- Amina Amdeen (AA): I noticed you with the hat.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I noticed that you were surrounded by some people.
And I noticed they were being kind of threatening.
And then somebody snatched your hat off your head.
And that's the point where I...
something kind of snapped inside of me.
Because I wear a Muslim hijab,
and I've been in situations where people have tried
to snatch it off my head.
- Joseph Weidknecht (JW): Wow.
- AA: And I rushed towards you and I just started screaming,
"Leave him alone! Give me that back!"
- JW: I don't think we could be any further apart as people,
and yet it was just kinda like this common
"that's not okay" moment.
You are genuinely the only Muslim person I know.
I just... It's not that I've actively avoided,
it's just, I've just never been in the position
where I can interact for an extended period of time.
So, I guess my views on the Muslim community
have been influenced by a lot of the news articles
and things of that nature.
- AA: I feel like a lot of times in the media
you don't see the normal Muslim,
the one that listens to classic rock, like I do.
You don't meet that Muslim.
- JW: Can you tell me about where you grew up?
What was that part of your life like?
- AA: So, I was born in Baghdad, in Iraq.
I moved to the US when I was 10 years old.
- JW: Okay. - AA: Being a Muslim girl,
I stood out in almost every single way that you can
in middle school, the worst time to stand out.
What about you, how was it, like, when you grew up?
- JW: I was home schooled.
So it was a vastly different experience socially.
It was, I didn't have, I guess,
as many friends as most people would.
I only went public school one year of my life,
and I got in three fights.
And I lost all of them. - AA: Aw.
- JW: I actually lost a lot of friends
because of this election.
Because of my political stance.
So, I hope that I can be the reason that someone
decides to talk to someone
as opposed to just cutting them out of their life,
or blocking them on Twitter, you know?
- AA: I'd like for this to encourage other people
to engage in more conversations
with people that you don't agree with.
- JW: That's what it's all about.
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who felt like that.
*