>> is there a nonfiction author or book you would like to see featured on book tv? send us an e-mail, book tv at c-span .org. post a comment on our wall. >> good evening. good evening. welcome to politics and prose at busboys and poets in brooklyn. thank you for coming out this evening.

we are pleased to bring authors and events to brooklyn, tacoma. now if you would please silence all phones. boots can be purchased that i register on the way out the door. you can have them signed this table right here. >> thank you so much and welcome. good evening.. good evening. good evening. how many are here for the 1st time? it is always exciting. and this one. okay. i want to thank you all and say a very special thank you to politics and prose. wewe are thrilled to be part of this partnership.

it is great to have you.you. this is a special event because it has two of my favorite people. so of course the racial justice issue. together she relied on the board of race forward on a national basis. it has been asked tended beyond the paradigm. that will bring everyone into a unified, cohesive manner. of course it's a langston hughes poem is speaks about the other, being black in

america and tongue feel like your an outsider. busboys and poets is named after langston hughes. back in 1924 what a langston was working at the hotel, he was working with the famous poem. while he was working as a bus boy he was being entrepreneurial. busboys and poets comeau we actually had a poem that was sketched on the top of the mural.

the idea that let america be america again, the dichotomy , the confused adolescents where it feels like it is supposed to be something that is not quite up to a standard. that is the thing that makes america so interesting and full of possibility. the young langston hughes living in this country, not a, not a very hospitable place for black young men in the 1930s, he saw the possibility for what america could be. america was a place that has the potential to be amazing, to be the place for the dreamers dream, the place where no one is going to be crushed always says i am the right man. i am the indian post from the land, the negro bearing slavery stars, the rent

collecting for the help i speak the immigrant experience this is why think this book is so important. i even had a chance to read it. >> i want to thank busboys and poets.

leasing america by our friend. to get us started tonight we are very fortunate to be here to do a special spoken word performance. a poet, a teaching artist, journal editor and a lawyer 's affiliations include busboys and poets, but with poetry quarterly, gregory and us political action. please join me in welcoming gallery. >> good evening. as many of you know in these and south asians around the world have been celebrating the holiday yesterday and today. it is known as the festival of light when light became darkness.

my parents immigrated to the united states the island plays a role in the story. i wrote this poem yesterday kind is the 1st poll what would like to show tonight because for many of us in talking about our families emigrating to this country and talking about the experiences we have had here it is important to acknowledge the history is where we come from and some of the reasons why many of us will not return. looking for light in sri lanka comeau we celebrate the night when light overcame the darkness, when rama returned from exile, principal returned from longer in the grid of the demon king. abducted according to mythology it is becoming history.

when the government commits atrocities with impunity it keeps people's faith a mystery to my agrees to reform without accountability where is the light? what can we see? suffered abuses in the evil custody, many are now being tortured at the hands of the police and military. what are their names? when will they be free? where is the light? what can we see? the flames from our lab's guide us. we carry our fires like torches. if we keep seeking justice we march toward the night when light will overcome this darkness.

[applause] >> thank you. the last poem i would like to share with you is when i wrote a few years ago when i was invited by the executive director of south asian americans leaving together and let the time to be one of the activists and writers are doing pieces as reflections during the one-year anniversary of the oak creek martyrs. this reflects on the experiences of certain communities in our country but i dedicated to all victims of xenophobia at the hands of a fellow americans. america the beautiful. when my parents moved to this country they expected the warmth of melting pots, but not the burn of go home

spray-painted across the 1st house they felt was theirs. as a child and stood stood beside my mother holding up grocery store checkout lines because the cashier did not want to understand her foreign tongue english, just like she didn't want to understand when i shamefully descended kindergarten class asking why do they call me the color of catch up. after all, i was born speaking american. just like my parents did not want to understand when my brother and i flew home in the year after september 11 and told them of the airport security agent who looked at the two of us and said to my have to pull one of your life questioning. you can decide which one. like my three -year-old niece to not understand when i explained, your mom is from india and your dad is from sri lanka. you are from both applying,

but i was born in minneapolis. i am from this is america, this is our home, from we have been here for decades, we are not going back now. i'm from politics being something to discuss at dinner parties but hide behind the learned vocabularies of american assimilation in public. i am from still feeling like a foreigner in certain places in this country where i would blame myself for being there is something would happen to me.me. over 50 years ago for black children in alabama or murder -- murdered atthe church because they were proof of what america could be. over four years ago adults in wisconsin were murdered because they were proof of what america still is. inis. in february 3 muslim

students in north carolina were murdered in their home because they were proof what america still is. in june 9 black adults and south carolina were murdered in their church because they were proof of what america has always been. a country whose fingerprints are caked with the blood of those it calls other. is it claims to crown thy good brotherhood, hoodie, yarmulke, cowboy hat, do rag, baseball, turbine, how bit, address, job. none of these things is more american than the other. [applause] >> thank you so much.

and please join me in welcoming the author of wheatwe to sing america. currently senior fellow at the center for social inclusion. she led south asian americans leaving together and was legal director at the asian pacific american legal resource center here in dc. alsoalso taught in the program i direct, the asian american studies program she has never been silent, helped lift our voices and has done so flow which is what we see in this book, lifting up of the voices of so many news stories were not told in the wakes of september 11, passionate call action and all under

the banner of love for fellow activists and community members. please help me welcome. [applause] >> hi, everybody. are you good? so great to see so many of you here. so many faces and smiles. it is just great to be here at home with all of you. for the sake of time i'm going to keep my think he's very brief.brief. i have the opportunity at a book launch last week to really think a lot of people. just a few staff -- shout outs. my editor really helped.

i alsoi also wanted to thank a couple of other people, victoria, crostini, kayla who have helped with so much research in getting this book out there. and thank you to busboys and poets. ipoets. i appreciate that you came tonight. i told andy this before. i literally wrote most of this book at busboys and poets. and of course politics and prose for hosting. angina will be moderating a conversation. her leadership is really a model rally shipment of community and academia. thank you. she deserves a round of applause.

and that amazing powerful performance. so happy we can integrate art and spoken word into these conversations because it is critical that have cultural spaces to talk about this. we need to sing america, title draws upon raw injustice and in motion of the powerful poem, a love story to my community and the people who stand up for us, some of professional activists and some who are moved to action. as a person and an activist and has influenced my consciousness is a person of color. and sometimes places the

ones featured in this book will become part of my tribe. the backlash simply not the case. has become even more entrenched and has become overt and visible. many of the stories i'm not shared xenophobia and marginalized people they simply on their country of origin. the impact, forced to confront the horrors, families and communities.

the disappeared after being interrogated, profile, defamed and supported by our government to the conflation of national security and immigration policy. our people are told time and again are told that safety is elusive. this is not our country we should go home. we are deleting the true nature of america. languages, customs, traditions,languages, customs, traditions, and backbreaking work are desirable unacceptable. i want to share with you part of the book that tells the story of the people who have become very dear to me.

brian 2012, killed six people. it was early on a sunday morning august 2012 by going about her morning routine. wanted to sleep in a little longer. a familiar presence. built-in 2,007 on 13 acres of land on south street. they gather to pray and connect. a free meal offered to anyone who came.

they usuallythey usually hung out with their friends and play football in sunday's other mother helps in the kitchen. they don't turn out to be a normal sunday. soon after his mother had left the house is reached that the people wisconsin were in danger. asked him toaston the weight across the street where he joined others anxiously awaiting. as they emerge. not seeing his mother and becoming increasingly anxious about her safety she left the parking lot, called friends and together they went from hospital to

hospital hoping that have been brought to one. it will be a full 11 hours before someone notified that his mother have been one of six people fatally shot. when i 1st found out i passed out. i immediately thought of my little brother. this wasn't the future that had been envisioned. china has done a number of destinations. she mustered up the courage a few years later. the determination to care for a family is a pointy pride. after the mother was killed the spoke about in testimony before the senate.

never had the chance to get a formal education. help us achieve our american dream. more important than anyone else or anything else but now she's gone. a man who hated her because she was in his religion or his collar, she was not american and this was not her american dream. the bath began more than aa century ago. a spirit us unprecedented backlash after september 11. a much longer history. they face high levels of suspicion and violence in the late 70s and early '90s when the iran hostage crisis in the persian gulf war record. similarly have motivated discrimination and violence including hindu, muslim.

1907. in the laborers were exploited. and that is what occurred on september 4, 19074th 1907 with 500 white residents rounded up about 200 south asian migrant workers most of them hindus and lock them in the basement. they intended to drive out immigrant laborers who worked under contract. and unsurprisingly the

xenophobic reaction to south asian migrant labor express lines. then do is not a good citizen and it requires centuries torequire centuries to assimilate. this country need not take the trouble. what is interesting is that some of the same sentiments are ones that we share hundred plus years later. i arrived in no creek five days after the massacre occurred to pay my respects at the memorial for the victims of the tragedy. as ii approached oak creek high school a fight memorial service i could see hundreds of people waiting in line outside. they've gathered in the quintessential american high school gymnasium to mourn

the immigrants who lost their lives to hate violence in america's heartland. the jamaica with a spontaneous call and response from the audience. respect to the victims by lining up. ii tried to prepare myself for looking into the faces of the innocent people,, but i was more shaken as i realized the next each cast as to their children. his two sons flanking the casket was the sons in the casket said. i remember the only words of comfort and reassurance that i could muster. i believe these words fully but knew they could provide little solace.

to use american leaders to become a visible crescent. prevent the massacre from occurring. while service proceeded. including attorney general eric: he said unfortunately this sort of violence has become all too common in recent years. the public backlash that has been experienced has indeed become all too common but it did not happen in a vacuum. reinforced by racist anti- muslim and xena from political rhetoric, media narratives of stereotype and stereotyping dehumanized communities and the government some policies and

practices. thank you. but in this climate there are many you continue to push back and rise up and speak truth to power and those are some of the voices in this book, but we need more. because at the same time i have been placed in the chaos and struggle in a post- september 11 america significant meaningful transformer changes are happening. the movements of black lines remind us with urgency. and muslim arab and south asian communities are responding by standing firm in solidarity. [applause] we are claiming that we are not anyone's model minority

and we stand with increasing power at the intersections of multiple movements arabic clear and transgender people have been documented people with intersectional identities, workers, allies of global movements related to climate change in solidarity and human rights. and we to sing american i trace the role being played a muslim, arab, and south asian communities, young activists pushing back against avirulent anti- immigrant legislative campaign and undocumented young people who through their courageous presence and actions for ensuring the movement is expensive and

inclusive. at a time when they are becoming the sites, new battles of racism and xenophobia are being waged argue south asian muslim and arab communities must center of racial identities in solidarity with other people of color, especially as the american racial landscape is undergoing a rapid and radical demographic transformation. the book explores questions. why must south asian muslim arab emigrants redressed the narrative of cultural exceptionalism and decline the racial prize in order to dismantle the systems of white supremacy are centered and antiblack racism in our communities of color find solidarity. i believe wholeheartedly that we can build a collective vision for inclusive and multiracial future. i no it from the work that you do each day in the stories of the young people

that are told in the book and the many that are still forming. thank you for being here, listening, reading, sharing, and most importantly for coming disruptors in bridge builders. with that i want to turn it back over to janel will facilitate an amazing discussion because you know we have -- this is not just a bookshop book. want this to be used as a tool and resource. you have cards on your table will you will take a pledge and we really want this to be something that can be used by people. so thank you so much. [applause]

>> i no you are all getting excited.excited. there are cards on your table so that you can take a pledge to start generating some ideas. i am pleased to introduce an activist, and they will have a conversation around some of the themes that were just spoke about. please come up to the stage. >> at the washington piece center for she supports grassroots organizing. even gomez. [applause] and undocumented youth,, student, and member of the us cw local 400.

atr resistance. welcome. [applause] and last but not least a local muslim community organizer and a recent -- [applause] -- graduate from the university of maryland. school of behavioral and social scientist. [applause] you guys settled. okay. so let's start this off with a question. you write about the ongoing impact of september 11 the day for 14 years later. we continue to hear about this impact. the headlines over the past few months have included the father brutalized on his regular grocery store in chicago, muslim was suspended for bringing in a

homemade clock to school and anti-muslim rallies in mosques. at the same time in book reminds us that government policies and media narratives are reinforcing the negative perceptions of south asian arab muslim and sikh immigrants. i'm going to ask the panelists what is fueling the post- september 11 american plan and what the implications are the communities being targeted and for all of us. can everybody here me? first i justi just want to say how humbled and honored i am to be appear. given me a lot of hope. mention something earlier. this is survival for us. i have an uncle. if i don't organize my don't have a chance of survival. so i wanted to say that.

in terms of the post- september 11 environment we have to remember american terrorism has played out since the inception. we have to keep that context in mind. somehow we saw violence happen, but i want to talk about his state policies because the vigilante violence could not exist if we did not have state policies they say that being muslim is equivalent to being a terrorist between zero threat to the country. what has happened while he is in the bombings. the communities in this country i come from the bronx, undocumented mainly. in the span of two weeks 70 percent of it was completely gone, and 14 years down the line we still

see surveillance happening of our communities. a few weeks ago we saw a14 -year-old sudanese muslim product clock as class. this policy as a potential terrorist. we saw right after that president barack obama go in front of the united nations and say that countering violent extremism is the human rights issue of its time and says profiling muslims seen only to the paradigm of being a national security threat. i want to talk more about estate policies. [applause] >> if you want to join in the conversation. >> hi, everyone. i am lucky enough.

i got down on one knee and said will you be my mentor. so it's it's all you a little bit, i am an undocumented youth. the families came here 94. immigration asylum was denied and have you back because of that. i remember when i was in the dissertation process they talked about trying to claim the idea of exceptionalism, positive in the mainstream american life. andlife. and i'm guilty of that. i remember using the narrative.

very racially coded language. he is undocumented but at least he tried to come in the right way. i said that. i remember when i was on a talk show with this why christian gentlemen, gentlemen, stay in the country because is such a great guy, but one condition, he has to go back to india. i remember the time because i was like no, i'm not most. unchristian. looking back on it anotheri noticed not the right way to go about it. most obvious to me.

this exceptional idea. underwear ankle bracelets and ultimately be classified as a high risk to the nation. so it's especially relevant nowadays, the one year anniversary of the following of darpa. the idea of families not being family. doesdoes that mean if you not going to qualify for something. how we going to be bold with community members who have been excluded the people who have always been criminalized, the stories of black immigrant people who are at the crosshairs of both forms. [applause] >> hello, everybody.

i am heavily involved in the muslim community. so ii just want to talk about this more from the perspective of how the impact affects the use specifically.you specifically. i do a lot of work with muslim youth and adults. and a lot of this is manifested itself. i have my muslim identity and are grappling understand how i could have both. completely unnatural. they are not juxtaposed ideas. but a lot of the times we times we see our youth experiencing this and it reflects itself in feeling fear and anxiety were feeling that they would

rather should the muslim identity shed their otherness. and i guess we'll really exemplified this for me was while i was at the university of maryland i was the vp and myselfvice president and myself and a couple other people in the room helped organize a protest against the film american sniper. we get a lot of hate and hostilities. hostility. the more unexpectedly from the muslim community and campus there was a lot of fear and anxiety about what happened to them and there was this idea that maybe this protest, and that was really off put because i don't think that anyone in this country should be questioning the

appropriateness. >> thank you. i'm going to try to wrap up. before i do that i wanted to thank them for joining us. i am hoping that i can lift up young activists in the city. it is great to have you here. tellinghere. telling her story over and over again is re- traumatizing. tells me again and again and again. i just wanted to thank you. [applause] >> to wrap this up everyone

talked about the fact that the national security state has ended up criminalizing our community, and the architecture of national security policy is come together to do that. one particular way which i talk about in the book is the surveillance and in particular how that happened in new york city where they sent out mosques going to cricket games of the weekend just to monitor the activities they visit restaurants than any other establishment. and that sort of surveillance, there is no national security justification. but it creates the state of psychological warfare will

talk about how people have to make decisions like and i speak to my kids and my language, go visit my place of worship which is not the type of country that anyone wants to create. there are solutions. one particular one is that have been talked about as national extremists. the biggest threat of white -- right-wing white supremacist groups. until we get our heads around that has got to put effort into monitoring the

activities we are all in trouble.trouble. the government continues to defined violent extremism is the muslim. all of the feedback some interest. >> thank you so much. >> let's talk a little bit about the call to action in your book club building cross racial solidarity. please start thinking about your questions. first i want to read a piece

of what is written. and it helps to set up this question. without co-opting or expanding. it means articulating the pervasiveness of anti- blacks in our society through the lens of both individual discrimination and systematic racism. and it means working within our communities to address the role of antiblack racism and white supremacy

including having difficult conversations with friends, families command community members. think about cross racial solidarity. what i have currently been doing asian american organizations help put together the 1st ever for undocumented api users to come together.

never thought existed. most of the work in maryland in regard to immigrant rights latino communities. we don't include all the stories, people, and that has been the case with the black immigrant youth and families. again, emphasize criminal justice and immigration enforcement. right now a group of my friends 1st ever convening and if you would like to mention that i can connect

you. on anotheryou. on another note, another part of the work i do here in dc is, part of a group called api resistance. and we basically went and asked them what you want out of us. the three clear demands they made were the way youto address anti- blacks in your own community, show to events in the put them together and want your support. using that we have been expanding and then doing work on that. the amazing members here. >> so i think 1st if

you're a grown person in america your phone or black liberation movement. would not have arrested we have. i would not have the right path for the black power movement. we really want to dismantle white supremacy anti- blackness has to go. and if you really want to win for all committee yet to gilland our communities. the last one last one a half years for the crux of my work outside has been doing a lot of local working with likewise matter all working across solidarity groups doing a lot of antiracism work with organizations in dc about what it means to actually as an institution being antiracist institution.institution. that structural and institutional within the

community. they will have to take a step up. if you want to get involved we have a group, most of american women's policy forum they came out of trying to -- because we do see parallels between the ways in which national security state is targeting us and a pre-existing. we are seeing some parallels. one of the things been trying to do, doing with that. black muslims in this country. we have to build those bridges and make those connections. otherwise believe our communities more vulnerable. we end up thinking of the problem is not structural and there are also not checking on privilege and where we are complicit with anti- blackness in this country. [applause]

>> i just after reiterate. talk a little bit more about the intersection of does exist. ii a lot of times of friends will say to me i feel like every day there attacking a different party. that holds true for a lot of different people. i'm i feel that my blackness is being attacked for that my religion is being attacked. and a lot of the times that attacker is not always going to be the character, old white rich #trump man. sometimes unfortunately that attacker can be within your own religious ethnic community. it's important to look that in the face. it's not always easy to do. because if our own identities can intersect that are the russians are

connected. in order to dismantle those with the collectively do that and it is important to do a structurally. [applause] >> hard to wrap all that up. so i think that one of the ways in which we can actually better understand how to address antiblack racism. arab muslim south asian communities and asian communities to really build bridges to black muslims in particular. i think that the bridges that could be built there have not really been built. several black muslims i spoke with talk about that.

islamic and foreign. and so and so they say they are at the crossers, as homophobia as well as police violence. violence. so how are we building bridges the black muslim communities. the 2nd piece is really around addressing anti- blackness within our communities. part ofpart of that means we reject the notion of cultural exceptionalism. somewhat related to the model minority myth, but it got the plenty of events. silicon valley ceos, at the same time we need to

recognize we are being called terrorists. that picture is not comprehensive. creates a lot of wedges. having those uncomfortable conversations with the uncles and nazis and family something that i'm hoping that all of us will engage in. and this would be a great time for you look at your index card in your table and place to have a restart with a particular person. bring it back to me at the table over there and not e-mail you later to remind you. and in the 3rd part is, there's a, there's a quote in the book, ally of ours and he talks about how nonblack people of color need to be co-conspirators in the movements of black

lives which is an important thing. it's not about a bystander. it's important to hold the sign. what more can we should we be doing? and so a lot recently have been outraged by what happens. youhappens. you guys no who that is? indian grandfather in alabama who is taking a walk in his neighborhood and one of the neighbors called an attempt to say that there was a skinny black guy walking around. the police came and questioned him and realized he did not speak english is the only words he couldway to get say over and over for india, india, india. the xenophobic commentary is quite alarming.

one of the things that i think we can do is to get more involved with them. that is really where we are seeing the connections between police brutality, surveillance by the state in nearly being able to make a solution. so it's a process to figure out. but ii think it's really important we get to the stage where people of color are able to become a co-conspirator, to move some of the solutions forward. [applause] >> i wanted to just remind you, if you are tweeting or facebook incorporated please feel free to use the hashtag bring in mike out to them. so go ahead and signal if you have a question for any

of the panelists all of the panelists. >> this is just a comment. since we opened back in 2,005. the 1st sunday of every month. we invite everybody to come. this is something we deal with on a regular basis. we deal with these issues. one of the most diverse groups, and is a great conversation. very interesting to see how many people are getting interested in the conversation.

but i think one of the most key points behind that interest you are seeing is is taking place in the city between whites and blacks. >> what i think is really -- it sunk in about how each of us in the interim communities have stepped over african-americans on the way out. and i think it's a great contribution. good literature on that. i guess my., talked about

the history, just yesterday, republican candidate more to talk about because the real story, the same thing. and i guess when i 1st found out, chinese family no that the worst thing right now, the reason that came around his white supremacists, the violence,

meaning the black churches. so i think that's one thing. >> thank you all so much. great conversations. ..