The Global Muslim Jewish Friendship Forum (GMJFF)
is excited to announce its first public program:

“All-American Muslim” is not an Oxymoron:

What does it mean to be American and Muslim in the 21^st century?

Join us for a virtual panel discussion moderated by Hussein Rashid about TLC’s popular “All-American Muslim” reality show and the issues it raises about the American Muslim experience.

When: Sunday, January 29^th at 1pm EST (Eastern Standard Time)/7pm Germany/11pm Pakistan

Where:  Your computer! We will be using free webinar software. Just log onto http://www.anymeeting.com/MuslimJewish1 on Sunday.

PANELISTS INCLUDE:

• Debbie Almontaser, Founding and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (New York, New York, USA)
• Bilal Amen, Co-star of  TLC's“All-American Muslim” (Dearborn, Michigan, USA)
• Hind Makki, Leadership Associate at Interfaith Youth Core (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
• Hussein Rashid (Moderator), Academic, activist, and lecturer (New York, New York, USA)
• Niraj Warikoo, Religion Reporter at the Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
   

Submit a question to our panel in advance!

(You may also ask questions during the panel discussion.)

MORE ABOUT OUR PANELISTS...

Debbie Almontaser is the founding and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy. As a 21-year veteran of the NYC public school system, she taught special education, inclusion, trained teachers in literacy, and served as a multicultural specialist and diversity advisor. Currently, Ms. Almontaser is a doctoral student at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education in the Urban School Leadership Program and the Board Chairperson of the Muslim Consultative Network. Ms. Almontaser frequently lectures and serves on panels as well as facilitates teacher and public workshops on conflict resolution, Arab Culture, and Islam, at universities, libraries, museums, churches, and synagogues across the city and at local, national and international conferences. In 2005, Ms. Almontaser spearheaded the inauguration of Arab Heritage Week in New York City. She is also the go to person on cultural and religious diversity issues for Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Mayor’s office of Immigrant Affairs, New York Police Department and New York City Council members.  Ms. Almontaser is a founding board member of The Dialogue Project, Brooklyn Borough President's New Diversity Task Force, board advisor for the Same Difference Interfaith Alliance, Youth Bridge NY, and a member of the board of directors of Women in Islam. She is also a cofounder of Brooklyn Bridges, the September 11th Curriculum Project, and We Are All Brooklyn.

Born and raised in the City of Dearborn, Bilal Mohsen Amen takes pride in being an active member of the greater community. He joined HYPE Athletics in 2001 and serves as the Director of Operations. He also is a board member of The Islamic Institute of Knowledge, as well as the IIK Youth Advisor. He had dedicated himself to establishing youth programs and to ensuring the younger generation does not lose focus of life’s strong values they should maintain. He lectures across the state, in mosques and community centers, addressing topics regarding youth, religion and social advancement. He has volunteered his time with various organizations and works to ensure those who are on the wrong path see there is a better road to take.  He does his best to provide reassurance and encouragement needed to assist those who have lost their way. In 2011/2012, he was a cast member on TLC’s reality television show, “All-American Muslim.”

Hind Makki is a Leadership Associate at Interfaith Youth Core where she co-developed and implemented One Chicago, One Nation, an initiative that connected diverse Chicagoans, with an emphasis on the Muslim community, through dialogue, community service and philanthropy. The daughter of African Muslim immigrants to the United States, Hind has worked extensively within the American Muslim community on civic integration, interfaith dialogue and youth empowerment since 2001. She has traveled throughout the United States and Western Europe, leading workshops on social cohesion through interfaith action and dialogue. In 2008 she participated in the “Muslim Youth Project” exchange program to The Netherlands and was a 2008-2009 Fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute. Hind received her BA in International Relations, focusing on Global Security and Diplomacy, from Brown University.

Hussein Rashid is an academic, activist, and lecturer. He is deeply committed to community engagement and community building. A native New Yorker and proud Muslim, he believes his faith demands that he leave the world a better place for the next generation.  He works with various faith communities to build on commonalities by taking differences seriously.  He has taught at Virginia Theological Seminary and Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and lectured at many houses of worship.  He is currently based at Park Avenue Christian Church, one of New York’s largest interfaith education centers.  Politically, he aided President Lennart Meri of Estonia in establishing trade relations with India, Pakistan, and Iran and served as a consultant to two US Presidential candidates and continues to work with the US State Department. He worked, through Harvard’s Islamic Legal Studies Program, on position papers concerning the drafting of the Afghan Constitution.  He is actively involved in both mainstream and social media. He has appeared on ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN, the BBC. Channel 4 (UK), Iqra TV (Saudi Arabia), Russia Today, The Guardian UK, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Listen Up TV (Canada), and NPR. He is an Associate Editor at Religion Dispatches. He is an active blogger at his own site, islamicate, and his work has appeared on Goat Milk, Huffington Post, City of Brass, AltMuslimah, and Talk Islam. His website is http://www.husseinrashid.com.

Niraj Warikoo is the religion reporter for the Detroit Free Press.  He graduated from Columbia College at Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism with a masters degree in journalism.  Over the past decade, he’s written extensively about the domestic war on terrorism and its impact on metro Detroit’s diverse communities. Warikoo has been an invited speaker or panelist at universities such as the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan State, and Wayne State; and at the national conventions of IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors), AAJA, SAJA, UNITY, and Poynter’s National Writers Workshop.   He’s appeared on local and national TV and radio programs such as MSNBC’s Hardball Show with Chris Matthews, and with MSNBC hosts Alison Stewart and Contessa Brewer, C-SPAN, CNN Headline News with Jane Velez-Mitchell , and NPR’s Tell me More with Michel Martin (National Public Radio.) Warikoo has written often about Michigan’s immigrant communities, from the lives of Mexican-Americans to Vietnamese Catholics, as well as  the region’s Arab-American and Muslim population —  the highest concentration in the U.S.