27. The Year's End Episode

My guest is a journalist, activist, and author Asra Nomani. She is a former The Wall Street Journal correspondent. She has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time, People, Salon.com, and many other publications. She taught journalism at Georgetown University. You’ve heard her on NPR and seen her on CNN, Fox News, and Bill Maher’s show talking about Muslim extremism and Muslim reformism. Asra is the co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement.

Asra was born in India and has had a distinguished career as a journalist, but her story is deeply connected to the story of her dear friend and colleague - Daniel Pearl.

Some of you may remember his name, for some of you, like me, the story may be new although the events unfolded 19 years ago.

Here’s some context. Daniel was the South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal. In 2002 he was following a story that brought him to Pakistan where he was kidnapped and then became the first Western journalist to be beheaded by the Muslim extremists.

There will be two episodes this week.

This one is part one - Asra and I talk about her experience coming to the US as a child and how the separation and transition impacted her and her family. We talk about mental health and her struggle navigating social life and dating having been brought up in a conservative Muslim family. We also talk about Asra’s friendship with Daniel Pearl and how he helped her to truly integrate into American life.

And on Thursday tune in for part two of this interview where we talk about what happened in Pakistan in 2002 and what is happening now, how it changed the world, and Asra’s own life and mission.

Call our Google Voice at (213) 973-3813 and leave a message or email a voice memo to [email protected].

FIND ASRA:

https://asrainvestigates.substack.com/ and on Twitter @AsraNomani

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www.WeTheAliensPod.com

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MUSIC: "My country" courtesy of Ben Bostick www.benbostick.com

We The Aliens podcast hosts conversations with IMMIGRANTS from all over the world who came to the US and found their path to the American Dream. No matter what their status is - undocumented, DACA recipient, permanent resident (green card holder), naturalized citizen - all are welcome here. We talk about the challenges of leaving the home country, finding the legal path, finding a way to belong in the new world, building a career, finding love, and sustaining the family traditions. We talk about IMMIGRATION as a process of growth and self-discovery, adaptation, overcoming cultural shocks, and fighting racial and ethnic stereotypes. We talk about the great contributions that immigrants make to the American economy, culture, science, and society. We also feature stories of the first-gens, FIRST GENERATION American-born, the third culture kids, who have their own set of struggles growing in between the cultures of their parents' home country and America. We talk about their battle to find their identity and carve their path while redefining what American is. We talk about philosophy, psychology, culture, language, and history. We also talk about the news of the day, things that we all worry about - but in the context of the immigrant perspective. If you love This American Life, The Daily, and Pod Save America, if you read The Atlantic and New York Times, if you watch John Oliver, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, and/or Trevor Noah, if you are a Twitter addict but are contemplating TikTok, if you, your spouse, your parent, or your grandma is an alien and you know that they came to this country to build and contribute - this podcast is for you.