77: How Counter-Terrorism Laws Harm Minorities

Less than a week after the January 6th attack on the US Capital building attorneys Diala Shamas and Tarek Ismail co-authored a piece for the Washington Post titled, "Calling the Capital riot 'terrorism' will only hurt communities of color." 

Our conversation explores some of the less publicized consequences of anti-terrorism legislation and law enforcement priorities going back decades, to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Diala Shamas is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and Tarek Ismail is an associate professor at the CUNY School of Law.

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Episode 24: Muslim in America & Refugees

Isra Chaker is a force of nature, and we were lucky to get a few minutes to interrupt her whirlwind of advocacy, public speaking, and campaign organizing on issues ranging from Islamophobia and bullying, to refugees and asylum seekers, to the so-called “Muslim Ban” imposed by the current US administration. We talk about her experiences growing up as a Muslim in the US in the aftermath of September 11, and how she confronted the bullying she faced in school and the role this played in setting her on her current path. We also discuss her campaign to highlight the lives and the challenges faced by asylum seekers by renting out Donald Trump’s childhood home on AirBnB, the curriculum that she helped to develop for thousands of US schools to teach young kids about the experiences of Muslims and refugees, and her recent trip to visit refugee camps in Jordan for Oxfam USA.

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Photo credits: Isra Chaker