Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Assalamu Alaikum. I'm Latasha Russo, executive director of Sappalo Square, and welcome to on the Square, a special podcast brought to you by Sappalo Square in collaboration with the Maidan, where every month Sappalo squad get on the square and into some real talk about race and islam in the Americas.
Thank you for joining on the square, and today we're just going to get right into it. My guest is Salima Suswell, and to start us off, I'm going to read Salima's bio, which is quite extensive. Salima Suswell serves as national senior advisor and Pennsylvania executive director for Engage, the nation's largest muslim american civic engagement organization. Salima is considered one of the nation's emerging leaders and top strategic thinkers on the local, state and national level. Salima also serves as CEO and president of Evolve Solutions, a management consulting firm founded in 2010.
Salima's noteworthy contributions include her role as director for the Philadelphia Eid Coalition, who made history by leading a successful campaign to obtain the recognition of the two islamic holidays on the academic calendar for Philadelphia Public Schools her role as chair of the Muslim American Host Committee for the 2016 Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia her role as Pennsylvania deputy senior advisor for the Biden Harris 2020 campaign and her role as vice president and key organizer for Women's March on Philadelphia, which drew over 60,000 attendees.
Salima serves on the leadership council for the United Negro College Fund in Philadelphia chapter. In 2017, Salima made history as the first muslim woman appointed to the Governor's Advisory Commission on Women by Governor Tom Wolf. In 2020, Salima was appointed by Mayor James Kenny to the mayor's Commission for Faith based and Interfaith affairs. In 2023, Salima was reappointed to the Governor's Advisory Commission on Women by Governor Josh Shapiro.
In 2018, Salima founded the Philadelphia Ramadan and Eid Fund, which is a nonprofit organization that oversees the annual Ramadan Iftar dinner at city Hall, Idal Fitter and Edal Adha festivities, community food distributions, youth programming, a toy and gift giveaway, and more.
Salima has received distinguished honors and awards from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Pennsylvania State Senate, Philadelphia City Council, the Women Up Organization, City and State magazine, the Muslim Youth association, the Philadelphia Public Record, the Philadelphia Enquirer, and the prestigious Fatima Gamble Legacy Award. In November 2019, Salima was honored by the Philadelphia Enquirer as a diversity and inclusion pioneer. Last year, Salima was named as a faith leader to watch in 2022 by the center for American Progress. In 2023, Salima was presented with the Keeper of the flame award by the United Negro College Fund.
So I want to just thank you, Salima, for agreeing to be a guest. My voice may not reflect it, but I am really excited to have this.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Conversation with you, and I'm excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Latasha.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: First, after reading that accomplished bio, I gathered that you're very passionate about civic and community engagement. And oftentimes those passions come from either our family, our friends, our environment, and sometimes even the lack thereof. So my first question is, who is Salima?
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Who is Salima? That's a great question.
Salima is an african american muslim woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter of community leaders.
My father, Imam Aslam Ibdareshi, Rahim Allah, who we lost last year, was a prominent imam, not just locally in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, but nationally. He was a pioneer in the community and helped establish the practice of normative Sunni Islam in America.
My mother, who still today works as the chief operating officer of a community development corporation in Nicetown, Philadelphia, has been a community organizer and a champion for community all of my life. And so I am the daughter of the muslim community in Philadelphia. I'm a daughter of the Darislam movement.
My parents were members of the Dar Islam community and the community of Imam Jamil Alameen when I was growing. So this is where my roots are tied. And I grew up with humble beginnings in Philadelphia. And I remember at a very young age, being a part of community marches, whether it was my father's community in west Philadelphia trying to get the drug dealers off. We call them drug pushers when we were young. I remember the call and response where we would say, drug pusher. Drug pusher. You can't hide. We charge you with know. We would march up and down the street, and those drug dealers did not stand in the blocks that were surrounding and close to our masjid where we grew up, because they knew they couldn't. There was a respect there, and we fought for that respect to protect our community members.
That instilled a lot in me growing up. As an adult, I will say that my life and the way I live and the way I serve, the way I work is centered in what my upbringing was. Watching my parents give their lives to community really impacted me, and I always wanted to live up to the standards that my parents established for me and my siblings. I come from a large family.
My parents have nine children together. I'm number five, right in the middle.
What else can I say about who I am? I was married young. I got married at 17, had my first daughter at 18. Her name is Leila, and then became a single parent. And that kind of pressed me into sort of hard work and being motivated to accomplish more because I wanted to provide a life for my daughter that I felt that she deserved. So you always want to sort of do better for your kids than even what you had growing up. So that was my goal, was to give her everything that she needed. That's how I started when I went to college, and when I first graduated college, I did paralegal work. And I'll talk to you more about how that led me into other areas of service to community. But that's who I am. I am, again, a daughter of the Philadelphia muslim community, a daughter of the Darzlam movement, and the daughter of parents who gave their lives to community.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Alhamdulillah. Wow.
As you were just stating all of that, a lot of that, what you mentioned brought visions to my mind of community.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: And I see that you have a lot of different perspectives that you can view from. And so when I listened to what you were saying, know, your parents were heavily involved in community, and they came from the know we're around the community of Imam Jamil Alameen, may allah grant his release. And I wonder how that community engagement and involvement led you to get into politics, to choose politics, and to remain in politics. So if you could just kind of elaborate the transition from community involvement. And is there a transition for you, or is it the same thing?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. So when I was, I worked as a paralegal fresh out of college, and I actually really enjoyed working in the legal community. I worked at pretty prestigious firms, international law firms, and had great opportunities to work with really brilliant attorneys who actually started with. I was working at a firm called Pepper Hamilton. And the election protection work is something that became really popular for attorneys and paralegals to do. And election protection work is just when you go out to the polls, make sure that all the signage is up, that there's no voter intimidation, that everyone has their right, are able to exercise their right to vote. And we went around different locations in the inner city to make sure that voting was protected. So I did that for a while, and that's kind of what initiated my work in politics.
After that, I started working on campaigns just through volunteering for friends who were running for office. One of my dear friends, who is now a senator, Cherise street, he started as an attorney. Actually, he worked at a law firm that was right up the street from the firm that I was working at. So we would see each other often, and he asked me to help work on one of his first campaigns at Senator Sharif street. He ran for office maybe three or four times before he actually got elected as a senator, Marcella. And that happens often. So I think his first campaign that I worked on with him was for city councilman, and he ran for state representative after this. So I would help him with these campaigns. And I really learned a lot through volunteerism. I learned how to fundraise, I learned how to get out the vote and whether that's canvassing and leading field teams and just strategy around how to be successful and become a viable candidate and how to really have success in.
So just, again, volunteering. I also worked with Omar Sabir, who is a dear friend of mine and is now a city commissioner, city Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. Who I later started working with and helped to raise funds for his campaign. So after volunteering to do a lot of these things, at first, when I was a paralegal, I always thought I would go to law school. So I started doing paralegal work initially, and then I kind of decided that law school wasn't really for me. I had so many great opportunities as a paralegal and doing trial work, and I decided that I wanted to study business and start my own firm. So that's what I did. I started my consulting firm, and I really just started to offer professional services in these things that I built skills from as a volunteer in community on these campaigns. So I started doing political fundraising, I started doing communications work on campaigns, and I was a political director for a campaign. And so oftentimes, I would also have the opportunity to work with Muslims who are running for office, because it was important to me to have people in office who looked like me, who were from the same community as me, and had the same values and morals that the people in my community had so that they can help to advance sort of the goals of our community. And I can talk to you more about how know, getting folks elected to office, because I think we have been able to elect eight african American Muslims to public office in the Pennsylvania, mostly Philadelphia area.
And that's a judge, a city council person, two state representatives, a city commissioner, a sheriff, a state senator, and our state senator, Sharif street, is also the chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party at this time. So these folks have really powerful positions at all levels of government, and we've been able to sort of leverage those relationships to ignite change for Muslims in Philadelphia and across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So that is what has fueled, you know, I know, like I said, I started with doing sort of like volunteer work and then honed the skills to do the work professionally and sort of built my firm and my practice from there.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: And so I know you mentioned initially you wanted to be a lawyer, right?
In your volunteerism and your just involvement and being surrounded in that environment, it kind of changed your trajectory a little bit. So what initially was it that made you want to go into law to be a lawyer? Is it the same thing that you're doing now as far as seeing representation in those spaces?
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Actually, you know what it was, it was always for me, and it's the same as the work in politics, establishing change, being able to.
I always thought that I wanted to be an attorney from a young age, and I think I just would see attorneys or courtroom dramas with tv. And I thought it was so cool to be able to go into court and argue a case and defend a person.
[00:15:19] Speaker C: I thought I could do that.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: I know that I can defend a person. I know that I can put forth a case and that I can be successful. I thought it was so cool, and that's what I wanted to do.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: I wanted to be a trial lawyer.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: I wanted to be in the courtroom before judges.
I think I just spent a lot of time in the courtroom as a paralegal and as a senior paralegal, putting together all the evidence. I learned that, honestly, that the paralegals were doing most of the work, pulling together the evidence, putting together the case outlines.
I was doing pretty intense work working on trials, and I did a lot of work, like in insurance and reinsurance, and then we did pro bono cases where we were helping.
I worked on a case where it was a homeless individual who we helped to get Social Security. So I worked on various sort of, like a diverse set of cases. And honestly, I was able to experience what I always thought know I wanted know. Being in the courtroom, being that person. I remember, I don't know if you saw the movie a time to kill. That was like one of my favorite movies, because, again, I used to love all these courtroom dramas. And I remember that moment where Sandra Bullock comes in and she slides Matthew McConaughey, this document that saves the day and saved this case. And I was like, that's who I want to be. I want to be the person behind the scenes that's saving the day, that's pulling know the evidence, that's supporting the didn't. I always felt like I don't need to be the person, and that's very true to this day because many folks have asked me, where are you going to run for office? Where are you going to run? And I always say I like being the person in the background. That's like making it happen. I think that there's even more power in that than there is in sometimes being that elected official at times. That's just what I think. I don't need to be the person. I like to be in the background behind the scenes organizing and making things happen. So that's kind of why I enjoy, and I did paralegal work for twelve years. I did it for a while and I did paralegal work for firms and then I worked with the US attorney's office as a healthcare fraud investigator and litigation administrator.
And I really enjoyed the time that I worked in the legal community. And actually the skills that I developed with organization, paying attention to detail, drafting briefs and writing, a lot of extensive writing that I did and research, all of those skills that I acquired during my time as a paralegal have really supported the work that I do to this day.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Okay, so I just want to go back just a little bit. You said that you don't like being the person, but from that bio I.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Read, you are the person.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Just want to make that clear.
And so when I'm hearing you talk about being in the courtroom, being the paralegal, and I know that many people may not know that paralegals do a lot of the grant work for the lawyers.
Like when you were in those spaces, how was your experience in those spaces as a black, you know what, as far as maybe how race could have played some kind of part in that? Or are the things that you may have seen that just kind of got it under your skin a little bit?
[00:19:09] Speaker B: When I was a young paralegal, there were times that I kind of felt like there were maybe some comments that would be made. And I haven't thought about this in years. Wow. But I had an experience with an attorney and it wasn't just specific to me, she was just sort of abusive as an attorney. So you hear those stories about employee abuse and people being mean to the people that were under them. So I had sort of an experience like that.
I don't know if it was racial, because she had this experience with many other folks from different backgrounds, but there were times that I felt like the way she commanded things of me that were even beneath what a paralegal should be doing.
I remember I was working on a draft of a document and I had marked it all up, and she threw it in the trash, and she told me if I wanted it. To get it out the trash?
Yeah.
And then she told me. I remember she told me once, she was ordering lunch for everyone during the trial, and she told me, I consider this to be your job. You should be ordering our food.
So there were just, like, certain times where I kind of felt like there were just things that happened to me because I was young. When I was doing the paralegal work, I was, like, in my early twenty s, and I think because I was young, I was this young single mom and first out of college and everything, I think that sometimes people took advantage of me, and I was the only black paralegal at that firm. So I'm sure that there were some racial tensions there, but I've never been one to be overly sensitive about when it comes to race. I try not to be.
I just think some people are truly ignorant, and that's just the way that they are.
So for the most part, I took it as an opportunity to just have the experience of working high level cases at a prominent law firm on my resume. And I was asked once I worked for a short while at another firm. At one point, I had moved to New Jersey, and I worked at a firm there, and I had worked, literally for months on this case. In the morning of the trial, the attorney that was the managing partner on the case, he asked me if I could remove my hijab before I went into the courtroom because he thinks that the jury would be biased. And I remember being so, like, now that was probably like, this experience is really what sort of catapulted my work in civil justice and civil rights and volunteering with organizations like care, because I was just like, I couldn't believe that this person had discriminated against me in this way. So I remember calling my father because I was like, do I have to remove it? I was actually wondering if I actually had to remove it.
And ultimately I told him, this is my religion, and I'm not going to remove my hijab. So you need to make a decision about whether or not you need me to support you in this case or if you're going to go without me, because I'm not going to remove my hijab. And he went without me.
Yeah, I remember I sat in my office and I just balled. I cried like a baby because I had worked so hard, and everybody was like, why aren't you at the trial?
It was noticeable that this big trial had started, and I had worked on it so hard, and I wasn't there. And, yeah, I left the firm a couple of months after that. I just got another job and left there. And my dad wanted me to talk to care, and I spoke with people that care about it. And ultimately, I was like, don't send them a letter. I didn't want to pursue anything.
I just wanted to move on. So that's sort of my story around discrimination. But it hasn't always been easy to be in these spaces.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: Philadelphia.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: Over the years working in Philadelphia, that was in New Jersey. But over the years working in Philadelphia, the muslim community has grown to be such a large community that people are familiar with african american Muslims. And so the bias isn't so outward as it maybe once was when I was younger, but it's always a stroke.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
And you recounting that, I'm sure a lot of muslim women can relate to those situations, especially being young or coming in contact with that for the first time and not knowing what to do, that's something I think that you handled gracefully, and it's good that you had the support of your father there as well and guiding you to who to speak to about those things.
And so that kind of brings me to my next question, which is how has Islam, and the way that you put your faith into practice, which you kind of recounted there, how has it shaped the ways in which you interact with your community and the spaces that you're in basically on your day to day life, wherever you go, how does Islam shape that for you, and how do you put that into practice?
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
I always refer back to my father being the daughter of an imam. Faith has always been at the forefront of how I live.
And watching my father dedicate his whole life to his lamb, which sometimes meant that he had to sacrifice time with family.
It was sort of always sort of the way I embraced him, you know what I mean? And I'll even say I invested a lot of time in faith based work initially because I thought it would make my parents proud. I thought it would make my father proud, and that really meant a lot to me. But also, it was such a huge part. I mean, we always spent time at the man's jit. The muslim community was closer to us at times than our blood relatives because that's who we spent most of our time with. And so it was something that just always was a part of my life. And again, it was really meaningful to me watching the way my parents serve the faith.
And I wanted to do the same thing in many ways. And that has shaped the way that I have devoted a lot of my work, like founding, and we'll talk about that later. I know, but founding a nonprofit organization that was specific to Ramadan and Eid, or working on policy initiatives that advance the unique needs of Muslims, just working with engage, an organization that focuses on civic engagement with the american muslim community and building the muslim electorate and advancing voted turnout for Muslims to build power for muslim communities. All of that work, it's like what I love to do, and it makes me feel like it's not just like a job.
It's really the work that will be the imprint beyond my time on this earth. And that's what would really ignite my passion to sort of serve pizza de la for the cause of Allah. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to do so.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: That kind of made me remember, I think, how I initially kind of heard about you. It was like, through social media. And one of the first posts that I saw was, it was just, I think, a picture of you engaged in the community. And I think the caption was something along the lines of how much you enjoyed doing your work.
You were like, I get to do this every day. So to me, it shines through that you are passionate about it, that you love to do it.
When you talk about the history, like your family and your community, I just see that as an extension of who you are now and what you're doing now. And so in. In speaking about that, I just wanted to know how or if the black and or black muslim history of civic engagement, has that been a sense of comfort or inspiration for you as you navigate these political arenas and spaces, the current climate, previous political climates, has that just been a source of comfort or inspiration for you during those?
[00:29:38] Speaker B: You know, and I've written op eds about the history of black Muslims, the history of black Muslims in America, how so many of the West Africans that came over during the transatlantic slave trade were practicing Muslims. And so the islamic faith has been a part of the fabric of american society since the very early years. So our history plays a huge role in that. And also the way we sort of navigated civic engagement in the early years as a community, whether it was through the Nation of Islam or through Href Brown's work or the pioneers of the muslim community, they were already two steps ahead of us as it relates to becoming politically organized and fighting for the rights of Muslims and the empowerment of black Muslims and black people through service. And so definitely our contributions, our excellence, our power, all of it is always central to the work that I do. And I remember I was asked a question at that same firm that I told you about that I worked at in New Jersey. One of the attorneys asked me, she said to me, why do you think that Islam has spread so much in black communities? And I remember I didn't really know how. I was young. I didn't really know how to answer that question. I think I said something like, it started with the Nation of Islam.
From there, it grew and talked about the WD Bahamas community kind of being a second generation from that nation. And I told my dad, again, I talked to my dad about that, and he said to me, the next time someone asks you this question, you need to say that. He said, I have a book for you. And the name of that book was called service of a law. African Muslims enslaved in the Americas. And it was written by Sylvie Ann. A joke. And I don't know if you've ever heard of this book, but my father gave me this book, and it spoke about our history, the history of the West African Muslims who came over during the slave trade, the way they practiced, the way they had to sort know, even when they couldn't be outward, know, vocal about what their practice was, the way that they secretly practiced and worshiped Islam, and sort of how powerful that was to their hope for salvation when they came to the Americas. And I was just so fascinated learning about that, because I hadn't known before then that our ancestors that came from West Africa were practicing Muslims and was inherently a part of our way of life from a very early time.
So, yes, the history of black Muslims has helped me to navigate our current political climate. And just knowing that black Muslims make up the largest percentage right now, I think we're 28% of the overall american muslim community. And I think that we should be leading.
That should be reflected in the leadership of the community.
We should be telling the stories. We should be leading at the forefront of these conversations around Islamophobia, because Islamophobia started with black people, black Muslims, you know what I mean?
There's a very specific anti black Islamophobia that requires attention.
I always also talk about how we made it possible for some of our immigrant brothers and sisters to even come to America and to thrive and practice Islam. You know what I mean?
The immigration rights came after civil rights, you know what I mean? And the Immigration act came after the Civil Rights act, and it made it possible in many ways for Muslims to practice Islam in America. And I think that black Muslims have to be the leaders, we have to be leading these conversations around empowerment for american Muslims, around the needs for american Muslims, because while oftentimes there are many sort of foreign policy issues that are being spoken about in the american muslim community, which we respect and we want to uplift. But the issues that have always been prominent for american Muslims, particularly black Muslims, are domestic policy issues. So it's education, it's health care, it's fair housing and affordable housing. And when you talk about health care, you have to talk about black maternal health and maternal mortality, criminal justice reform, and all of those things that are the key topics when you're in these political spaces or even when you're looking to make a decision about who you want to be your next president, these are the things that you want to hear from them about as american citizens. And so, yes, I think that our history as black Muslims in America has definitely been central to how I navigate the current political climate.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: I totally agree with you on that, that we should be leading these causes in our current society. And I just wanted to state before we move on, it was just something that kind of has been standing out for me.
When you speak and answer the questions that it's beautiful in the way that you speak about your father and the advice that he gives you and that you have gone to him for advice, right.
As you're navigating life throughout the years. And so I think that speaks volumes without actually stating it, how you bring him up in your conversation about, oh, my father told me this, this is what you need to do. This is how you answer this question. And I just wanted to make note of that. It's just my own personal thing in stating the importance of fathers, black fathers, and making that a point to highlight that in your conversation that you've had with me. But going back to civic engagement, so one of the biggest things that we have now, voting elections and how important those are. And when I'm in spaces with people and we have these conversations, there's always this idea floating around that voting doesn't matter, that everything is rigged, the system is rigged, and they, quote unquote, are going to get the outcome they want. And there's really no basis in going out to vote or you hear it's just choosing the lesser of two evils argument. Right. And so I wanted to ask you, as a black muslim woman in the political arena, and all those particular identities come with, you know, black muslim woman, I, and also looking back on everything that you have accomplished, why do you feel that it's important for black Muslims to be involved and contribute to political aspects of society, specifically voting.
I say black Muslims, but just black people, people of color in general.
Why is that important to the community and to those who are eligible to vote?
[00:38:23] Speaker C: It's often that when I'm out in the community, teaching about civic participation, teaching about civic education, trying to mobilize the vote, where community members say to me, well, my vote doesn't matter, or even I don't trust politicians or is voting Haram?
I've heard that as well. And I always answer these questions by reminding our people that it is literally stated in the Quran as a commandment from Allah to seek justice. It's in Saratonisa. To seek justice, even if it's against our own souls, you have to seek justice.
And so that is what we do when we vote in elections. We are never going to become or we are never going to maintain power as a community if the decision makers don't feel as though we are active participants in the political process.
Elected officials are engaged based upon checks and votes. If you don't have a check or if you don't have a vote, just don't even expect an elected official to listen to anything that you have to say. And that's just what it is. It's real. And so we have our constitutional right to participate in elections. And it doesn't always mean that I always say there is no perfect candidate. We're never going to elect a president that's going to do all the things that we want them to do, nor the mayor or our other local representatives. But you have a stake in this, you know what I mean? And being a part of electoral politics, it means showing up. You know what I mean? So not just voting for them, but showing up, these elected officials have community events. They have district offices where you can go to and you can talk to these people.
And I don't actually believe, because I have so many friends that are elected leaders and that I know are doing great work, at least here in Philadelphia, that I can speak vouch for. And I don't think that it is as common that elected leaders are not doing the work or that they're corrupt as one might think that it is. I think that it's the exception and that it's not the rule. And I think that, again, if we want to see justice for our communities, if we want to ignite change for all of the issues that some of those policy priorities that I just mentioned, health care, even something as simple as how your taxes or how your tax dollars are spent or the potholes in the street where you drive, having access to halal meals in schools, hospitals and prisons, having eat holiday off, which is something that I'll talk about later that we've worked towards here in Philadelphia to have those changes. It was the elected officials who were Muslims and others were supporters of the muslim community and had muslim constituents who helped us to advance those things through legislation and through relationships with the school district or even other matters as simple as children being able to wear a hijab while competing in sports.
These things are all influenced by lawmakers, and lawmakers are elected leaders who we have the control to put in office or to unseat if they're in office and not doing a good job. But you have to be a part of the process. You can't be on the sidelines with all of this sort of feedback if you're not participating in the political process. So that means not only being registered to vote, but actually voting and showing up and making your voice heard.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: Okay, and so I'm going to go on the other side of the argument. Right?
When you do show up, they put all these things in place to try to stop you from showing up, you know, called voter suppression. So what are your thoughts on voter suppression tactics such as closing down polling sites which result in people waiting in longer lines for hours, purging registers. And I'm in Georgia, so I don't think it's a thing now, but there was this aspect of criminalizing people who provided water to persons standing in line to vote. So just kind of those tactics. What are your thoughts on those? And do you believe those tactics are effective? And what do we need to do as citizens or communities to make sure these tactics hold no weight?
[00:43:44] Speaker C: This is a really important question because voter rights suppression is a huge and growing issue in our country, and it's one of the very things that engage action focuses on as one of its policy priority areas. And voter rights are an inherent part of our democracy.
And so to see them being stripped away in so many ways in these various tactics, such as changing id requirements, purging voting records, limiting poll place hours, and these things are all a direct threat to our democracy. So what I think is positive to note is that so many organizations and individuals are cognizant of these issues, and they've been working actively, especially in coalitions, to stop these attempts and to make an even bigger change with protecting our voting rights. Through acts such as the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement act and the Four People act.
We are proud at engage that accomplishments in these voting rights efforts, including our 2018 efforts to restore voting rights in disenfranchised voters. I'm sorry. In areas like Florida, for example, which where we saw a lot of suppression tactics, I think it's a sign that our right wingers are scared of our power.
I think they know that those who are seeking to disenfranchise us as minority communities and as vulnerable individuals just do not believe their bigotry and their discriminatory worldview.
And I think that the fact that they are scared is a sign that things are actually changing.
I think it's something that many folks are paying attention to. And I think that we will be able to eradicate some of these issues through our continued work through the civic engagement process.
[00:45:59] Speaker A: So what type of specific instances of impact have you seen that makes you think this is working? Like our involvement, our civic engagement, us going out to vote, those things that this is working and we need to continue that?
[00:46:17] Speaker C: Well, I would have to say definitely some of the policy changes that we were able to cause. In my city, where I'm from, Philadelphia, back in 2018, we were able to work with our lawmakers to get the Eid holidays on the public school calendars in Philadelphia is where it started. And this is something that I watched my elders and pioneers in the community, including my parents, try to do for almost 20 years.
And it just never happened because we didn't have the right folks in place to make it happen. And so we had a campaign called, well, we started a coalition called the Philadelphia e coalition, and we worked with lawmakers and community organizations and community leaders. And just after a year of campaigning, we were able to have the city do a resolution.
City council did a resolution to establish the eat holidays, both eat holidays, on the public school calendars. And we were able to make this happen.
This was about collaborating with lawmakers, with city officials, but also with community. And it was one thing that all community agreed on is that it was a matter of fairness. And with Philadelphia's muslim community being so large, it was hard for them to say no to us. So since making that change and just knowing that students and staff are able to enjoy the Eid holiday without making a decision between their education and practicing their faith, that they could have the day off, and that folks that are not of the muslim faith who also had the day off are learning more about our holidays and our way of life, that is huge. And that was one of the first big policy initiatives that we had success in. And six since we were able to establish eat holiday recognition in Philadelphia. There were 15 more school districts outside of Philadelphia, across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that have also added eat holidays to their academic calendars. So I think that that is really a big deal.
Really quickly. There was a case with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic association where a referee asked a muslim student to remove her hijab in order to play in a basketball game. And again, we were able to work with state legislators to get this rule changed. And once the rule was changed, not only could muslim students but wear headgear is what they call it when they compete in Pennsylvania sports. But it also supported jewish students that were yamakas or sikh students that were their turbans. It was something that uplifted the diversity of many groups to not have to go through too many channels to wear their religious head coverings, which is honestly their constitutional right to do.
[00:49:43] Speaker B: Know.
[00:49:43] Speaker C: Also, as I mentioned, you know, folks to office, coming together as a community to elect black muslims to office, that's huge. I think that in Philadelphia, there are more black muslim elected officials than any other city in the nation.
And being able to build that power in the birthplace of our nation, Philadelphia, where the commonwealth was founded upon principles of religious inclusion and religious tolerance, is, again, I think, amazing and has also shown that we are making a difference. We are making a difference. I think we still have a long way to go, but I think that we are building some power.
Our state democratic party chair is a black Muslim. You know what I mean?
Again, there is no other state that has a party chair that is muslim, much less african american Muslim. So I think we're making great strides based upon our work and our dedication, and I think that the best is yet to come.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Inshallah.
In listening to you, I heard a few things where a few things came up for me. One was in regards to when you were speaking, know, Philadelphia incorporated the Eid holidays into the public school system. And you mentioned, know that not only provided the days that we celebrate for Eid to be recognized and for muslims to be able to celebrate those days, but also it provided a sense of education to those who were not aware of it.
[00:51:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: And so in looking at it in that way, it's a form of combating islamophobia, right. Teaching people about who we are, what we do, to make it not scary in a sense that they're not afraid of it. And then also it made the way for other religious faiths to be able.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: To.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: Practice as they feel necessary. Right.
But the other thing that I heard, and I continue to hear when you talk about voting and elections and things of that is the local level. So if you could just kind of let us know how important it is to vote and to know the people that you're voting in or who are on the ballot on a local level as opposed to just like presidential elections.
[00:52:52] Speaker C: Oh, that's so important. It's such a good question because oftentimes we're only coming out for presidential elections. And honestly, it's the local elections that really control our experience on a day to day basis. So your city council elections, your mayoral elections, your state representatives, your judges. Judges make huge decisions about the lives of our citizens, many of which are African Americans who are in the system. And one of the things, I'm working with an organization called Reform alliance on probation and parole reform. And that's something that that whole system is just so flawed and just impacts communities so much. And that's, again, through legislation. It's a Senate bill that Senator street and some other senators are sponsoring that will reform probation and parole reform will reform probation and parole for formerly incarcerated community members. So all of this is very important. Even as simple as your commissioners, the register of wills, all of these positions, these local positions, they impact your day to day life, how your taxes are spent, how your streets are cleaned, when they pick up the trash, what's happening in public offices, how many libraries are available to the youth, what kind of funding our schools are going to have. All of these things are directly impact. It's state legislators that are controlling these budgets, billion dollar budgets for the state that these state legislators are making decisions about that greatly impact us on a day to day basis. So very important.
[00:54:56] Speaker A: And so you kind of mentioned a little bit what my next question was going to be for those who are not able to vote. Like, how can they contribute when you're not able to vote, such as those who are on probation or parole right now?
[00:55:11] Speaker C: I always say that civic engagement is for everyone. So at all stages of life, even if you are underage, you can participate in the civic engagement process and make a positive difference in your community.
We are actually doing an event on October the 13th at Philadelphia, Mass Jet, and it's specifically about voting rights for the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated. Because there are some conditions in which incarcerated individuals, like if they're waiting for a court date and other instances where they can actually vote. And Commissioner Omar Sabir, who commissioners preside over voting and elections. He's a Muslim, and he's going to be speaking to this community of formerly incarcerated Muslims. In this event that we pull together with reform alliance and some other community groups to speak specifically to this. And then there are many times where formerly incarcerated individuals think that they can't vote, but they can in many circumstances. So it's all about educating folks what their rights are. Also at engage Pennsylvania, we have plenty of opportunities for volunteers and even recently have trained a group of young people on how to run for office, because I think that that's important as well. Not just voting, but more of us should be running for elected office, because that's when we are truly going to see change for our communities, is when we have the power to make those decisions, to change those laws, and to change those policies that impact our communities. And we actually have our nationwide emerging leaders program. And this Saturday is going to be our Pennsylvania Emerging Leaders program. And it's all about focusing on empowering young people to be leaders and helping them to force skills and connections so that they can be prominent members of society.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: And I heard you say education in regards to those who have been formally incarcerated or are on probation or parole, it depends on what state you're in which governs those laws, right?
[00:57:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:57:39] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah, that's a good point. Absolutely.
[00:57:43] Speaker A: I did want to, just before we ended the conversation, to talk to you about Pref. And so if you could tell me a little bit more about the organization you founded in 2018, and prep stands for Philadelphia Ramadan and Eid Fund. So, first of all, why did you see a need to start the organization, and do you feel like it has been a direct relationship with your work, with engage?
[00:58:16] Speaker B: And.
[00:58:18] Speaker A: What experiences or impact have you seen come from.
[00:58:24] Speaker C: Know?
Pref is like, my. Know the Philadelphia Ramadani e fund. It's one of the projects that are most important to me, and it's because it's about giving back to community.
So it's not at all connected to my work with engage.
I first started the Philadelphia Ramadan e Fund in 2018 because we had been hosting these annual iftar dinners at city hall. So it was actually Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. First muslim councilman in Philadelphia, who suggested to me, you should start a nonprofit to continue doing these events. And so I thought about it, and I said, well, if I start a nonprofit around Ramadan, then I want to include Eid. And I also want it to be this philanthropic project that supports families through the holidays, through Ramadan, as well as Eid. And so in 2018, we started with doing the Iftar dinner at city hall. Well, we had already been doing it, but when we started the organization. In 2018, it was our first official event under the nonprofit. And then in 2019, we held a really big eat in the park festival, and it was attended by over 15,000 Muslims from the Tristate area. And it was huge. I mean, people, Muslims in the community, they talk about this event to this day, and it was diverse. It was all about unifying the community and bringing everyone together to experience Eid. It was for Ed al Fitr in again, 2019. And then after that, the pandemic happened. So we decided, how can we support families to have eat? Because in 2020, folks had eat holidays at their home. A lot of people prayed at home.
We did this program called meals on wheels and family fun or something, we called it, and we delivered so much stuff. Like, we delivered, like, a three course catered halal meal for a full family. We had these big gift baskets that had, like, gift certificates in it and toys for kids and book bags and all these different things that were in these gift baskets and decorations for their house, because we wanted them to have their own sort of party, Eid festival or party inside of their homes, even during the pandemic. And the reason why prep is so important and the work that I'm mentioning is the things that I'm saying that we do are important to me, is because it points back to my childhood. Again, when I was a child, Eid holiday was as important to me as Christmas is to other kids. So I would literally stay up the night before Eid and stay up all night waiting to open gifts.
And I remember it being just these sort of big festivals similar to what we did with eating the park. Super nostalgic for me, and everyone would come out and celebrate, eat together. But what I also remember is my parents couldn't afford to purchase gifts and toys for me and my siblings. And so I remember very vividly that my mother used to go to a local charity called the Salvation Army. I don't know if they have Salvation army in Georgia, but they do. Okay, so they have a charity called the Salvation army. That is, I think, a, you know, charity.
Like I said, I had this vivid memory, and we appreciated and we enjoyed all our toys, and it really didn't impact me as much back then. I just thought it was kind of normal.
We got our toys from the Salvation army. But growing up and reflecting on that, I thought, why can't we have an institution that is for us, by us, that is supporting muslim families in need? Philadelphia is one of the largest and poorest cities in this nation, and we have the largest muslim population. Well, I would say the largest black muslim population, but one of the largest muslim populations in this nation. So for me, it's about giving back to community. It's about giving back to my community.
We turned the iftar that we do at city hall to a fundraiser where we raise funds in 2023, for example, we literally gave checks to families before the eat holiday from the proceeds that we gained from the iftar dinner that we did. And so we give monetary gifts during the pandemic. We did food distributions, and we did winter warmth distributions where we gave worm clothing items and hats and scarves and gloves. So it's all about giving back to the community.
It's something that I hope that I'm still doing even when I retire, because I think it's so important for us to have our own institutions that our community can benefit from.
[01:04:15] Speaker A: Exactly.
Is there a website or let's say someone's listening this and they want to donate to that to press?
[01:04:24] Speaker C: Is there?
I should know it by heart, but it's Philly Ramadan and Eid. Let me look it up. I'll give it to you in 1 second. I mean, if you just Google Philadelphia Ramadan and Eid fund, it'll come up. But let me see. Philadelphia.
And we're also on all the social media sites. So we're on Facebook, we're on Twitter, and we're also on Instagram under Philadelphia Ramadan and Eid Fund. And the website is Philly Ramadan eidfund.org.
[01:05:09] Speaker A: Okay. And I'll make sure I put that on the show notes as well if anyone wants to learn more about that or contribute to it.
[01:05:18] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be great.
[01:05:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness household, so we didn't celebrate anything related to holidays. And so I can imagine that eat being a big celebration for your family and then wanting to celebrate in that way and just giving that to another child and another family so that they can have a tradition as well.
And so we've talked about, what is it? Evolve solutions. We've talked about engage.
You just spoke about the Philadelphia Ramadan and Eid fund, and I'm sure there's other things that you do, but I want to know, how do you balance your responsibilities and show up in these different roles, like a mother, a wife, a friend, a community organizer? How do you balance your life? How do you have that work life balance?
[01:06:34] Speaker C: That's a good question.
It's a lot, especially with this toddler girl. It's a lot because I always tell people, I'll talk about that more a little bit later.
It's by the grace and mercy of Allah. Honestly, it's no other way that I could do all the things. Sometimes I don't even know how I do all the things that I do. I'm accustomed to hard work, to getting a lot of work done in a day. Some days I work harder than others, and I try to be super organized. So for me, that's at the beginning of every week. Writing a list, what are other things you have to do for each client, for engage?
What are the personal responsibilities that you have? I literally write my list, organize it in categories, and I work my list. And it might sound really simple, but it's like, what helps me to stay organized. And you know what?
Scheduling everything, compartmentalizing things is important.
But also more recently, I've started to be really intentional about self care.
And it's really been the difference for me.
If that means going to the gym, going to the hair salon, going to the nail salon, my skincare routine, or eating healthfully.
I started this whole weight loss journey in June. I've lost over 30 pounds since June. Congratulations. Thank you. So I've just been trying to take better care of me. That is really what's most important, because for years, I just kind of didn't take care of myself, and I was just, like, working and just really not taking time for me. And I made a decision to myself, especially after I had my youngest daughter, that I need to be okay. I need to be healthy, I need to be around for my children.
You always hear this story about how this person that worked like a dog every single day, they passed away, and then the next day, someone filled their position and everyone moved on.
[01:09:15] Speaker A: You know what I mean? Exactly.
[01:09:18] Speaker C: I'm just deciding, no, I'm going to work hard, but I'm going to live, and I'm going to take care of myself and take the time for myself as well.
That's really, I think, helping me even to be better at my professional responsibilities and better at being a mother because I feel better, you know what I mean? I'm happier, I'm more relaxed because I'm doing the work to take care of myself. So it's a juggle. It's a lot. Sometimes I'm a little sleep deprived of my little baby. What's to get up? But I'm getting it done. And one thing that I really should mention also, I have an extremely supportive, loving husband that is my partner in all things. And I wouldn't be able to do all the things that I'm doing without his love and support.
[01:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
And we all hear about the burnout. No time for this. No time for that. And I'm glad that you stated that you basically just had to make time for it. You had to be intentional about it, because otherwise it's never going to get incorporated in there.
And so at the beginning of our conversation, you mentioned your adult daughter, and just recently, people found out you have a toddler, too.
So I wanted to know, because you do have two daughters, right?
[01:11:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:11:03] Speaker A: What do you hope that they gain from you as they watch you maneuver within these different areas of your life?
[01:11:13] Speaker C: So my daughter, Layla, I had my daughter in my first marriage that I mentioned when I was young, and then I remarried in 2020 and had my second daughter in 2021.
So my daughter Layla helps to run my consulting firm.
After college, she did take a job working for one of the state representatives here in Philly. And then after that, I was like, I need you to come and work with me.
I feel like that since she was a teenager, I've been grooming her.
In high school, she interned for city council. At college, she interned for the state senate, and when she finished college, she worked for a state representative. So she has been working in civic engagement and in politics and really taught her how to be a leader at a very young age.
What I want her to gain in life is just for her to just have the ability to do whatever she wants to do. I want her to take away from what she's seen me accomplish, starting my own business, working in leadership roles, starting a nonprofit organization where I'm giving back to community. I want her to look at these things and say, hey, my mom did it, so I can do it. I want her to feel empowered, and I want her, more than anything, both of my daughters.
I want them to be happy.
That's my constant Dua.
I'm always getting emotional because it's my daily Dua at night. I always ask Allah to grant them happiness.
I want them to enjoy their lives and to be kind, to be kind people who are respected, that have a sense of respect for themselves, but also who care about the way community perceives them as well.
Those things were always really important to me, but I think them being happy is probably my number one, is for them to be happy and have peace and to be content in all that they do and to know that they can do absolutely anything through perseverance and hard work.
[01:14:17] Speaker A: So what would you say to someone who wants to get involved in their community, whether that's in politics, community organizing, starting their own organization to serve the community. What would you say to them.
[01:14:36] Speaker B: If.
[01:14:36] Speaker A: They'Re thinking about getting involved or don't feel that they can do it, or just have this internal desire to do so, but haven't done it yet?
[01:14:50] Speaker C: Well, I think I said earlier, civic engagement is for everyone. So it can seem a little intimidating to get involved. But we all need to remember that political life and social change are not something that is limited to just a few individuals at any age, in all places and for all people, there is a way to become involved, whether it's phone banking during election season, whether it's sending text messages, whether it's canvassing, knocking on doors, meeting with local leaders.
[01:15:31] Speaker B: Meeting.
[01:15:31] Speaker C: With organizations, share your views. That's literally the definition of civic engagement is for an individual or a group of people to come together and establish change for their community. You know what I mean? That's literally what civic engagement, what civic engagement is.
Advocating for change. There's always something that we can be advocating for to change, providing those testimonies, establishing resources that influence bills and laws, and even running for office. Like I've said before, the sky is the limit.
There are plenty of people, and I always say, I know elected officials who do not have college degrees. You don't have to be super educated. You don't have to come from a certain family.
You can show up as who you are and be an individual that is hardworking, that wants to establish change for your community and is passionate about the work.
Just show up.
You can always reach out to other elected officials in your area and community leaders for advice and guidance as well.
[01:16:58] Speaker A: And as we come to a close, are there any parting words that you would like to state to our community, or just anything that you would like to state that we didn't necessarily get to know?
[01:17:16] Speaker C: I think we covered a lot. I want to say thank you again to you, Latasha and Sapphelo Square, for having me on your podcast. And I've always admired your work and I'm truly, truly honored to be a part of this podcast today. And what can I say? Make do I for me, make Dua for me. Because it's not always easy.
There is some adversity, as you can imagine, being black and Muslim and women and being in leadership positions and just made Dua for me and try to participate in civic engagement.
Check out my little real series.
It's on Mgage's Instagram page, but it's also on my Instagram page and on my TikTok under Salima civics, and it's called Salima's 60 seconds of civic engagement. And I just do. They're over 60 seconds, but they're less than two minutes. And they're just little quick updates on topics in civic engagement, whether it be voting or how to establish a bill, is the topic I'm talking about this week. Know, african american community engagement and the roles and responsibilities of elected officials. They're just, you know, less than two minute videos. Check them. Know, you can follow me at Salima Civics on Instagram, Salima Suzwell on Facebook and Twitter. And, yeah, just try to be supportive of the work and let me know how I can help you.
[01:19:07] Speaker A: Okay. Well, I also want to say that I said in the beginning I was excited for this conversation, and you didn't disappoint. So we are honored to have you as a guest on the square. So we really appreciate it. And I want to thank you for being here.
[01:19:28] Speaker B: I'm good at that.
[01:19:29] Speaker C: It's my pleasure.
[01:19:31] Speaker A: And thank you all for tuning in to this episode of on the Square, real talk on Race and Islam in the Americas, a special podcast series brought to you by Sappalo Square and the maiden. Thanks to our guest, Salima Suswell. You can find more information about what we discussed, including links and more, by visiting slash onthesquare or themaydan.com podcast. Our theme music is provided by Fanatic on Beat, Salam alikum.
