especially and to your families, the mckeon family, the levin family, thank you. we know being the spouse of a congressman or a senator is not easy. so we thank you for the constant love and encouragement and

support you've always provided to carl and buck, provided over so many years of their distinguished, very distinguished public service. carl and buck, thank you. we will miss you. i will miss you. i will miss you greatly. but you've earned and deserve a break. you served our country so well. and we all wish you and your families every god's blessing. thank you for your service. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, general dempsey. >> secretary hagel, service secretaries, i saw several of the chiefs, the jcfs, military leaders, civilian leaders, i'm mindful of the fact that as the chairman of the joint chiefs of

staff there's many things that i've got to do, but there's also a handful of things that remind me what a privilege it is that i get to do. and today i get to represent the men and women that serve america's armed forces in uniform and their families in thanking two great patriots and american leaders. and i get to do that, and i'm mindful of the great privilege it is to do so. thank you all for attending this ceremony. i sat with chairman mckeon -- by the way, i don't know when the last time there were three chairmen sitting side by side by side on this field, but it'll be a memory that i keep for my lifetime. but we watched the fife and drum corps pass by, we marveled at the incredible precision of the troops arrayed on the field, we listened in autothe national anthem -- in awe to the national anthem as we do every time it's played, but maybe today played

with a little sweeter tune for the two of you. and i hope you think of it that way. and it occurred to me that what you've really dope for america's armed forces is made sure that we remain the best, the best by far. we overmatch, we dominate, we're just the best. we're the best musicians, we're the best infantrymen, we're the best coast guardsmen, sailors, airmen, marines. we're the best fighters, we're the best period. and that doesn't happen by accident, and it happens with the type of partnership that the secretary of defense mentioned, and it happens when we are partnering with two great leaders like the two of you. i'd especially like to join secretary hagel in thanking barbara levin and patricia mckeon and all the friends and family who have supported our two honorees over the tenure of their congressional careers. thanks for being here today, and for being there for them and for us through the years. both of these leaders have been absolutely steadfast champions of our nation's defense and of

those who serve in uniform. they will be missed by those of us who have been privileged to serve with them. for more than five decades of combined service, these two remarkable public receiver haven'ts have -- servants have worked to overcome the difficulties inherent in the defense of this nation. they've worked across the aisle on many defense bills to help determine the kind of military that the united states and the american people need and deserve, the right mix of capabilities and programs to protect our national interests. their leadership has helped make our nation's military the best-led, best-trained, best-equipped in the world ever. chairman levin, i owe you a personal debt of gratitude. if you hadn't been such a staunch supporter during several confirmation processes for me, i might have preceded you in retirement. [laughter] come to think of it, i'm not sure whether to thank you or to blame you. [laughter] and chairman mckeon, your leadership on the house armed

services committee has been so legendary that your colleagues have renamed the fiscal year 2015 national defense authorization act after you. i'm just glad your name won't be on the appropriations bill, because i don't want there to be any confusion about who yets the money -- who gets the money. and chairmen, plural, on behalf of our men and women in uniform and their families, just let me simply thank you for your leadership, for all you've done for our nation, your devotion to the men and women of the joint force will continue to resonate throughout the ranks. we will proudly be part of your congressional legacy. thank you very much. [applause] [background sounds]

>> attention! ceremonial -- >> ceremonial -- [inaudible] >> ladies and gentlemen, senator levin. >> well, secretary hagel, chairman dempsey, this is really an overwhelming moment for me and my wife, barbara, on this extraordinary day for us. we look out at this glorious, glorious sight at the men and women in uniform who represent

the best of this country. i very much thank you for your introductions, for the awards, for the recognition, and i would just spend a few minutes kind of reminiscing about those 36 years. i never, i never was in the armed services. and when i came to washington 36 years ago, i decided i was going to join the armed services committee to learn, to learn what i had missed. and i hope identify learned a -- i've learned a lot, and i think i've learned a lot. and, buck, one of the things i've learned is the beauties of working in a bicameral way between the house and the

senate, working with you and your predecessors in a bipartisan way. our determination over the previous years to produce a bill this a very difficult set -- in a very difficult setting and environment, our determination to finish our service here with a final defense authorization bill for us even though it may come down to the wire again. it keeps us young. [laughter] but we will do can it. we will do it. we are both determined that we will pass, i believe, the 53rd straight authorization bill, and we will not fail in that. but some of the things i've learned, of course, i've seen the incredible courage of our men and women who have been in battle, been in harm's way,

putting on the uniform of this country so proudly. and when wounded, their fierce determination to carry on and to go back, if possible, into harm's way. i've seen it in hospitals, i've seen it in the eyes of families that have supported those men and women who put on our uniform. i've seen the wisdom and advice of our leaders such as chuck hagel and general dempsey. wisdom that we need on the senate and the house of representatives as to how to prevail and to win when we go to battle, but also how to deter and to avoid where that is possible and consistent with our nation's interest, to to deter and to avoid the battles which cause so much destruction that at times are so is necessary.

i've seen what american power can do and the extraordinary achievements that american power can give us, but i also have learned the limits of our power and understand those limits. i've seen the loyalty of our men and women in uniform to each other as well as to this country and to the determination that they have that they will not leave a buddy behind no matter what the circumstances and even though that buddy may have done some things which appear to be less than what our standards are. it makes no difference. the loyalty that our men and women have to each other is so fierce, that determination is so great that it should be an

inspiration to every american. the courage of our wounded warriors i've already mentioned. i will add the power of something else, and that's the power of working together, the jointness, the goldwater-nichols act which promoted that jointness and how much stronger we are when we all and you all work as one. i've seen the role of the commanders, how important that role is to making sure that we are ready and that our spirit and loyalty to each other is diminished -- diminished by differences of race or gender or sexual orientation. i've seen the power of that command and those commanders overcome some differences that needed to be overcome, whether

they were differences that resulted in don't ask, don't tell and the need to repeal that policy so that we all could be whoever we are, and the power of the commanders, the need for our commanders, the responsibility of our commanders now when we are addressing the problems we've had when we've not dealt adequately with sexual assault or sexual harassment. our commanders are key, and they have stepped up to our history, to their role, and they are stepping up to that role. i've seen the importance, the vital importance of bipartisanship in security policy, in foreign policy and how when we don't live up to bipartisanship, how our country is weakened. i've seen the way our leaders, our military leaders, civilian

and uniform, have not only produced the most powerful army and the army with the greatest spirit that is in the world, but i've also seen how they represent us around the world. they are great diplomats as well as great military leaders. and men and women in uniform who have not only offered their lives to us, but they've given us an extra gift, a gift they didn't maybe even realize that they were signing up for, and that's the way in which the men and women in uniform and our veterans, obviously, have helped to unify this country, have given us a gift of unity. because the people of the united states love the people who serve us in our military and our veterans. there's a love affair between our people and you.

and that love affair, that determination that we provide you everything that you need to succeed in battle and to, in peacetime, recover from wounds of war and to support your families, that determination of the american people, bipartisan, knows no geography. it is so keen that when we fall short -- and at times we do -- they will remind us with great vigor as to what the service to this country means and how we must at all times do the best we can to support the men and women in uniform and the families that support them. that gift of unity so needed in our country -- is so needed in our country. we don't have too many sources it seems at times that keep us unified. but men and women in uniform, your courage, your bravery, your dedication, your loyalty to each other is a huge source of unity

in a country which desperately needs unifying factors. and so i'm here with my wife today, barbara, and many of our staff and former staff, and we -- and mentioning my wife barbara one last time, she is the proud sponsor of a la to haval bat ship which is being built. it's called the uss detroit. it's lcs-7. and she has become so deeply involved even before that with military families and with military children. but now she, when i know -- when she's not at home, i know where she is. she's studying how to break a bottle of champagne. so thank you. thank you so much for these honors. i want to thank our leaders, secretary hagel, general dempsey and everyone with whom they serve for their great, great

contribution to the defense of this country. thank you for your friendship and for your very, very warm words this morning. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, congress match mckeon. congressman mckeon. [applause] >> thank you, secretary hagel, chairman dempsey, senator levin, service secretaries, members of the joint chiefs, family and friends, most importantly, the men and women standing in uniform. i'm humbled by your attendance here today. i wish i had the words, mr. secretary, chairman, senator, to thank you for the

opportunity i've had to work with you. for your kind words that you just spoke. you know, the longer i've been in congress, the more opportunity i've had to work with the men and women in uniform and those who serve the men and women in uniform, the civilians. i wish i had the words to adequately express to you with my feelings of admiration, respect. you know, to me just looking out here, the young men and women that have dedicated their lives to us, it just says what america is. that is amazing. at the outset, i want to thank my wife, patricia, of 52 years. she has stood by me. she's very, very patient. thank you for your love, for

your support. we have one of our sons and his wife with us today, david and crystal. we want to thank them. we have six children 30 grandchildren, and i'm going to spend a little more time with them. i know the best way to show gratitude to the troops in review is to keep my remarks short. [laughter] i represent a large district in california, but i've always thought of every man and woman in uniform and their families as my constituents. before the first world war, the germans were considered to have the best army in the world. after the war a german general said this: i fought in campaigns against the russian army, the serbian army, the romanian army, the british army, the french army and the american army. i participated in more than 80 battles. i have found your american army the most honorable of all

enemies. you have been the bravest of our enemies. to this day, you wear the uniform of the finest military in the world. i believe you stand here as the finest military on this earth in history. you carried on the traditions of bunker hill and gettysburg and bela wood and normandy, and you made your own mark in history in places like tora bora, fallujah and ramadi. through your blood and sweat, you have earned eternal gratitude there your fellow americans, envy from fellow nations and fear there your enemies. -- there your enemies -- from your enemies. it's been the greatest honor of my life to serve you in congress. everything that senator levin and i did, every bill, every debate in the house and senate,

every tough negotiation, all were for those of you in uniform and your families. if anything can be said about our ten your as armed service -- tenure as armed service chairmen, i hope it is that we acted worthy of your sacrifice. you have my sincerest thanks. god bless each and every one of you. god keep you as we enter a new conflict in the middle east. and god bless these united states of america. [applause] [background sounds]

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♪ ♪ .. ladies and gentlemen, of this concludes today's ceremony. please remain in place as the official party