Date of Interview: 2/12/2010 Interviewer: Dr. Anne Sinkey (AS) Interviewee: Ali Ahmed (AA) Transcriber: Allison Lester AS: Here with Ali Ahmed. It is Friday February 12, 2010. And, I am here with Kennesaw State University on behalf of the MCCA project. So, thank you very much for coming especially out in the snow. So tell me a little bit about yourself where you re from? Where you re born? AA: I was born in Chicago, Illinois. And, I lived up in the North for about four years maybe, and then I moved to Kentucky. I lived there for maybe one or two years. And then, I came down to Macon, Georgia. And ever since then, I have been living in Macon, Georgia. AS: Okay. Now you are in Atlanta for School? AA: Right. AS: Okay. So old were you when you moved from Chicago to Kentucky? AA: Four years old. AS: Four years old. So you don t have a lot of memories of Chicago? AA: Not very many. AS: Okay. AA: I still remember the house though. AS: Yeah. And, the snow? (chuckling) AA: And the snow, yeah. AS: Okay. Did you live with your family? AA: My family. Yes. AS: Yeah. What do they do? AA: My father is a cardiologist, and my mom is just basically just taking care of kids. AS: Great. Do you have any brothers or sisters? AA: I do have one older brother. He s over at the University of Pennsylvania. AS: And, how long have you been at Emory? AA: This is my first year here at Emory. MCCA Interview 2010 1
AS: Do you know what you are going to study? AA: I am actually undeclared right now. AS: Okay. So what brought you to Emory? AA: What brought me to Emory? I guess fate. I don t really know. I guess I mean I ve been to Emory before for programs like NYLF, it s a national leadership forum. And, I just liked the campus and the environment and I ve heard a lot of great things about Emory. So, I decided to come here. AS: It s a great school campus? (muffled) So are you involved in any organizations here on campus? AA: Yes, ma am. I m involved with I volunteer at Emory Unicef, the Muslim Student Association, the Indian Cultural Exchange, the Pakistani-Student Association, and Chemery, which is the Chemistry club here. AS: Sounds very busy. AA: Yes, it is. AS: So what do you do with volunteer Emory? AA: Right now, I am going on charity trips to the Drew-Carter School, and basically helping kids out with homework and teaching them about Red Cross sort of things. AS: Okay, so you teach them first aide? AA: Right, right. AS: Okay AA: And disaster handling disasters. AS: Oh, okay. Wow. That s real interesting. Okay, okay. So what is your experience with MSA been? AA: My experience Well, I guess the first I did anything with the MSA was the first we were on a bowling night trip thing because it was during the month of Ramadan. And so, we basically bowled all night until our first prayer for the day, which is called padri. And well before we pretty much stuff ourselves so we can get through the day, and so that what we did. And Well ever since then, I sort of felt really close to the MSA. It s like one big family, and it s really nice. AS: So do they do a lot of social events like that where you go bowling or you watch a movie? AA: Yes, ma am. They just had a movie screening yesterday. It s about the message. And, they have other stuff, such as karaoke night, ice-skating events,...auctions (it was MCCA Interview 2010 2
sort of a fundraising). And, the talent auction basically other people bid on your talent and all of the money went to this organization that helped impoverished kids in Pakistan. AS: Oh, okay. What was your talent? AA: I am sorry? AS: Did you have a talent that you auctioned? AA: Basically, I mean.i suck at riding things. It was more like dancing, singing, helping kids with homework stuff like that. AS: Yeah, okay. So how do you think the Muslim community at Emory compared to where you were in Macon? AA: Well, the I d say it s probably about the same except it s quite more liberal over here than back over at home. You know, it s the students over here. There s not really much of an emphasis on I d say there isn t much of a I m trying to find the right word I m sorry There isn t a lot of Islamic knowledge imputed inside of the M I mean It s there, but it s not as much as it was probably back home because we had elders over there too that knew a lot about the Quran and the Hadith and all sorts of Islamic teachings. AS: So who do you go to when you are here and you have a question about your faith? AA: Well, I mean There are some kids that are religious so I tend to ask them. One of my friends, Ahmad, he s I ask him questions. And, there s another kid named Amer, and I ask him questions. And if there is something that both of them don t know, I just look it up on the Internet. AS: Okay, okay. AA: And actually my first If I ever have a question, the first thing I do is to actually call up my imam Oper back (?). Well, he s actually out of the country right now. AS: But you still have a pretty close relationship with him then? AA: Yeah. AS: Oh, that s good. How do you How do your parents feel about you coming to Emory? AA: Well, they probably wanted me to go to Duke or to some higher Ivy League school, but I liked Emory so much that I decided to come here. They re happy with the decision I made, and they re basically like, Alright, just focus on your studies. And, you know, it s actually worked out in the long run because, you know, I can go home every weekend. AS: Do you? Do you do your laundry there? AA: Yes. It s very convenient actually you don t have to pay $1.25 to do your laundry. MCCA Interview 2010 3
AS: Right. And wait for someone else and everything? AA: Right. AS: So you still have friends in Macon? AA: Yes, ma am. AS: Do you see them also on the weekends sometimes? AA: Yeah. AS: Okay. Have you found that other students here ask you questions about where you re from or make assumptions about your faith at all? AA: Well, a lot of them ask like where are my origins from. And, you know, I just tell them, My mom is from India, and my dad is from Pakistan. My dad s family actually pretty much live in India. And then ever since the partition between Pakistan, my dad side of the family moved to Pakistan. And, that is where my dad was born. So, it s kind of has a weird twist inside of it. And, that s about it You asked about if others ask questions about my faith? AS: Yeah. Do they ask you questions about being Muslim? AA: Some have asked me that actually and asked me the differences between certain sects of the religion and basically, how we typically pray and about what we believe in. I mean it s some students not very man actually. AS: Do you mind answering questions like that? AA: I don t mind it. You know, it s completely find with me. And, I think it s actually better that they expand their knowledge on the religion and just clarify any doubts that they might have had. AS: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. So, can you say a little bit about your family and sort of how they came to the states? What brought them here? Was it work or? AA: So, my Actually, my mom s side of the family moved to America. My mom s mom and two of her brothers and herself, actually, moved to America, and, they moved to Virginia. Was it Virginia or Charleston? I can t remember, but AS: Somewhere on the East Coast? AA: Somewhere on the East Coast. Yes. And, actually, they moved their because my grandmother wanted them to get a good education. And actually, my mom ended up going to Bradford University, and she was doing pretty well there. And, I think around the end of her sophomore year, she got Igesh, my dad, and had the wedding over in I can t remember if it was Pakistan or India, but they got married there. And so, my mom dropped out of college, and they moved to Boston so I think my dad was trying to do some stuff with Max General Hospital, I can t remember the correct name. But And then, it was pretty tough for them because they didn t really have enough money to start MCCA Interview 2010 4
off with, and so they actually roomed with this one Egyptian family. It was a pretty nice family, and unfortunately there were cockroaches in the room. And It was just not good. I guess it was sort of a growing experience. Just be thankful for what we have right now. And, so I have never been in a position like that before. Then, my father got I can t remember what he got I think he got some I think he got residency over at Northwestern University, and so they moved to Chicago. And pretty much that s when my brother and I came into the picture. AS: Great. Okay, okay. Have you ever visited family back in India or Pakistan? AA: Yes, ma am. Actually, my dad s older brother used to live in Pakistan. We used to visit him a lot and his kids. And my dad s first cousin also is living in Pakistan. He s actually a neurol or neurosurgeon I can t remember. And so, we visited his family a lot. And my dad s younger sister also lives in Pakistan so we visit them. In India, a bit of my mom s family is there, and my grandparent s on my mom s side of the family usually visit India a lot. And they tend to stay there for a while, too. So we visit them. And actually, my great grandmother on my dad s side of the family lives in India. Well, she is not longer around unfortunately. But, we did visit her. Okay, and Yeah, so and also the other thing was I love spending time with my mom s cousin. It will be here It was my mom s first cousin. He and I hung out a lot so we did a lot of stuff together. AS: Did people What do people think of you as an American while you were over there? Did they ask you questions about living here or treat you differently? AA: I guess Usually, it s my family members that ask me about America, and it s like they aren t used to hearing all these about like, you know, like the American ideal social society: having boy friends and girl friends. So, you know, actually my dad s second cousin s kids would be like, So Ali, do you have a girlfriend? And, I am like, No. (chuckling) They would be like, Oh, who s that? And they would just be looking at my Facebook. And, it was just a friend, you know, back home, and they would just blow it out of proportion because I guess they aren t used to seeing, you know, boys and girls being friends. So, their like, Oh, girlfriend. So, that s Yea, it s pretty funny. It got me into trouble once but I guess it was a teasing sort of thing. But, let s see That s pretty much it. I usually I tend to blend in, I guess, with the society. I mean maybe I won t have the typical Indian or Pakistani clothing, but I just never get questioned about it. AS: Did the partition Has that had any impact on your family? Do you ever talk about it? AA: It did have an impact actually because actually my grandfather s dad on my dad s side of the family was a big general, and they actually have like, you know, a lot of problems. But, it s like Because there is like And, they had to leave all of that behind because of the partition, and pretty much the Hindus were driving out the Muslims. And so, I don t know if you saw Slumdog Millionaire, but it s so like the beginning Right Where all the Hindus attacked all the Muslim families. It was pretty much like that. So, that s why So, my dad s side of the family wasn t really well off per say. They just had to take whatever they could hold in their hands. So, they had to leave MCCA Interview 2010 5
all that stuff behind, and so it had a big impact, especially considering where what some of my family members are doing right now that were part of my they were my dad s brothers and sisters. For instance, my oldest uncle - he s a chef. He s pretty good, and he s actually gotten a lot of offers to cater. He s had to move around a lot because of circumstances. And, I am not really sure about what my youngest uncle on my dad s side does, but I mean I guess it s enough. They re doing well. Actually, my dad was the studious one just studying all the time because he knew that the family wasn t doing so well. AS: Well, it obviously paid off in the end. (chuckling) Okay, how does your father, or maybe others in your family, feel now about Hindus within that situation and that traumatic experience that he had? AA: They had Hindu friends, and they have like a lot of Hindu friends actually. They don t treat anyone differently. Not all Hindus are alike. Same thing with not all Muslims are alike, or just any other religion in general. So, I guess that s what they hold in their heads, and they respect of the beliefs of what others have. And as we do that, they respect our beliefs. I don t see really much of a conflict. AS: Sort of along those lines, in the US particularly after 9/11, there have been a lot of negative media portrayals of Muslims and Islam. Have you ever had any contact with that? Or has anyone ever that s have touched you in any way? AA: Yes, ma am. Actually, I still remember.i was in the fifth grade, and I was in science class. And, my science teacher was actually quite the jokester, and she came in at around 8:43 AM. And, she s like, Hey guys. You know in New York there s twin towers? Well, a plane just crashed into them. We didn t believe her at first because we were just fifth graders, and she joked all the time. And, we re like, Like that would ever happen. And so Seriously, it happened. And, we were just like it s crazy. And, like a little while later, maybe the next day, I got some comments. I still remember in Spanish class, they were like, Did you hear those stupid Pakis that crashed into the two towers. I mean I just didn t believe it at first. We know that it wasn t even a Paki right now. So, it was just like They re wrong. I guess they associated Pakis with Muslims, and My school is I mean, it s pretty much because I was the only brown kid in my grade. I was the only Muslim in my grade, and so I got a lot of heat. Well, there s When this happened, my other grandparent, well he was actually Greek, so I wouldn t say that he had to deal with much, but I was the only brown kid left. And, I was facing not to be like racist in any way, but all the other kids in my grade were white. And, so I had to deal a lot with that, and I remember one time this one kid that was just like the biggest bully ever, you know, and he was really tall. He was pretty descent at basketball, and he s like He said some mean stuff. I just don t remember exactly what he said, but it was pretty mean. It made me cry. So I guess that s pretty much the only time I really had any trouble with that. It was one time when I was in seventh grade, but I don t think It was mainly because I had friends, and he wanted my friends, so it didn t really have anything to do with religion. AS: So you were pretty emotionally impacted then from 9/11? That you were picked on? MCCA Interview 2010 6
AA: Yes, ma am. AS: This was in Macon? AA: It was in Macon. AS: Okay. What kind of things would they say to you? Do you remember? AA: They used to call me like, you know, terrorist, and they d just tell me to go back to Pakistan or wherever. AS: Did your parents talk to you at that time or give you any help with that? AA: I sort of just kept it to myself. I didn t really think I had to rely on them much. And, you know, I was I mean just hunked through there. They soon forgot about it. I didn t let it worry me too much. AS: Okay. Do you feel like it s gotten much better since then? AA: I d say so. AS: So you haven t faced anything like that more recently? AA: Not recently. AS: Okay. Do you worry ever with the current situation in Afghanistan and now acustremently in Pakistan politically? Do you worry with your family over there? AA: Not so much. Actually, yeah it s a very Hindus and Pakistanis Civil war on the breach. But, I wouldn t say it s that big. I wouldn t say that my family, you know, would get shot out on the street or anything like that. I mean it s good to keep up with those kinds of things, but I don t think that it d impact my family a lot. AS: Okay. Do you think that the kinds of things that some of your classmates were saying around 9/11 and some of the things that the media has said since then, do you think most Americans believe that? Do you think that they believe these misconceptions about Islam? AA: I Absolutely. I mean the media is a very powerful tool, and they can portray just about anything in any way that they want to. And they pretty much portrayed the entire Middle East as the enemy. The war on Iraq for instance. And Bush even proclaimed countries, such as Iran, as an axis of evil and that implies that Muslims are evil. So, and then, there is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict where the Americans ended up taking the side of the Israelis, and so when you take When America, which is good, takes a side for the Israelis, everyone else is bad that s fighting the good, and that s pretty much (mumbling). AS: So you think that most Americans buy that when they hear that on the TV that they believe that? MCCA Interview 2010 7
AA: I don t see why they wouldn t. They might be like I don t know They re just like tr I mean, some Americans might be smart enough to say, I ll go hear the other side of the story. And, they have translators that completely mistranslate what some of the people are saying that are Muslims or Arabs based on their religion and they would Then they would make them they re doing something wrong. AS: Okay. What do you think we can do or anyone can or is there something we can do to help change that perception in the US? AA: I am sorry. I didn t quite get that. AS: Do you think that the perception that some people have from watching the media where they think that Islam is a viable religion for example? Can we change their minds? Do you think that we can change their minds? AA: I believe so. If the media can portray Muslims as evil, it can also portray Muslims as good. We can do that through the media. We can, in a sense, show different communities. I mean, it wouldn t be that big, but we can show different communities that Muslims are good. We just have to do it - one person at a time maybe. I mean, even despite all of this criticism and stuff, it s not necessarily the fastest growing religion. So, I believe people are still changing and seeing the light. AS: Okay, okay. I ll ask you the last question, which is also the hardest. What would you most like someone who is not a practicing Muslim to know about Islam? AA: This is hard. AS: Yeah. You can think about it if you like. AA: I m sorry. AS: No. AA: I d say that it s a religion based on peace. I guess AS: That s it? AA: (mumbling and chuckling can t understand) AS: Okay. Wonderful. Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate you taking the time especially in this crappy weather. (chuckling) AA: I got to go out there AS: Yep. So don t forget to take that with you, and MCCA Interview 2010 8