By Kevin Lavery, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-983833.mp3
East Lansing, MI –
Farha Abbasi's life changed on 9/11. Did the course of YOUR life change on that day? PBS NewsHour asked that question across the country. You can see the video responses -- or upload your OWN answer -- at Video Quilt - America Remembers 9/11.
This is the first story in a five-part series looking at the impact the September 11th attacks have had in Michigan 10 years later. "9/11: Mid-Michigan Remembers" focuses on personal accounts from that day, our sense of security and the partnerships that have grown in mid-Michigan since then.
This is the story of a local Muslim woman who grew up on the sidelines of a politically powerful family. She never sought the spotlight in her native Pakistan. But on 9/11, she found her voice in America.
A political pedigree
Farha Abbasi and her country grew up together. In fact, the two were raised by some of the same people. Her grandfather was part of Pakistan's independence movement when it severed from British-held India in 1947. In the 80's, Abbasi's father held several national cabinet-level positions. And today, her sister is the speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly, the equivalent of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.
But Abbasi lived in the shadow of her family's spotlight. She was happiest behind the scenes; helping their campaigns, running polling stations and even writing their speeches. Center stage was never her home.
"Politics in Pakistan is a very different cup of tea for a woman," Abbasi explains. "There's no barrier between you and the public. So, I wasn't comfortable, although I enjoyed the service part of it."
Immigrating to America
Instead, Abbasi chose a career in medicine. Eventually, the political instability her family tried so hard to change prompted her to immigrate to America in 2000. After a brief stay in California, Abbasi arrived in Michigan in September 2001. The trauma of uprooting her world in Pakistan was still fresh.
And then it happened.
Terror and trauma
On September 11th, Abbasi was at home. Like millions of others, she stared transfixed to her TV as the surreal horror unfolded. Deep inside her, an uncomfortably familiar layer of fear awakened.
"I was in a daze, and I was crying and I was scared," she recalls. "Because as far as I was concerned, I immigrated for peace; I wanted a safe life for my girls. And now, it was like the tables were turned on me."
She was still trembling that afternoon when she met with her daughter's kindergarten teacher. The encounter proved to be a turning point.
"She looked at me and she just without a word got up and hugged me and said, 'we will get through this,'" remembers Abbasi. "And I tell you, no amount of INS paperwork made me an American like that one word, 'we.'"
But when she returned to her shuttered neighborhood, an eerie reception awaited her.
"I would see people looking at me from windows, observing me, what I'm doing. Because they knew I'm the new Pakistani family that's just moved in."
Finding her voice
Abbasi could feel the looks. One day, she mustered her courage and went door to door, checking on her neighbors' welfare.
"So, that broke the ice between the neighbors. That was a defining moment of my life. I had written words for other people, but I had never spoken for myself."
Other people were speaking too. Many were calling local TV news stations, venting their fear and outrage. In Lansing, political activist Sylvia McCollough was watching the ABC affiliate's news programming. She was disturbed by the callers who equated Islam with terrorism. McCollough had just met Farha Abbasi and the two were forming a fast friendship.
"As soon as I saw it, I knew that she was the person to really explain to people what Islam is all about."
Reluctantly, Abbasi agreed to appear as a guest on WLAJ-TV with then-host Joe Parker. She had never been on TV, and she wasn't sure what to do. But she was very sure of what she had to say.
From WLAJ-TV broadcast:
Joe Parker: "They're taking the name of your religion and they're doing this with it. How do you respond to make people not think it's Islam?" Farha Abbasi: "That is one important reason. A lot of people told me to remain silent. But I realized if I remain silent today, it's like acquiescing in our own death. It's time to speak out, and that's why I request everybody to not call them Muslims. Every time you are affiliating Islam with these people, you are playing in their hands."
The broadcast led to other events. Abbasi took part in local peace forums. Republican congressman Mike Rogers invited her to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony, though she was not yet a U.S. citizen.
A career change
Abbasi had taken a break from her medical career and was ready to return. She had been an internist, but decided to switch to psychiatry. It proved to be another life-changing moment. As she began her work, she soon realized she was living in the state with the nation's largest Muslim population -- but she was seeing very few as patients.
"So I was worried, like, what's going on?" she says. "And I realized that there was a gap on both sides."
Abbasi understood her fellow Muslims' feelings of alienation. She also saw the effect the media hype was having on her colleagues, who were concerned about how they should treat their patients. At Michigan State University, Abbasi developed a series of "cultural competency studies" that went beyond the notion of tolerating differences, to accepting them.
Those studies led to a project to which Abbasi has dedicated herself for the last three years -- directing an annual conference on Muslim mental health.
MSU associate professor of psychiatry Dr. Jeanette Scheid supervised Abbasi during the year she put together her first conference.
"She brought together such a broad variety of people from all different aspects of mental health and interfacing it within the Islamist community. It was really pretty amazing," Scheid recalls.
Abbasi is now planning her fourth conference for next spring. She's also putting the finishing touches on an online journal of Muslim mental health. That's expected to be published later this month.
An ongoing journey of self-discovery
For all her work, Abbasi is still on her own journey of self-identity. She holds her faith and her values close while adopting some American behaviors. And as a mother, she wonders what blend of independence and ideology she's raising in her daughters.
"I define myself as a practicing Muslim and a very patriotic American," says Abbasi. "So it was very important for me for them to have an American identity without losing the Pakistani identity. I take pride in their independence, although I fear for it too."
But Farha Abbasi has proven before that fear is one emotion she can conquer.
Farha Abbasi's life changed on 9/11. Did the course of YOUR life change on that day? PBS NewsHour asked that question across the country. You can see the video responses -- or upload your OWN answer -- at Video Quilt - America Remembers 9/11.