The Tempest
Laila Alawa is CEO and founder of The Tempest (formerly Coming of Faith), a digital media startup geared toward giving millennial women of all ethnic backgrounds a voice.
PROFILE
Laila Alawa
Guest
FROM Laila Alawa
To the Point
A new president. What comes next? For the 45th time, America has accomplished a peaceful transition of power-- leaving the country with a sense of uncertainty about the future. President Donald Trump's inaugural address repeated familiar themes from his campaign for office. The President painted a dark picture of the nation's current condition, and promised to disempower the Washington elite — but he was short on specifics. Did he reassure the majority of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton?
To the Point
2017: A new year of fear? In just ten days after last month's election the Southern Poverty Law Center counted more than 850 incidents of hate and intimidation , many of them against Muslim-Americans. The FBI found hate crimes against Muslims rose by nearly 70 percent in 2015. Civil rights groups fear that could go even higher under a Trump administration bent on tightening borders, beefing up surveillance, and waging an ideological war on quote "radical Islam." We hear what Muslim Americans have been facing, whether cases of harassment have been inflated in the media, and what's being done to defuse tensions after a divisive election.
To the Point
The battle over burkinis… beyond the beach The bikini was initially called provocative for showing too much of a woman's body. The body-covering burkini's is provocative for different reasons. Much of world was outraged over a picture that recently went viral on social media: French policemen requiring a Muslim woman to take off her body-covering burkini on the Riviera. In France and Germany, veils are associated with terrorism, cultural change and the conflict between western secularism and religious tolerance. But, for Muslim women, it's not always a question of choice. Some may want to identify with Islam. Others are required to cover up — like it or not. Can a Muslim American be a feminist — and cover herself at the same time?
To the Point
Muslim Americans and the Politics of Fear In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush said that all Muslims should not be judged by the acts of a radical few. Nevertheless, the attacks in Paris have made Muslims the latest targets of hate mail, online vitriol, personal insults—and calls for outright religious discrimination on the presidential campaign trail. Donald Trump and fellow Republican presidential candidates are making calls for outright religious discrimination. Muslim Americans report that Islamophobia is on the increase — and they're being asked to apologize for terrorists they despise. It's not the first time an identifiable minority has been targeted for abuse. What are the lessons about American values?
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Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.