37 min

Finding Those Teaching Moments with Afroz Khan American Muslim Project

    • Islam

Afroz Khan, an Indian American engineer and the first Muslim woman to serve on the Newburyport (MA) city council, is, frankly, the kind of politician we all dream about electing. Principled, affable, and sincere, Afroz took on public office simply because she was asked to consider it. She’d started to get more involved in her quaint, cobblestone, and very white New England town by way of the schools, after her family began facing cultural biases. Initially these were fairly benign acts like being assumed to be the proprietors of the new Indian restaurant in town, but moved to the more egregious accusation of “canceling” Santa and a severe allegation of enforcing Sharia law. Now a beloved member of her community providing transparency and a voice for all minorities, Afroz joins American Muslim Project to speak about her journey.
To Afroz, public service simply means reaching out to her community, looking for commonality but recognizing that adversity can provide teaching moments. She shares some of those moments, as well as her experiences living in seven different states (you’ll be surprised about her former voting record). Grateful to have seen more than one way of life, she tries to approach issues impartially and empathetically, considering it a strength that people don’t know how she’ll vote. A thing to behold—politicians guided by reason rather than party lines!
We hear charming anecdotes about detention, her children, and an unusual upbringing as the daughter of Indian immigrants, including convincing her education-focused father to let her finish high school while living with her college-age siblings in California, because the schools there were better. Asad asks her to read from a letter she wrote to her local paper after it published an Islamophobic opinion piece about a Pakistani physician under the Obama administration. And she doles out two pieces of advice intended for future minority politicians, but apropos to everyone (we may steal those tips on eloquence).
So what’s next for Afroz? In addition to her day job in energy efficiency and being active in her children’s lives through these informative years, she was recently appointed to a board to represent her district. She continues to enjoy the interaction with Newburyport’s residents and fellow leaders and plans to run for her third term as City Councillor in late 2023. Big picture? She’s hopeful that our country can repair the recent political divide and find common ground. Keep up with Afroz and what’s happening in town here, where she can often be found doing Facebook Live videos. And check out her favorite show to watch with her 11-year-old, Attack on Titan.

This interview was recorded in January 2021.

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

Afroz Khan, an Indian American engineer and the first Muslim woman to serve on the Newburyport (MA) city council, is, frankly, the kind of politician we all dream about electing. Principled, affable, and sincere, Afroz took on public office simply because she was asked to consider it. She’d started to get more involved in her quaint, cobblestone, and very white New England town by way of the schools, after her family began facing cultural biases. Initially these were fairly benign acts like being assumed to be the proprietors of the new Indian restaurant in town, but moved to the more egregious accusation of “canceling” Santa and a severe allegation of enforcing Sharia law. Now a beloved member of her community providing transparency and a voice for all minorities, Afroz joins American Muslim Project to speak about her journey.
To Afroz, public service simply means reaching out to her community, looking for commonality but recognizing that adversity can provide teaching moments. She shares some of those moments, as well as her experiences living in seven different states (you’ll be surprised about her former voting record). Grateful to have seen more than one way of life, she tries to approach issues impartially and empathetically, considering it a strength that people don’t know how she’ll vote. A thing to behold—politicians guided by reason rather than party lines!
We hear charming anecdotes about detention, her children, and an unusual upbringing as the daughter of Indian immigrants, including convincing her education-focused father to let her finish high school while living with her college-age siblings in California, because the schools there were better. Asad asks her to read from a letter she wrote to her local paper after it published an Islamophobic opinion piece about a Pakistani physician under the Obama administration. And she doles out two pieces of advice intended for future minority politicians, but apropos to everyone (we may steal those tips on eloquence).
So what’s next for Afroz? In addition to her day job in energy efficiency and being active in her children’s lives through these informative years, she was recently appointed to a board to represent her district. She continues to enjoy the interaction with Newburyport’s residents and fellow leaders and plans to run for her third term as City Councillor in late 2023. Big picture? She’s hopeful that our country can repair the recent political divide and find common ground. Keep up with Afroz and what’s happening in town here, where she can often be found doing Facebook Live videos. And check out her favorite show to watch with her 11-year-old, Attack on Titan.

This interview was recorded in January 2021.

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

37 min