Den 5. november 1990 gik en mand ved navn El-Sayyid Nosair ind på et hotel i Manhattan og myrdede Rabbi Meir Kahane, lederen af Jewish Defense League. Nosair blev fundet ikke skyldig i mordet, men mens han afsonede for mindre forseelser, begyndte han med nogle andre mænd at planlægge angreb på et dusin af New Yorks vartegn, deriblandt tunneler, synagoger, og FN's hovedkvarter Heldigvis blev disse planer forpurret af en af FBI's meddelere. Desværre blev 1993 bombningen af World Trade Center ikke. Nosair blev til sidst dømt for hans involvering i plottet. El-Sayyid Nosair er min far.
On November 5th, 1990, a man named El-Sayyid Nosair walked into a hotel in Manhattan and assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane, the leader of the Jewish Defense League. Nosair was initially found not guilty of the murder, but while serving time on lesser charges, he and other men began planning attacks on a dozen New York City landmarks, including tunnels, synagogues and the United Nations headquarters. Thankfully, those plans were foiled by an FBI informant. Sadly, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was not. Nosair would eventually be convicted for his involvement in the plot. El-Sayyid Nosair is my father.
Jeg blev født i Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania i 1983, til ham, en egyptisk ingeniør, og en kærlig amerikansk mor og folkeskolelærer, der sammen gjorde deres bedste for at give mig en lykkelig barndom. Det var først, da jeg var 7 år, at vores familiedynamik begyndte at ændre sig. Min far udsatte mig for en side af islam, som få folk, inklusiv størstedelen af muslimer, får at se. Det har været min opfattelse, at når folk tager tid til at interagere med hinanden, tager det for det meste ikke lang tid at indse, at vi alle vil have de samme ting ud af livet. Dog er der i hver religion, i enhver befolkning, en lille procentdel, der brænder så inderligt for deres tro, at de føler, at de må bruge alle midler, for at få andre til at leve, som de gør.
I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1983 to him, an Egyptian engineer, and a loving American mother and grade school teacher, who together tried their best to create a happy childhood for me. It wasn't until I was seven years old that our family dynamic started to change. My father exposed me to a side of Islam that few people, including the majority of Muslims, get to see. It's been my experience that when people take the time to interact with one another, it doesn't take long to realize that for the most part, we all want the same things out of life. However, in every religion, in every population, you'll find a small percentage of people who hold so fervently to their beliefs that they feel they must use any means necessary to make others live as they do.
Nogle få måneder før hans anholdelse, satte han mig ned og forklarede, at i de sidste par uger havde han og nogle venner taget til en skydebane på Long Island for at øve målskydning. Han sagde til mig, at jeg ville tage med ham den næste morgen. Vi ankom til Calverton Skydebane, der, ubekendt for vores gruppe, blev overvåget af FBI. Da det var min tur hjalp min far mig med at holde riflen til skuldren, og forklarede, hvordan man sigter på målet 30 meter væk. Den sidste kugle, jeg skød den dag, ramte det lille, orange lys på toppen af målet, og til alles overraskelse, især min, brød hele målet ud i flammer. Min onkel vendte sig mod de andre mænd og sagde på arabisk: "Ibn abduh." Som far, så søn. De virkede alle til at more sig over den kommentar, men det var ikke før nogle år senere, at jeg fuldt ud forstod, hvad de syntes var så sjovt. De troede, de havde set samme destruktion i mig, som min far havde i sig. Disse mænd ville i sidste ende blive dømt for at placere en varevogn fyldt med 680 kg sprængstof i den underjordiske parkeringsplads i World Trade Centers nordlige tårn, der var skyld i en eksplosion, der dræbte seks mennesker og skadede over 1000 andre. Disse var mænd, jeg så op til. Disse var mænd, jeg kaldte ammu, hvilket betyder onkel.
A few months prior to his arrest, he sat me down and explained that for the past few weekends, he and some friends had been going to a shooting range on Long Island for target practice. He told me I'd be going with him the next morning. We arrived at Calverton Shooting Range, which unbeknownst to our group was being watched by the FBI. When it was my turn to shoot, my father helped me hold the rifle to my shoulder and explained how to aim at the target about 30 yards off. That day, the last bullet I shot hit the small orange light that sat on top of the target and to everyone's surprise, especially mine, the entire target burst into flames. My uncle turned to the other men, and in Arabic said, "Ibn abuh." Like father, like son. They all seemed to get a really big laugh out of that comment, but it wasn't until a few years later that I fully understood what they thought was so funny. They thought they saw in me the same destruction my father was capable of. Those men would eventually be convicted of placing a van filled with 1,500 pounds of explosives into the sub-level parking lot of the World Trade Center's North Tower, causing an explosion that killed six people and injured over 1,000 others. These were the men I looked up to. These were the men I called ammu, which means uncle.
Da jeg fyldte 19, havde jeg allerede flyttet 20 gange i mit liv, og den ustabilitet i løbet af min barndom gav mig ikke rigtig muligheden for at få venner. Hver gang jeg begyndte at føle mig tryg omkring en person, så var det tid til at pakke sammen og flytte til den næste by. Altid at være den nye i klassen gjorde at jeg ofte var et mål for bøller. Jeg skjulte min identitet for mine klassekammerater for at undgå at blive ramt, men det viste sig, at det at være den stille, buttede nye dreng, var mere end nok ammunition. Så det meste af tiden brugte jeg hjemme på at læse bøger og se tv eller spille videospil. Af disse årsager, manglede jeg sociale færdigheder, for at sige det mildt, og min opvækst i et fanatisk hjem havde ikke forberedt mig på den virkelige verden. Jeg var blevet opdraget til at dømme folk baseret på tilfældige ting, såsom en persons race eller religion.
By the time I turned 19, I had already moved 20 times in my life, and that instability during my childhood didn't really provide an opportunity to make many friends. Each time I would begin to feel comfortable around someone, it was time to pack up and move to the next town. Being the perpetual new face in class, I was frequently the target of bullies. I kept my identity a secret from my classmates to avoid being targeted, but as it turns out, being the quiet, chubby new kid in class was more than enough ammunition. So for the most part, I spent my time at home reading books and watching TV or playing video games. For those reasons, my social skills were lacking, to say the least, and growing up in a bigoted household, I wasn't prepared for the real world. I'd been raised to judge people based on arbitrary measurements,
Så hvad åbnede mine øjne? En af de første oplevelser, der satte spørgsmålstegn ved min tankegang, var under præsidentvalget i år 2000. Under et college-program, fik jeg muligheden til at deltage i the National Youth Convention i Philadelphia. Min gruppes fokus var på vold blandt unge, og efter at have været offer for mobning så længe, var dette et emne, jeg var særligt passioneret omkring. Mine gruppemedlemmer havde mange forskellige livserfaringer. En af dagene, mod slutningen af konventionen, fandt jeg ud af, at en af børnene, jeg var blevet ven med, var jødisk. Det havde taget dagevis, før denne detalje var kommet frem, og jeg indså, at der ikke var nogensomhelst naturlig fjendtlighed mellem os. Jeg havde aldrig haft en jødisk ven før, og ærligt talt følte jeg mig stolt over at have kunnet overkomme en barriere, jeg stort set altid, var blevet ledt til at tro, var uovervindelig. Et andet vigtigt vendepunkt kom, da jeg fik et sommerjob hos Busch Gardens, en forlystelsespark. Der så jeg folk fra alle mulige trosretninger og kulturer, og den oplevelse viste sig, at være fundamental for udviklingen af min karakter. Jeg har fået af vide, at homoseksualitet var en synd, og derved, at alle homoseksuelle var en negativ indflydelse. Ved tilfældet havde jeg muligheden for at arbejde med homoseksuelle performere ved et show der og fandt hurtigt ud af, at mange af dem var de venligste, mindst dømmende folk jeg nogensinde har mødt. At blive mobbet som et barn skabte en sans for indlevelse i de lidelser andre har, og det falder mig meget unaturligt at behandle personer, der er venlige, på nogen som helst anden måde end hvordan jeg vil behandles. På grund af den følelse, var jeg i stand til at skelne mellem stereotyperne, jeg var blevet lært som barn, og mine reelle livs- erfaringer og interaktion. Jeg ved ikke, hvordan det er at være homoseksuel, men jeg er vant til at blive dømt for noget, jeg ikke har kontrol over.
like a person's race or religion. So what opened my eyes? One of my first experiences that challenged this way of thinking was during the 2000 presidential elections. Through a college prep program, I was able to take part in the National Youth Convention in Philadelphia. My particular group's focus was on youth violence, and having been the victim of bullying for most of my life, this was a subject in which I felt particularly passionate. The members of our group came from many different walks of life. One day toward the end of the convention, I found out that one of the kids I had befriended was Jewish. Now, it had taken several days for this detail to come to light, and I realized that there was no natural animosity between the two of us. I had never had a Jewish friend before, and frankly I felt a sense of pride in having been able to overcome a barrier that for most of my life I had been led to believe was insurmountable. Another major turning point came when I found a summer job at Busch Gardens, an amusement park. There, I was exposed to people from all sorts of faiths and cultures, and that experience proved to be fundamental to the development of my character. Most of my life, I'd been taught that homosexuality was a sin, and by extension, that all gay people were a negative influence. As chance would have it, I had the opportunity to work with some of the gay performers at a show there, and soon found that many were the kindest, least judgmental people I had ever met. Being bullied as a kid created a sense of empathy in me toward the suffering of others, and it comes very unnaturally to me to treat people who are kind in any other way than how I would want to be treated. Because of that feeling, I was able to contrast the stereotypes I'd been taught as a child with real life experience and interaction. I don't know what it's like to be gay, but I'm well acquainted with being judged for something that's beyond my control.
Så var der "The Daily Show". På en natlig basis tvang Jon Stewart mig til at være intellektuelt ærlig med mig selv om mit snæversyn og hjalp mig til at indse, at en persons race, religion eller seksuelle præference ikke havde noget at gøre med kvaliteten af deres karakter. Han var på mange måder en fadefigur for mig, når jeg desperat have brug for en. Inspiration kan ofte komme fra et uventet sted, og faktummet at en jødisk komiker havde gjort mere for at influere mit verdenssyn positivt end min egen ekstremistiske far, er ikke gået tabt for mig.
Then there was "The Daily Show." On a nightly basis, Jon Stewart forced me to be intellectually honest with myself about my own bigotry and helped me to realize that a person's race, religion or sexual orientation had nothing to do with the quality of one's character. He was in many ways a father figure to me when I was in desperate need of one. Inspiration can often come from an unexpected place, and the fact that a Jewish comedian had done more to positively influence my worldview than my own extremist father is not lost on me.
En dag havde jeg en samtale med min mor om hvordan mit verdenssyn var begyndt at ændre sig, og hun fortalte mig noget, jeg vil holde tæt på hjertet så længe jeg lever. Hun kiggede udmattet på mig, som én, der havde oplevet dogmatisme nok til resten af livet, og sagde: "Jeg er træt af at hade folk." I det øjeblik indså jeg hvor meget negativ energi det kræver, for at holde det had inde i sig.
One day, I had a conversation with my mother about how my worldview was starting to change, and she said something to me that I will hold dear to my heart for as long as I live. She looked at me with the weary eyes of someone who had experienced enough dogmatism to last a lifetime, and said, "I'm tired of hating people." In that instant, I realized how much negative energy it takes to hold that hatred inside of you.
Mit rigtige navn er ikke Zak Ebrahim. Jeg ændrede det, da min familie valgte at kappe vores bånd med min far og starte et nyt liv. Så hvorfor vil jeg afsløre mig selv og potentielt sætte mig selv i fare? Det er simpelt, virkeligt. Jeg gør det i håbet om, at måske, en eller anden dag, vil nogen, der føler sig nødsaget til at bruge vold høre min historie og indse, at der er en bedre vej, at selvom jeg har været udsat for den her voldelige, intolerante ideologi, er jeg ikke blevet fanatiker. I stedet har jeg valgt at bruge min erfaring til at kæmpe mod terrorisme, mod snæversyn. Jeg gør det for ofrene for terrorisme og deres kære, for den forfærdelige smerte og tab som terrorisme har påtvunget dem. Jeg vil råbe op for terrorofrene mod disse meningsløse handlinger og fordømme min fars handlinger. Og med det enkle faktum står jeg her i dag som bevis på, at vold ikke er uløseligt forbundet med ens religion eller race, og at sønnen ikke behøver at følge sin fars veje. Jeg er ikke min far.
Zak Ebrahim is not my real name. I changed it when my family decided to end our connection with my father and start a new life. So why would I out myself and potentially put myself in danger? Well, that's simple. I do it in the hopes that perhaps someone someday who is compelled to use violence may hear my story and realize that there is a better way, that although I had been subjected to this violent, intolerant ideology, that I did not become fanaticized. Instead, I choose to use my experience to fight back against terrorism, against the bigotry. I do it for the victims of terrorism and their loved ones, for the terrible pain and loss that terrorism has forced upon their lives. For the victims of terrorism, I will speak out against these senseless acts and condemn my father's actions. And with that simple fact, I stand here as proof that violence isn't inherent in one's religion or race, and the son does not have to follow the ways of his father. I am not my father.
Tak.
Thank you. (Applause)
Tak, alle sammen.
Thank you, everybody. (Applause)
Tak til jer alle.
Thank you all. (Applause)
Mange tak.
Thanks a lot. (Applause)