{"id":3882,"date":"2020-05-04T14:05:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T18:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/?p=3882"},"modified":"2020-11-15T14:08:56","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T19:08:56","slug":"lean-into-the-discomfort-activst-zahra-billoo-says-check-your-privilege-focus-on-your-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/2020\/05\/04\/lean-into-the-discomfort-activst-zahra-billoo-says-check-your-privilege-focus-on-your-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lean Into The Discomfort\u2019: Activst Zahra Billoo Says Check Your Privilege, Focus on Your Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This <\/em><\/strong>Muslim.co<\/a><\/em><\/strong> feature is in partnership with <\/em><\/strong>Asian American Journalist Associations\u2019 Muslim American Task Force<\/a><\/em><\/strong> with the mission to uplift Muslim community members.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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You may have seen her before, standing up for Muslim\u2019s rights on TV or shutting haters down on Twitter. Zahra Billoo is a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the oldest chapter of the<\/a>Council on American Islamic Relations<\/a>(CAIR)<\/a>, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. CAIR is a grassroots funded civil liberties organization that defends Muslims across the nation, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and chapters across the nation.<\/p>\n

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Since the very beginning of her career, Billoo has proved that she won\u2019t let Islamophobes or white supremacists shut her down. At CAIR, she took on some major cases right from her start, combating entities from Hollister to the FBI.<\/p>\n

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But even FBI agents couldn\u2019t rattle the young Muslim lawyer. She shared that because she represented so many cases against them for a number of years, FBI agents would \u201ctalk trash\u201d about Billoo to her own clients.<\/p>\n

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Now more than 10 years later, Billoo is still keeping up the fight, and not letting anything slow down her fight for justice \u2013 not even a global pandemic.<\/p>\n

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During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Zahra shut-Islamaphobes-down-and-protect-your-peace Billoo isn\u2019t losing hope or giving up the fight. Just recently, she penned an open letter, along with 200 Muslim activists, to condemn the death threats againt Congressional candidate Amani Al-Khatahtbeh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The activist and full-time overall baddie Billoo talked with Muslim <\/em><\/strong>about what coronavirus means for many of us, how exploring faith can benefit us during trying times, and ways people can rethink their privilege.<\/p>\n

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Billoo first discussed how the \u201cNo Ban Act\u201d \u2013the federal legislation to repeal the Muslim ban<\/a> \u2013 was scheduled to go for a vote on March 12, which didn\u2019t happen due to the spread of the virus. The activist described her disappointment with the unfortunate turn of events, especially since according to Billoo, it took a lot of hard work to get there.<\/p>\n

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Despite the activist\u2019s concerns over passing legislation after the coronavirus pandemic in whatever \u201cthe new normal\u201d looks like, Billoo also talked about how this pandemic should remind people to check their privilege.<\/p>\n

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She said, \u201cI\u2019m also hopeful that for so many people, the reality we\u2019re experiencing right now is an important reminder about our privilege. If we emerge from this healthy, and with jobs, we will have an obligation to help our neighbors, our friends, our brothers, our sisters, our community members.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Billo described something that not many have said will come from the COVID-19 experience \u2013 empathy.<\/p>\n

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She said, \u201cSomeone said the other day that like we’re not working from home, we’re at home trying to avoid a virus and trying to work. It\u2019s not business as usual, and that gives us an opening to dig deep to empathize and to think about how we support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The activist also discussed how she remains hopeful during times that are as difficult as these. Billoo talked about \u201cleaning into faith,\u201d and remembering that as Muslims, our work is judged on intention, not outcome.<\/p>\n

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She said, \u201cWe have to submit to the fact that the outcome is not in our control. One of the common examples is that we are supposed to tie our camel<\/a>, and trust in Allah. So we do have an obligation to tie the camel. But it’s not just tying the camel, it’s also trusting in Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Billoo, part of the struggle is not in the outcome, it\u2019s in the practice of having faith. She discussed the importance of not getting too wrapped up in results and remembering that this life isn\u2019t permanent.<\/p>\n

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The lawyer also discussed the importance of taking care of our mental health, especially during a time of heightened anxiety and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Billoo shared that she goes to a therapist regularly, which is not something that many activists discuss.<\/p>\n

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Besides remaining hopeful, Billoo suggests that people should connect with family and their community, and to try to increase our service during this time.<\/p>\n

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She said, \u201cFor those of us who have privilege, really dig deep. As Muslims we believe that we should give from what we love, and so the question that I always ask myself is, if I truly love something it’s going to be uncomfortable to give it. And that’s what I want people to lean into right now.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLean into some slight discomfort. If I have not lost my job, can I give more to charity than I ordinarily would? If I have my health, can I put on a mask, find a charity that is serving people who are unhoused or food insecure and help them\u2026 Every person has varying kinds of privilege. And so I’m not wanting to tell people what exactly they need to do, but saying this is a moment to really do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Billoo\u2019s tips come as a change of pace from most of our social media feeds that are riddled with more materialistic goals about \u201cchasing the bag\u201d or being productive for our own sakes. After all, Ramadan is the right time to follow our good sis Billoo\u2019s sound advice.<\/p>\n

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For a great source of information and more advice, cat pictures, and snaps of her amazing baking creations, you can find and follow Billoo on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This Muslim.co feature is in partnership with Asian American Journalist Associations\u2019 Muslim American Task Force with the mission to uplift Muslim community members.   You may have seen her before, standing up for Muslim\u2019s rights on TV or shutting haters down on Twitter. Zahra Billoo is a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the oldest chapter of theCouncil … Continue reading \u2018Lean Into The Discomfort\u2019: Activst Zahra Billoo Says Check Your Privilege, Focus on Your Faith<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[79,61,73],"class_list":["post-3882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-matf","tag-racial-identity","tag-task-force"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/zillow_article_cover_v6.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3882"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3885,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882\/revisions\/3885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncorv.com\/aaja_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}