39 min
Democracy in America's First Muslim-Majority City with Razi Jafri American Muslim Project
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- Islam
Premiering at SXSW in 2020 and currently screening virtually across the country, Hamtramck, USA is a documentary film highlighting one city’s municipal election and how the various ethnic communities within work together.
The story that the election naturally paints, however, is the deep diversity here, a place where the soccer stadium is rented out for mass prayers, the high school flies dozens of flags representing students’ ethnicities, and the call to prayer is amplified by public ordinance.
In this episode of American Muslim Project we are joined by Hamtramck, USA’s co-director and co-producer, Razi Jafri. Born in northern Indian and emigrating to Detroit as a child, Razi has always been an activist at heart, but acquiesced to “those immigrant expectations and pressures” by becoming an engineer for a decade. In 2015, following a personal struggle, he decided to leave corporate America for a few months in search of more meaningful work. Five years, four fellowships, and manifold projects later (including photographing the janazah/funeral of arguably our country’s most prominent Muslim), he tells us how art has satiated that former void in his soul.
Now a resident where his premier film was made, Razi explains how the predominantly Polish Catholic working-class town became the first U.S. Muslim-majority city. Like all communities, the prevailing topics of concern revolve around schools, safety, and public health, and a history of racial profiling and voter intimidation in politics exists; however, in Hamtramck specifically, it’s essential to engage with multiple communities to win an election. His film shows the savviest of politicians amongst this “world in 2 square miles” breaching cultural mores—an Iraqi millennial stumping in Polish and Bosnian, a 60-something Polish woman greeting constituents with salaams, for instance—to appeal to voters from the 20+ racial groups. The city is unique, but also a microcosm of what is starting to happen across the United States in terms of diversity and multiculturalism. And we hope—through its struggles and failures, its constant exposure and representation to the other—that one small city in one immersive film could teach all Americans that at the end of the day, they have to work together.
This interview with Razi Jafri was recorded in November 2020. Find Hamtramck, USA streaming near you, and stay tuned for his two future documentaries: Loyalty, the story of three Muslim chaplains as they navigate religious freedom and Islamophobia in the U.S. military, likely out in early 2022; and an archival examination of the War on Terror and mutual radicalization through the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American imam killed in a drone strike in 2011. Also view the exhibit Halal Metropolis, which explores Muslim visibility in southeast Michigan, resuming in May at the University of Michigan (Razi served as project manager and photographer).
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Premiering at SXSW in 2020 and currently screening virtually across the country, Hamtramck, USA is a documentary film highlighting one city’s municipal election and how the various ethnic communities within work together.
The story that the election naturally paints, however, is the deep diversity here, a place where the soccer stadium is rented out for mass prayers, the high school flies dozens of flags representing students’ ethnicities, and the call to prayer is amplified by public ordinance.
In this episode of American Muslim Project we are joined by Hamtramck, USA’s co-director and co-producer, Razi Jafri. Born in northern Indian and emigrating to Detroit as a child, Razi has always been an activist at heart, but acquiesced to “those immigrant expectations and pressures” by becoming an engineer for a decade. In 2015, following a personal struggle, he decided to leave corporate America for a few months in search of more meaningful work. Five years, four fellowships, and manifold projects later (including photographing the janazah/funeral of arguably our country’s most prominent Muslim), he tells us how art has satiated that former void in his soul.
Now a resident where his premier film was made, Razi explains how the predominantly Polish Catholic working-class town became the first U.S. Muslim-majority city. Like all communities, the prevailing topics of concern revolve around schools, safety, and public health, and a history of racial profiling and voter intimidation in politics exists; however, in Hamtramck specifically, it’s essential to engage with multiple communities to win an election. His film shows the savviest of politicians amongst this “world in 2 square miles” breaching cultural mores—an Iraqi millennial stumping in Polish and Bosnian, a 60-something Polish woman greeting constituents with salaams, for instance—to appeal to voters from the 20+ racial groups. The city is unique, but also a microcosm of what is starting to happen across the United States in terms of diversity and multiculturalism. And we hope—through its struggles and failures, its constant exposure and representation to the other—that one small city in one immersive film could teach all Americans that at the end of the day, they have to work together.
This interview with Razi Jafri was recorded in November 2020. Find Hamtramck, USA streaming near you, and stay tuned for his two future documentaries: Loyalty, the story of three Muslim chaplains as they navigate religious freedom and Islamophobia in the U.S. military, likely out in early 2022; and an archival examination of the War on Terror and mutual radicalization through the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American imam killed in a drone strike in 2011. Also view the exhibit Halal Metropolis, which explores Muslim visibility in southeast Michigan, resuming in May at the University of Michigan (Razi served as project manager and photographer).
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
39 min