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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To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
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.