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'All-American Muslim' Star Spreads Message of Community, Tolerance in World Travels
From Germany to Brazil to Washington and back to Dearborn, Suehaila Amen has traveled the world as one young Muslim leader trying to help and inspire others.
In September, Amen returned from another trip to Washington, DC, this time to participate in a reception hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The event gathered young Muslim leaders and others from across the country to mark the end of the month of Ramadan, Amen said. Clinton spoke about different initiatives and encouraged those attending to stay active in their communities.
“I’ve gone on several trips with the State Department,” Amen explained.
Several years ago she went to Germany for an event for political leaders on combating extremism and counter terrorism.
Then last April she went to Brazil as part of Generation Change. That program, started by Clinton, encourages young American leaders to help youth in other countries. In this case, American Muslims visited Sao Paolo, Brazil to help teach leadership skills to Muslim youth there. Amen was there for eight days, and later some of the students came to America to see programs here, she said.
“It’s fighting extremism at the grassroots level, especially with the youth,” Amen said. By teaching youth to be leaders in their own communities, they are less likely to become followers in a radical fringe group.
Brazil has a very large Muslim population.
“Just the Lebanese alone I think there are over 15 million. So there are more Lebanese than there are in Lebanon,” Amen said.
The Sao Paolo community has come together to build mosques and schools, using their own funds. In Brazil, like America, Muslims are looking to build stronger communities and to reach out and teach others about themselves.
However, Brazil differs from the United States in how it views other groups.
“They are very tolerant of different minorities,” Amen said. “They don’t really know about you, but they don’t have any preconceived notions or expectations about you.” That is not always the case in America where especially since 9/11 some groups have gone out of their way to portray Muslims in a negative light.
“Despite all the problems we’ve had since 9/11 there has been a lot of community building across the country,” Amen said. Those lessons, such as taking on community projects and holding informational sessions on the Muslim faith, are the same ideas she is trying to share with others, including those in Brazil.
“Their issues are just how can we advance our community and build a stronger, more cohesive Muslim community,” she said.
Amen said her experiences have taught her about the growth of Muslim communities around the world and the importance of youth being active in their communities.
That message hits home with Amen, who at 33 says she had been active in her community for nearly two decades, working with a variety of groups.
She is president of the Lebanese American Heritage Club, served on the board of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Michigan for 10 years, worked with ACCESS and has done “a lot of coalition building with government agencies.” She has also helped HYPE Athletics with different initiatives.
“It’s an important organization that assists youth in Metro Detroit,” she said.
Amen credits her parents when asked how she got so involved so young.
“My parents were activists. They were extremely involved in the community,” she said.
Her mother, who was born in the United States, worked for ACCESS for many years. Her father, an immigrant, helped found one of the local mosques. As a kid, she attended a lot of community events. She is still single, one of three children in her family.
“My volunteerism took it to other levels of the community,” she said.
She is especially focused on the youth.
“You can’t change the older generation’s perceptions and views, so it’s important we engage youth in becoming leaders,” Amen said.
Nationally, Amen is best known as part of the family featured on American Muslim, a reality show, which ran on TLC.
“I think it was a good opportunity to educate the American public; to educate people on who Muslims are and we are normal human beings like everyone else,” Amen said.
Her family seemed like a good sampling of American Muslims.
“It ranged across the spectrum in terms of how observant people are across the faith,” she said. Most religious groups have the same cross section from those who are very observant to those who are more casual.
“I was disappointed to know that it was going to be canceled when you see other types of mind numbing television on. It was a chance to have a quality program about families without it being riddled with ridiculousness and inappropriate behavior and promiscuity,” she said.
While some groups praised TLC for creating such an informative show, others decried the show because they felt it showed Muslims in too favorable a light.
“You always have ignorant people who are just blinded by hate and ugliness in their heart. We just hope someday they will open up their mind about the people who are living with them in the U.S.,” Amen said.
Her father came to America wanting to flee persecution elsewhere and find a better home here for himself and his family, just as centuries of other Americans have done before him, Amen said.
But, unfortunately, America also has a history of the descendants of immigrants tormenting the newest wave of Americans, she said.
“It’s not just us. Nine/eleven caused a lot of problems, but you can’t make blanketed statements about a group of people. If you do that then every white Christian is responsible for Oklahoma City? You do have your fanatics in every faith. You do have your radicals,” Amen said.
People should stop harboring hate and engage in conversation with groups they do not know.
“Stop that perpetuation of ignorance,” she said.
“You need to be more respectful of who people are as human beings,” Amen said. “At the end of the day, I’m a human being trying to do what’s best for my family, as I think everyone else is.”
Katie Hetrick
Press & Guide