Skirball Talks: Linda Sarsour

Presented by NYU Skirball and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU. Co-sponsored by NYU Sanctuary, NYU Center for Multicultural Education & Programs, Islamic Center at NYU, and NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Award-winning, Brooklyn-born Palestinian American Muslim racial justice and civil rights activist Linda Sarsour delivers a lecture on migration, refugees, and the politics of sanctuary. Best known for her intersectional coalition work and building bridges across racial, ethnic, and faith communities, Sarsour has been at the forefront of major social justice campaigns both locally in New York City and nationally. She is a board member of the Women’s March on Washington, the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, and co-founder of MPOWER Change, the first Muslim online organizing platform. She is joined in conversation with Paula Chakravartty (NYU Gallatin and NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication).

Held weekly every Monday at 6:30 p.m. during the academic terms, SKIRBALL TALKS hosts visionaries from the worlds of politics, the arts, sciences, academia, and more.

Linda Sarsour is an award-winning racial justice and civil rights activist, seasoned community organizer, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken, and independent, Sarsour shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!” She is the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPOWER Change. Sarsour has been at the forefront of major civil rights campaigns including calling for an end to unwarranted surveillance of New York’s Muslim communities and ending police policies like stop and frisk. In the wake of the police murder of Mike Brown, she co-founded Muslims for Ferguson to build solidarity amongst American Muslim communities and encourage work against police brutality. She is a member of the Justice League NYC, a leading NYC force of activists, formerly incarcerated individuals, and artists working to reform the New York Police Department and the criminal justice system.

Sarsour co-chaired the March2Justice, a 250-mile journey on foot to deliver a justice package to end racial profiling, demilitarize police, and demand the government invest in young people and communities. She was instrumental in the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays to push New York City to incorporate two Muslim high holy holidays in to the NYC Public school calendar. New York City is now the largest school system in the country to officially recognize these holidays. Sarsour is also a Senior Fellow at Auburn Seminary along leading social justice faith leaders. She was the National Co-Chair of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, dubbed the largest single-day protest in US history. She serves on the executive board of Women’s March, Inc., where she focuses on fundraising and direct action planning.

Sarsour has received numerous awards and honors including the “Champion of Change” from the White House, the YWCA USA’s Women of Distinction Award for Advocacy and Civic Engagement, the Hala Maksoud Leadership Award from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Andrew Young Foundation’s Annual International Leaders Award, the Shirley Chisholm Award by the New York City Council, and was recognized by the NAACP New York State Conference. Sarsour was named among five hundred of the most influential Muslims in the world, fify of the world’s greatest leaders by Fortune MagazineEssence Magazine’s WOKE 100,  and featured on the Time 100’s list of the world’s most influential people. Sarsour was profiled on the front page of the New York Times Metro Section, dubbed “Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab,” and introduced as, “mixing street smarts, activism and her Muslim identity, Linda Sarsour has become a political force.” She has written for and has been featured in local, national, and international media discussing impact of domestic policies that target Arab and Muslim American communities, criminal justice issues, immigration, and Middle East affairs. Sarsour is well respected amongst diverse communities in both New York City and nationally. She is most recognized for her transformative intersectional organizing work and movement building.

Paula Chakravartty is associate professor in the NYU Department of Media, Culture and Communication and the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Her research and teaching interests span comparative political economy, social movements and global governance, and decolonial and critical race theory. Her books include Race, Empire and the Crisis of the Subprime (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), Media Policy and Globalization (Edinburgh University Press, 2006), and Global Communications: Towards a Transcultural Political Economy (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008). Recent publications include a special issue on “Mediatized Populisms: Inter-Asian Lineages” for the International Journal of Communication (December 2017) and “Infrastructures of Empire: Towards a Critical Geopolitics of Media and Information Studies” for Media, Culture and Society (2016). Her current research focuses on racial capitalism and global media infrastructures, and migrant labor mobility and justice. Chakravartty is a member of the NYU Sanctuary Coalition and the NYU Coalition for Fair Labor. She serves on the executive board of the NYU Association for University Professors (AAUP), and is affiliated faculty at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, South Asia at NYU, and the NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center of Near Eastern Studies.











When: Mon., Mar. 25, 2019 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: NYU Skirball Center
566 LaGuardia Pl.
212-998-4941
Price: Free
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Presented by NYU Skirball and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU. Co-sponsored by NYU Sanctuary, NYU Center for Multicultural Education & Programs, Islamic Center at NYU, and NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Award-winning, Brooklyn-born Palestinian American Muslim racial justice and civil rights activist Linda Sarsour delivers a lecture on migration, refugees, and the politics of sanctuary. Best known for her intersectional coalition work and building bridges across racial, ethnic, and faith communities, Sarsour has been at the forefront of major social justice campaigns both locally in New York City and nationally. She is a board member of the Women’s March on Washington, the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, and co-founder of MPOWER Change, the first Muslim online organizing platform. She is joined in conversation with Paula Chakravartty (NYU Gallatin and NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication).

Held weekly every Monday at 6:30 p.m. during the academic terms, SKIRBALL TALKS hosts visionaries from the worlds of politics, the arts, sciences, academia, and more.

Linda Sarsour is an award-winning racial justice and civil rights activist, seasoned community organizer, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken, and independent, Sarsour shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!” She is the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPOWER Change. Sarsour has been at the forefront of major civil rights campaigns including calling for an end to unwarranted surveillance of New York’s Muslim communities and ending police policies like stop and frisk. In the wake of the police murder of Mike Brown, she co-founded Muslims for Ferguson to build solidarity amongst American Muslim communities and encourage work against police brutality. She is a member of the Justice League NYC, a leading NYC force of activists, formerly incarcerated individuals, and artists working to reform the New York Police Department and the criminal justice system.

Sarsour co-chaired the March2Justice, a 250-mile journey on foot to deliver a justice package to end racial profiling, demilitarize police, and demand the government invest in young people and communities. She was instrumental in the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays to push New York City to incorporate two Muslim high holy holidays in to the NYC Public school calendar. New York City is now the largest school system in the country to officially recognize these holidays. Sarsour is also a Senior Fellow at Auburn Seminary along leading social justice faith leaders. She was the National Co-Chair of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, dubbed the largest single-day protest in US history. She serves on the executive board of Women’s March, Inc., where she focuses on fundraising and direct action planning.

Sarsour has received numerous awards and honors including the “Champion of Change” from the White House, the YWCA USA’s Women of Distinction Award for Advocacy and Civic Engagement, the Hala Maksoud Leadership Award from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Andrew Young Foundation’s Annual International Leaders Award, the Shirley Chisholm Award by the New York City Council, and was recognized by the NAACP New York State Conference. Sarsour was named among five hundred of the most influential Muslims in the world, fify of the world’s greatest leaders by Fortune MagazineEssence Magazine’s WOKE 100,  and featured on the Time 100’s list of the world’s most influential people. Sarsour was profiled on the front page of the New York Times Metro Section, dubbed “Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab,” and introduced as, “mixing street smarts, activism and her Muslim identity, Linda Sarsour has become a political force.” She has written for and has been featured in local, national, and international media discussing impact of domestic policies that target Arab and Muslim American communities, criminal justice issues, immigration, and Middle East affairs. Sarsour is well respected amongst diverse communities in both New York City and nationally. She is most recognized for her transformative intersectional organizing work and movement building.

Paula Chakravartty is associate professor in the NYU Department of Media, Culture and Communication and the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Her research and teaching interests span comparative political economy, social movements and global governance, and decolonial and critical race theory. Her books include Race, Empire and the Crisis of the Subprime (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), Media Policy and Globalization (Edinburgh University Press, 2006), and Global Communications: Towards a Transcultural Political Economy (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008). Recent publications include a special issue on “Mediatized Populisms: Inter-Asian Lineages” for the International Journal of Communication (December 2017) and “Infrastructures of Empire: Towards a Critical Geopolitics of Media and Information Studies” for Media, Culture and Society (2016). Her current research focuses on racial capitalism and global media infrastructures, and migrant labor mobility and justice. Chakravartty is a member of the NYU Sanctuary Coalition and the NYU Coalition for Fair Labor. She serves on the executive board of the NYU Association for University Professors (AAUP), and is affiliated faculty at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, South Asia at NYU, and the NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center of Near Eastern Studies.

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