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Monday, February 20, 2017 — 3A
25-year project of interview-
based performances. The five
speakers of the event shared
diverse experiences of being
Muslim in the United States, with
a common thread of coming to age
after 9/11 in New York City.
“I think the urgency of the
xenophobia that is rampant in our
president’s new administration
makes it very important to
have Muslim people speak for
themselves across this country,”
Chong said. “These are real
Muslims,
they’re
not
actors.
These are people who actually
lived their lives in that culture, in
that faith.”
The
75-minute
production
has
been
performed
more
than 50 times nationally and
internationally. Though the show
was accompanied with music and
choreographed for timing, hand
gestures, etc., the script is based
solely on interviews of the five
speakers.
LSA
sophomore
Marilyn
Schotland
reflected
on
the
performance after watching.
“These stories are so eloquent
in the way they intermingle and
intertwine, and the way they tell
it on the stage,” she said. “I think
about how I present my identity
to other people and it’s a very
interesting conversation to have.”
Sara Zatz, associate director of
Ping Chong + Company, co-wrote
Saturday’s performance. In a
Q&A following the performance,
she spoke about reaching larger
audiences and using the show as a
call for action.
“It’s really easy to think that
we’re in a liberal bubble in Ann
Arbor,” Zatz said. “It’s really easy
to think you’re a liberal bubble in
New York City ... Right now, the
call to action is to take the next
step beyond being sympathetic
and being an ally, and being
someone who is standing up and
fighting — whether that is making
sure your campus is a sanctuary
school ... People need to go beyond
being sympathetic and to being
advocates and activists.”
One of the performers, Maha
Syed, is a human rights and
gender equity advocate. She spoke
about working in social justice
and protesting every day in New
York City.
“I’m seeing Black Lives Matter
turn up for the Muslim ban,” she
said. “I’m seeing Muslims turn
up for the ICE raid bans. It’s
amazing and it’s the thing we’ve
been in lacking for so long. To
work in social justice, you have to
believe in the goodness of people...
People are starting to see the
intersections of these systems of
oppressions. If we all got together
and did this together, we could
change the way this works. So
I really hope that is the shining
light that comes out of so much
pain.”
Syed said the performance
gives a small sample of what the
human experience looks like,
particularly
highlighting
the
diversity despite belonging to the
same faith. She spoke about the
performance an opportunity to
reach out to Muslims, as well as
non-Muslims.
“All of these things need to be
examined inside and out,” Syed
said. “There are issues within
the Muslim community on racial
diversity, on tolerance just like
every other religious or small
community. Everyone needs to
hear from everyone else.”
LSA senior Josephine Tan also
reflected after the performance.
“I really like the intersection
of identities. When you first read
it, you think, ‘Oh, they’re just
Muslims.’ But when you hear
the stories, you know they are
African American and Muslim,
a feminist and Muslim, all of
these different identities, and
it’s really interesting to hear the
intersection of these identities.”
LSA senior Brittany Chew
echoed Tan’s remarks on the
boundaries of identity.
“You
see
how
everyone’s
experiences are so different and
it’s based on all of these different
identities you hold. It shows it’s
not additive — your identity is so
much more complex based on the
intersections of it,” she said.
Jim
Leija,
UMS
director
of education and community
engagement,
spoke
about
wanting university and high-
school students to start more
conversation after the show. He
reflected on his own education
and said the performance allows
for younger generations to have
a dialogue on Islamophobia,
identity and other issues.
Music, Theatre & Dance senior,
Tsukumo Niwa echoed Leija’s
sentiments. “Being an artist,
myself, I see how difficult to
put yourself out there,” she said.
Niwa also discussed wanting
to maintain dialogue of the five
performers to spread word on
campus.
“We don’t have to rely on these
five folks to keep telling their
stories and wear themselves
down,” she said. “We can’t always
have this space. We, as spectators
in this performance, learning just
a little more about their identities
and their stories — it’s really
important for us to keep the story
going.”
One of the five speakers, Amir
Khafagy, is a Muslim of Arab and
Puerto-Rican heritage. In the
Q&A, he discussed how much the
increasing salience and meaning
of the performance to him.
“It’s very important to tell
your own story — the more you
continue to allow other people to
tell your story for you, to speak on
behalf of you, or about you, you
lose some sort of power,” Khafagy
said. “I think doing this show, it
gives the general public that Islam
is not just this one thing — it’s
diverse.”
He also talked about inaccurate
media portrayal of Muslims in
the United States. During the
performance, he spoke about the
difficulties of assimilation.
“There comes a point when
you get sick and tired of a seeing
a Muslim on an airplane, and
people thinking he’s about to
blow it up, (rather) than just go on
a vacation,” Khafagy said. “Every
time you turn on the news, we’re
the bad guy, and that gets so tiring
and you come to hate yourself.
Growing up as a kid, as I talked
about in the story, I hated myself.”
Chong agreed with Khafagy’s
ideas of Muslim identity. “There
are Muslims who wear chador,
the headscarf, and there are
Muslims who don’t. There are
Muslims who are feminists, there
are gay Muslims — it’s just like
anybody else,” he said. “I want
them to see the human faith of
people who are Muslim and to
see that it’s much more complex
than a cardboard idea of what a
Muslim is.”
Chong’s use of light, projection
and sound — both musical and
clapping — allows for a unique
intersection of the artistic and
political to intersect.
“I feel it’s important as an
artist to facilitate some sanity
into the discourse.” Chong said.
“Sanity — meaning stability,
meaning not creating lies about
people.”
CHONG
From Page 1A
it that we’re enduring right now,”
McCoy said. “What is at stake in
this current storm that we’re in?
Who are you? What do you bring?
How can you feel centered not just
in yourself, but in what about you
preaches outward? A stand I have as
an activist is not just what does our
tradition say, but does it preach?”
She also explained the truth of
Judaism was to stand up for racial
equity and justice, and to speak out
against xenophobia, homophobia
and transphobia. At the end of the
dinner, McCoy talked about how
her Jewish identity informed her
activism in the form of finding truth
and justice in the world.
“My lived experience as a Jew is
equity and justice,” she said. “That
means that when I think of Torah
— which is our Jewish tradition,
our system of law — I define Torah
as the way we understand what it
means to go out into the world and
stand for what is true.”
LSA sophomore Alona Henig
said McCoy gave her a new
perspective on the connection
between Judaism and activism.
“I do think about my Jewish
identity, but not in terms of when
I’m doing social justice work,”
Henig said. “But that was a new
way of seeing it, with tradition
and culture and community, in a
way that I haven’t seen in Hillel
before.”
In the workshop following
the dinner, students answered
prompts asking what emotions
they
felt
most
and
least
comfortable expressing in the
contexts of home and social
justice by standing next to posters
in the room labeled with what
McCoy called “core emotions”
such as sad, mad, joyful, powerful
and peaceful.
HILLEL
From Page 1A
such as the Flint water crisis,
Enbridge Line 5 pipelines and the
Great Lakes nuclear waste dump.
Another
common
theme
throughout the rally was the
promotion of the reality of climate
change and the statistics used
to argue for its existence. Ann
Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor
explained that with an increase
in average warmer temperatures,
at night and during the day, there
has been a nationwide increase
in precipitation and shorter
winters.
“We have more precipitation
over the last 60 years, 45 percent
more precipitation each and every
year,” he said. “That is dozens
of Michigan Stadiums filled
with water that we have in our
community because of climate
change, and it’s something we
have to address.”
According to Taylor, the city
has been working to promote
environmental awareness and
protection with methods that
include increasing solar energy
use
throughout
Ann
Arbor
and improving transportation
infrastructure to help reduce
emissions. In 2012, City Council
unanimously passed its Climate
Action Plan with the hope
of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and the long-term goal
of seeing a 90 percent decrease by
2050.
With the efforts of local
governments like the one in Ann
Arbor, speakers urged attendees
to strive to create even more
change. They explained the
importance of coming together
to rally, to organize and to
promote issues like protecting
the environment.
During
his
presentation,
state Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D–Ann
Arbor) asked citizens at the
rally to look at the American
flag waving behind them on
the Diag and to understand its
multifaceted
importance
in
promoting all people and causes.
“That flag does not stand
for greed, it does not stand for
pollution, it does not stand for a
climate that is warming,” he said.
“That flag stands for our national
parks. That flag stands for clean
air and clean water. And someday
soon, I know that that flag will
stand for the nation that will take
a lead in climate change fighting
in this world.”
This sort of leadership is one
that is encouraged at events such
as Saturday’s rally, and one that
often begins with the individual.
Business senior Anna Norman
explained how crucial it is all
people take action to promote
ideas they are passionate about.
“It’s definitely a time for active
engagement,” she said. “I think
a lot of us say that we care about
these issues, but unless you leave
your house on a Saturday and
participate, you’re not really
doing your part.”
Following
the
rally,
participants were invited to
participate in advocacy activities
in the Dana Natural Resources
Building.
Participants
were
given prompts to make phone
calls
and
write
letters
to
legislators, and in another room
a large chalkboard with the “5
Pillars of Waste Reduction” was
available for attendees to write
statements about what they will
do to improve on the pillars of
refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and
recycle.
CLIMATE
From Page 1A
hard-working people from all
over the world that come here to
educate themselves … please don’t
be discouraged by what I hope is a
hiccup in American history. Please
realize that we’re committed to
you as members of our community,
and we’ll do all the things we know
how to do … to support you and
your education.”
As a citizen of one of the
seven banned countries herself,
event organizer Mina Jafari, a
Rackham student, expressed
her own confusion about how
the ban inspired her to bring
information to her peers.
“I’m from one of those
seven
countries,
and
this
whole situation, especially the
weekend after the executive
order, raised lots of questions
and concerns among people
affected and even people who
are
not
directly
affected,”
Jafari
said.
“It’s
not
just
international
students
from those seven countries;
the
entire
international
community is very worried
about what’s going to happen
next.”
Panelists aimed to satisfy
this need for knowledge by
speaking about the legal and
administrative aspects of the
executive order. Each stressed
the complexity of the issue and
encouraged students to reach
out to any of their offices for
individualized assistance in
navigating the ban.
Cynthia
Wilbanks,
University
vice
president
for
government
relations,
spoke about the University’s
collaboration
with
other
organizations and officials like
the Association of American
Universities
since
the
introduction of the ban.
“These
activities,
one
on
their own is not sufficient, but
collectively, in ways that we try to
join the other interested and very
seriously impacted organizations
helps us to amplify the messages
we want to be sure are heard,” she
said, explaining the collaboration
aimed to advocate for students’
rights under the order.
BAN
From Page 1A
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space for them to speak, the media is
just perpetuating stereotypes.”
Saturday’s production is a part of
a series, “Undesirable Elements,” a
25-year project of interview-based
performances. The five speakers of
the event shared diverse experiences
of being Muslim in the United States,
with a common thread of coming to
age after 9/11 in New York City.
“I think the urgency of the
xenophobia that is rampant in our
president’s
new
administration
makes it very important to have
Muslim people speak for themselves
across this country,” Chong said.
“These are real Muslims, they’re
not actors. These are people who
actually lived their lives in that
culture, in that faith.”
The 75-minute production has
been performed more than 50
times nationally and internationally.
Though the show was accompanied
with music and choreographed for
timing, hand gestures, etc., the script
is based solely on interviews of the
five speakers.
LSA
sophomore
Marilyn
Schotland
reflected
on
the
performance after watching.
“These stories are so eloquent
in the way they intermingle and
intertwine, and the way they tell it
on the stage,” she said. “I think about
how I present my identity to other
people and it’s a very interesting
conversation to have.”
Sara Zatz, associate director of
Ping Chong + Company, co-wrote
Saturday’s performance. In a Q&A
following the performance, she spoke
about reaching larger audiences and
using the show as a call for action.
PROTEST
From Page 1A
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