Najam Interviewed by VOA on Charlottesville
Dean Adil Najam of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University was interviewed by Voice Of America (VOA) Urdu service to explain the history of discrimination and supremacy politics in USA and the possible implications of the violence that erupted at Charlottesville on minorities in America, including Muslims. The interview was carried live in the news magazine show View 360, aired on August 15, 2017.
Najam pointed out that there is a long history of racial discrimination and aggression against newcomers in America – the ugliest episode of which is the tolerance of slavery and continuing and on what the new emergence of white supremacy means for American society and for minority groups living in USA.
Asked how Muslims living in USA were reacting to this new wave of supremacy rhetoric and activism, Najam pointed out that which there was grave concern and much fear amongst Muslims, this was the time not just to be afriad, but to be active. He said that the lesson that Muslims in America must take from history is that “if you do not stand with other vulnerable groups when they are threatened and marginalized, then no one would stand with you when you are.”
Adil Najam is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was a former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. Najam’s research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Najam is author of “Portrait of a Giving Community: Philanthropy by the Pakistani-American Diaspora” and a frequent commentator of issues related to Muslims living in America.