October 31, 2011

Last month, Haris Tarin, Director of MPAC's DC Office, joined a panel on the Aghan American experience at the America’s Islamic Heritage Museum and Cultural Center's Afghan American Oral History Night.

SEE: “Reviving Tradition, Museum Hosts Afghan American Oral History Night” (The Muslim Link)

The event is the second in the Museum’s oral history series, which seeks to document the oral history of America’s diverse Muslim population. The first event in the series covered the “early Muslim pioneers of Washington, DC,” who helped build Masjid Muhammad during the 1950s. 

"The tragedy of the Muslim American community... is that we haven’t told our story," Tarin said. "Why should there be Islamophobia in this country? Why should people fear Muslims? Why should people see Muslims as foreigners? There’s no reason. If you look at what Muslims have done since the inception of this country, there shouldn’t be any Islamophobia in this country. 

"As someone who travels across the country frequently for work... this is the first time I’ve seen something like this happen. I don’t see communities coming together and telling their story,” he said. 

Zia Makhdoom, Wali Haidar, the President of the Board of the Mustafa Center, and Dr. Daoud Nassimi, the Vice Chairman of the Council of Muslim Organizations in the Greater Washington Area, joined Tarin in stressing the importance of sharing one's history. The event concluded with a youth panel of two graduates from the Afghan Academy recounting their experience in the school and at George Mason University.

Videos from the event will be available online on the America’s Islamic Heritage Museum and Cultural Center's YouTube channel “Islamic Heritage."

-- Marium F. Mohiuddin
(marium@mpac.org)
Communications Coordinator