By vanessaelshamyBy now I’m sure you’ve seen the Nike “Just Do It” ad campaign featuring former 49ers player, Colin Kaepernick. The image, featured on billboards, in magazines, and all over social media, sports an up-close image of Kaepernick in black and white and reads, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.” This…
By vanessaelshamyThe Bold Type: Three fierce women take on New York City together while writing for a global women’s magazine called “Scarlet.” Through their adventures, they explore their sexual identities, the subject of love, and fashion. All this takes place on the Freeform’s relatively new show, The Bold Type. It’s actually based on Cosmopolitan magazine, dealing…
By vanessaelshamyEarlier this month, Swedish peace activist Benjamin Ladraa was denied entry into Palestine by the Israeli government, after walking all the way from Sweden to Palestine. The walk took him approximately eleven months to complete, his goal to raise awareness about the Israeli military occupation in Palestine and the injustice and violence that’s being ravaged…
By vanessaelshamyA few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about celebrating Ramadan and Eid in Trump’s America. It was a pretty simple piece – just me discussing the emotions I feel being a Muslim, knowing that so many people around me voted for someone who believes that Muslims should be deported out of the country, and…
By vanessaelshamyAs Muslims, we rely on God to heal us from our sins, our worldly obsessions, our sicknesses, etc. We believe that God has power over all things and that “verily with hardship comes relief.” As someone with a neuroscience degree, I believe that the brain is the most complex part of the body, and that…
By vanessaelshamyIntersectional feminism: a term that, while seasoned, is just now getting the time in the spotlight that it needs. While feminism advocates for women’s rights and equality between the sexes, intersectional feminism goes even deeper than that. It’s the understanding of how women’s overlapping identities — like race, class, religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity — all come together…
By vanessaelshamyStaying true to my beliefs in my community– where my family probably made up the entire Muslim population in the area– was tough, to say the least. We actually moved around quite a bit in my childhood, and pretty much every neighborhood we’ve lived in has been predominantly white and Christian. There was seldom a mosque in our area, and…
By vanessaelshamyIlhan Omar gets our #Firestarter superlative in our first-ever #MGTop8. The #MGTop8 highlights fearless changemakers that are making an impact on elevating Muslim women’s voices. To view the rest of our #MGTop8, click here. Gunshots rung out one night as attackers broke into the Omar family home, destroying walls with bullets and leaving lasting imprints of the…
By vanessaelshamy“We are all one Ummah.” We hear this sentiment a lot, and don’t get me wrong– I love it. I just wish it were true. Unfortunately, our Muslim communities, particularly the older generation, are overwhelmingly oblivious (or complacent) to the racism prevalent in our communities. As in our overall society, Black Muslims are sometimes treated as “less than” other Muslims by…
By vanessaelshamyIt can be difficult to go through life wondering if what you’re doing is right or wrong. Everyone has an opinion and it can seem like everyone’s eyes are on you – especially when you are representing a faith that people are already questioning. But one thing I learned in life is that we live…
By vanessaelshamyI struggled in college. As the years passed, things like school work and making friends became easier, but being sure of who I was as a person unfortunately got harder for me. It took a great toll on my mental health and turned me into a person I did not at all want to be….
By vanessaelshamyThe Women’s March that made history on Jan. 21 of last year is nearing its first anniversary. The protest was considered largely a response to his election and inauguration, as well as an opposition to the extremely problematic policies of his campaign. Unlike the grim shadow that many people felt was cast over the country when he…
By vanessaelshamyDiversity–getting to know how different cultures typically live, eat, celebrate holidays–is beautiful. Stepping out of your comfort zone to get to know and understand someone who was raised differently than you were is what is oftentimes lacking. We need acceptance, understanding, willingness to learn and openmindedness in order to improve the ways in which we…
By vanessaelshamyNew York City is an extremely resilient city. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning, a pipe bomb explosion took place in the New York City subway. The bomb only partially exploding, but injured five and sent panic throughout the city. Akayed Ullah, 27 and a resident of New York City, was allegedly acting alone and informed…
By vanessaelshamyIt’s been a few days since Donald Trump’s third Muslim ban was allowed by the Supreme Court. In a 7-2 decision, the Court released two orders that would lift the temporary block of Muslim ban 3.0, automatically putting it into effect. This comes just a few days after Senate passed his tax reform bill, and just a…
