The below are my personal thoughts and do not reflect my employer or any company or person I am affiliated with. Hello everyone, As many of you are aware, some comments were made by Zack yesterday about Palestinians and Muslims. Before I address his comments, I’d like to take this opportunity to share some details about my background in hopes that those reading this post may better understand who I am, where I come from, and what those comments mean to me. 34 years ago, I was fortunate enough to be born in the United States of America, a blessing and lottery ticket that I thank God for every day. My parents, Syrian immigrants from Damascus, came to the US in the 70s/80s at a time when the likes of Hafez and Rifaat Al-Assad were massacring tens of thousands of their own people in Hama. The sole reason I exist today can be attributed to the words of one of my father’s neighbors, who informed my late grandmother that my father’s friends had just been arrested for political dissent, and that the Mukhabart were coming for him next. Quick on her feet, my grandmother, God Almighty grant mercy on her soul, grabbed my 22 year-old father, and with tears in her eyes, shaved off his beard and sent him to Jordan, hoping he would make it out. With the help of a few friends, and at a time when many thought “Syria” was a wheaty breakfast consumed with milk, my dad was one of the few Syrians lucky enough to be granted passage to America. To that, we say ‘Alhamdulilah’ (thank God). At some point in the mid-eighties, my father, then working as an engineer in Los Angeles, was serendipitously reunited with one of his childhood neighbors and school mates in Chicago, IL. This man would become my uncle, as his sister (my mother), would marry my father soon after. In typical immigrant fashion, they wasted no time and my siblings and I were born. Growing up in the early 90s, it was clear that we weren’t your stereotypical American family. After all, we were Muslims – headscarves, no pork, 5 daily prayers, and so on. We dressed conservatively, packed foreign foods in our lunchboxes, and spoke with thick accents until grade school. Yet, strangely enough, I cannot recall a single moment in those early years where I feltdifferent. Yes, our swim trunks could have been less goofy and explaining what ‘Zaatar’ was to kids at school was a thing, but despite all of that, we were just another American family in southern California, navigating life and seeking out the coveted dream. Then 9/11 happened. For those that may have been too young to remember, September 11th was not simply a moment or a ‘day’, it was a – a monumental shift in thought and discourse. People were horrified, confused, but above all, angry. In a famous incident, popular radio host Howard Stern called for the entire middle east to be nuked, “Bomb’em all!” And his opinion was not uncommon; from schoolteachers to store clerks, politicians to celebrities, liberals to conservatives, one thing was on everyone’s mind – “we gotta get them”. But who was “them”? Surely the perpetrators and murderers who planned the attack, killing thousands of innocent people in the process and changing the landscape of modern humanity. However, to some, “them” had a much broader definition. One of the least understood aspects of the attacks was the local aftermath, specifically the experiences of Americans who could be perceived as Arab-passing. It didn’t matter if you were Persian, Indian, South Asian, or even Latino – if you were within a certain shade of beige and had a 3+ syllable last time, you were a “fucking sand-nigger” that had to be dealt with. Many religious minorities were also caught in the crossfire, with Sikhs, Hindus, Sephardic Jews, Arab Christians, and others receiving a significant share of the vitriol. Acts of wanton violence became commonplace, houses of worship were burned down, and random people you knew from your community were being locked up, with some never heard from again. But how could this happen? How could such a monumental shift in attitude and behavior occur in the greatest country to ever exist; the same country that opened its arms wide to the tired and the poor and not once made us feel less than any another American? Truly, to be born American is an undeniable blessing and despite our governance, I would gladly give my life to this country and the people that have given me and my family a chance. The reason behind such a substantial attitude shift cannot be attributed to a single moment or event. Rather, it was the accumulation of decades and decades of subtle media propaganda designed to produce an “other”, so that the powerful can continue to prey on the angry and divided powerless. It is a tale as old as time, transcending region and geography, national lines and civilizations; a governance strategy deployed all throughout history to keep us, the people, at odds. It is this same calculated dehumanization that has led to some of the most heinous crimes and bloody massacres whose horrors we do not utter aloud. To many who heard Zack’s comments, the language he used, whether intended or not, wreaked of the same dehumanization that plagued their ancestors, their grandparents, and in some cases, their families today. It is the same language used to justify wanton violence, genocide, and the destruction of our universal brotherhood. It is the same language used to brush off a video of a Palestinian woman and child burning alive as a “price of war”. I am not writing this post to defend the dignity of the Palestinians suffering in Gaza; dignity does not require defense, it is a right. To those who have supported the humanitarian efforts and self-determination of the Palestinian people and all the oppressed around the globe, thank you. To those brave enough to look beyond their own anger and reach out to their Jewish friends and neighbors, thank you. These are trying times that will test us all. Zack’s comments may have been the impetus for this post, but if there is one thing I hope to convey in my incoherence, it is this: I desperately plea to all those reading to wake up to the forces around you that wish nothing more than to separate you from your fellow man and conquer your hearts, your minds, and your humanity. Those that wish for you to look upon your schoolteachers, store clerks, and neighbors as “them”. For they are not “them”, they are you, born to different circumstances no doubt, but are you nonetheless. Open your skin and take a look for yourself – we all bleed the same blood, share the same dreams, and will one day rot in the same Earth until our bones have long become dust and the difference in our beings will be no thicker than air. Please, for the love of all that is holy and good, look out for yourselves and those around you, and if you ever feel the urge and anger to reduce your fellow man to anything less than yourself, ask aloud – “who benefits?” Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’ll be spending most of my upcoming time working behind the scenes to ensure our staff and teams are alright and that OTK continues to grow into the place I know it can be. In the meantime, peace.