Rana Abdelhamid: 3 lessons on starting a movement from a self-defense trailblazer
Rana Abdelhamid: 防身术推广运动中的三堂课
Rana Abdelhamid is an internationally acclaimed community organizer, first-degree black belt, public speaker and social entrepreneur focused on mass mobilization, international solidarity and the empowerment of marginalized communities. Full bio
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her college sweetheart
at my mother jokingly and said,
much like a celebration
would wander past Queens
我的妈妈和我会经过皇后区
and long flowy dresses
around my small fingers
against weathered comments like,
侮辱话语:
to make us feel unsafe, insecure
diverse places in the world,
holding stories that always start
往往这么开头,
and 15 dollars in a pocket,
in jam-packed, busted apartments.
that we had safe microcommunities --
in our identities.
that my mom faced,
some of the most powerful women
她们都有关系网。
for who watched whose kids when,
要求谁什么时候照看谁的孩子,
of unapologetic North African aunties
and stand in front of a mirror,
bright silk around my head
and my grandmother did.
the streets of New York City
at a domestic violence organization
反家庭暴力组织的活动,
my neighborhood had started.
一位女性开办的。
I felt a yank at the back of my head.
from off of my head.
to a tall, broad-shouldered man,
of that organization and cried and cried.
一直在哭。
上涨了1600%。
of Muslim women in our hijabs.
and make sure that no one I loved,
this insecure in her own skin.
how the women in my own neighborhood
community for themselves,
the very little resources they had
about what I could potentially offer
with you today, some of these lessons.
Shotokan karate
哈哈没想到吧
I should go out into my neighborhood
and knocked on doors,
挨家挨户地敲门,
to parents, to young women,
a free community center basement
社区中心地下室,
that they should come to my class.
到我的班级来。
知道怎么打跆拳道。
New York version of Mr. Miyagi
in that community center basement
over the course of that summer,
the power of our bodies,
shocking realizations,
with this incredible sisterhood,
我收获了珍贵的姐妹情,
much safer in my own skin.
that we just kept teaching.
我们可以一直开班教授。
but we just kept teaching.
但我们确实一直在教。
grassroots organization
for women around the world:
建构安全和力量:
an expert in something
and think you have the magic recipe.
觉得自己有魔法配方。
Kendrick Lamar once said,
肯德拉克·拉马尔曾说过,
to be humble and to sit down.
any business doing work with
in my neighborhood,
I was friends with them.
what it meant to be a child
意味着什么。
who were connected to those communities,
有联系的年轻女性,
how they already had
信任、意识和联系。
and relationship with their communities.
and the women in her neighborhood,
social networks,
十分强大的社交网络,
definition of safety.
a self-defense instructor,
as our network expanded,
is not just physical.
a 60-minute self-defense class,
我们会做60分钟的自卫课,
for just talking and healing.
to the class to begin with
experiences with violence.
one time in one of those classes,
to talk about the fact
relationship for over 30 years,
她一直处于一段家暴关系中,
being able to articulate that
that safe space for her.
in women's agency to define
looks like for themselves.
is to start with the joy.
就是快乐地开始。
I was reacting to a hate-based attack,
我要回应充满仇恨的攻击,
and anxious and overwhelmed.
because if you take a step back,
in this room can probably relate to this,
也许都能感同身受,
feeling of insecurity,
hearing footsteps behind you.
or if you should slow down.
in case you need to use them.
I want to make sure you are safe."
我想确保你安全到达。”
too much or too little in a meeting.
讲得太多或是太少。
and trans and queer and Latinx
跨性别者、同性恋、拉丁裔
how overwhelming this work can be,
of personal safety.
to this work to begin with,
the love that I had
a refugee camp in Jordan
达拉斯的社区中心里,
and supported each other
we built together.
just teach self-defense,
teaching self-defense all of these years
学到的关键一点,
as cool as the self-defense moves are,
但实际上
these self-defense techniques.
会用到这些自卫技巧。
de-escalate any violent situation.
都不用去化解任何暴力情况。
to take place to begin with needs to stop.
we need all hands on deck.
我们需要所有人的参与。
我的秘密配方,
to start with who you know
从你知道的人开始,
但最重要的是要开始行动。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rana Abdelhamid - Community organizer, entrepreneurRana Abdelhamid is an internationally acclaimed community organizer, first-degree black belt, public speaker and social entrepreneur focused on mass mobilization, international solidarity and the empowerment of marginalized communities.
Why you should listen
Rana Abdelhamid is committed to organizing communities around migrant, gender and racial justice. For ten years, Abdelhamid has served as the Executive Director of Malikah, a global grassroots movement committed to building safety and power for all women through self-defense, healing justice, community organizing and financial literacy. She founded Malikah at the age of 16 after being attacked by a stranger, who tried to remove the hijab from her head. Today, Abdelhamid and her volunteer team of women conduct healing spaces and have trained more than 7,000 women in 18 cities across the globe. For the past three years, Malikah has held the National Muslim Women's Summit at Harvard University, training 50 Muslim American women in leadership and community organizing.
Abdelhamid's organizing work has always been rooted in building solidarity across communities domestically and abroad. During the Arab Spring, Abdelhamid was involved in mobilizing diaspora communities in solidarity with grassroots activists in Egypt. After the "Muslim ban" was passed, she helped organize thousands of people across Boston for the 20,000-person Copley Square protest and spoke alongside Senator Elizabeth Warren, among others. After the murder of Nabra Hassanen, Abdelhamid and her team worked to mobilize tens of thousands of people across ten cities in under 24 hours for prayers and vigils in her remembrance.
In 2013, Abdelhamid started Hijabis of NY, an online platform that highlights the stories of hijabi women. In 2017, she also coedited and published Muslim Women's Stories, a collection of narratives from young Muslim women across the US. She is highly committed to the global human rights movement and is one of youngest serving board members of Amnesty International USA. Abdelhamid has a BA from Middlebury in International Politics and Economics and a master's degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where her research was focused on policy interventions to mitigate the prevalence of domestic violence in Queens, NY and on refugee integration policy in the US.
In 2017, Abdelhamid was named one of the 17 women who "Rocked the Resistance" in 2017 and is frequently called "the Muslim Black Belt." She has been named a Truman Scholar, a Running Start Rising Political Star and has received both a NYC Council Proclamation and an International Youth Advocate award by the UNAUSA Foundation.
Rana Abdelhamid | Speaker | TED.com