Dr. Dilara Sayeed: From the Classroom to Civic Leadership
Dr. Dilara Sayeed: From the Classroom to Civic Leadership
In this episode of the American Muslim Podcast, host Imam Tariq El-Amin interviews Dr. Dilara Sayeed, President of the Muslim Civic Coalition. Dr. Sayeed discusses the formative experiences that shaped her commitment to equity and civic justice, including the impact of childhood bullying. She emphasizes the importance of creating safe spaces and draws on her background as an educator to advocate for community engagement and policy change. Explaining her leadership through partnership and coalition building, Dr. Sayeed also highlights the role of allyship and the work done by the Muslim Civic Coalition at local and national levels. The episode underscores the continuous effort needed to make systemic changes and the significance of maintaining core relationships and values.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:27 Guest Introduction: Dr. Dilara Sayeed
00:47 Formative Experiences and Early Challenges
05:12 Impact of Spiritual Teachers
10:57 Founding the Muslim Civic Coalition
12:42 Building Civic Power and Allyship
15:16 Connecting Teaching and Community Work
21:59 Leadership and Vision
23:27 Prioritizing Relationships: Creator, Self, and Family
25:43 Community Engagement and Advocacy
26:47 Leadership and Vision
28:23 Challenges and Triumphs in Civic Work
32:00 Coalition Building and National Impact
40:13 Empowering the Next Generation
42:54 Final Reflections and Podcast Information
Cover Art & Intro Music - Tariq I. El-Amin @ImamTariqElamin
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Transcript
Coalition to the Classroom
[:[00:00:27] Imam Tariq: Is Dr. Dr. Dilara Sayeed, president of the Muslim Civic Coalition, a Harvard trained educator and civic leader whose work is driven by a commitment to equity, access, and civic justice for all. So, without any further ado, here's our conversation to, uh, to get to where you are today. Is there a formative experience, a mentor, a book, or something that you point back to and say, this is where it all started at for me.[00:01:00]
[:[00:01:35] Dr. Dilara: Um, we had just moved in from a very black and brown neighborhood, and so I didn't know where I'd fit in. And in seventh grade, Louis said to me on the playground, you're the ugliest girl in school.
[:[00:01:57] Dr. Dilara: And I didn't know what [00:02:00] he meant because I wasn't aiming to be any pret or anything else. I was just aiming to be me.
[:[00:02:30] Dr. Dilara: And I remember a few years ago, my husband, he is like my life partner and amazing. And you know, he said something like, you are just as beautiful the day I met you.
[:[00:02:46] Dr. Dilara: And you know what came to my mind, Louis on the playground telling me I'm the ugliest girl at school.
[:[00:02:55] Dr. Dilara: And I think why that's important.
[:[00:03:31] Dr. Dilara: Then I thrived. I worked hard. I, I was unapologetically, you know, smart. Um, all of those things come out right? Like I was kind, I was good, all of those things. But when it didn't feel safe, I couldn't be those things. I felt so afraid. I spent more time trying to feel, you know, safe than I did, trying to be my best and learn.
[:[00:04:10] Imam Tariq: Mm mm
[:[00:04:33] Dr. Dilara: Look at the world we live in. So many people are unsafe.
[:[00:04:41] Dr. Dilara: So the work you and I do is endless.
[:[00:05:00] Imam Tariq: I'm in a different environment and I see the importance of teachers in creating those safe spaces. What was the next thing that you would look at and say, okay, this is,
[:[00:05:23] Dr. Dilara: Uh, looking at Muhammad Ali and, and, and knowing that he was a Chicagoan at some time and, and, and, and people like that. Actually, really the first experience, our family came to America in the 1950s. Mm-hmm. Um, plop in the middle of the civil rights movement. And when, uh, you know, in the seventies, the people who taught me to be fully American in Chicago.
[:[00:05:52] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:06:19] Dr. Dilara: Of the roots of my faith in this land because they also helped me find myself in this land. And, and then I was 30 and because I found my beloved use of early in life, we had three kids.
[:[00:06:39] Dr. Dilara: Um, and I was going to school for my master's and he was like trying to make his career work right. And I was like doing and feeling like I was doing nothing.
[:[00:07:12] Dr. Dilara: And. It was the attributes of God. Uh, and he taught it in, uh, uh, you know, at Benedictine University. And what he said is, God, your creator loves you. God has mercy on you. Why don't you have mercy on yourselves?
[:[00:07:39] Dr. Dilara: I don't know. In that classroom, I started weeping. I started weeping because that's really what it is.
[:[00:08:16] Imam Tariq: Dr. Delara, you mentioned that it was black Muslims who were instrumental in helping you to negotiate and, and reconcile multiple identities within the context mm-hmm.
[:[00:08:37] Dr. Dilara: feeling the other? I was always the other. I was a little brown girl. I wore pigtails, which my mom put oil on the night before school. Like, who does that? I think now. And I'm like, what was she thinking? Of course, if I was a bully, I'd wanna bully me, but I was the other in so many ways [00:09:00] that I didn't even realize.
[:[00:09:03] Dr. Dilara: Um, you know, I, I spoke Urdu at home and English at school. Um, I. Sometimes the right word in English wouldn't come out, and I'd say it in Urdu and nobody would knew what the heck I was saying. Sometimes the idioms were wrong, right? Mm-hmm. Uh. And I remember my husband would tease me 'cause I would say, close the light and he says, you don't closely light, turn it off.
[:[00:09:32] Imam Tariq: That's nice. Yeah.
[:[00:09:58] Dr. Dilara: People who are different in any [00:10:00] way feel like this. And that's just the reality. Until we find someone who. Embodies for us that we don't have to be the other, that we can actually own everything we are. Don't let them break us. Be stronger so they, so that we are then models for others to be strong as well, right?
[:[00:10:35] Imam Tariq: Yeah.
[:[00:10:42] Dr. Dilara: Uh, it's like we have this perfection in our heads, and if somebody doesn't belong to that, then we must be superior to them. I think superiority is the, is the, the bane of humanity.
[:[00:11:09] Imam Tariq: We know that outside of the Hodge. The United States, we have the greatest representation of diversity as it relates to Muslims. Illinois has the largest per capita presence of Muslims in the nation. Chicago land over 400,000 Muslims. What's been an important thing for you and mm-hmm. Being able to bring people together?
[:[00:11:52] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:11:58] Dr. Dilara: Our new Americans are [00:12:00] struggling because sanctuary cities and spaces of safety. Are being attacked. Um, and, and, and they're being taken away from jobs and homes where they're just trying to make a living. Um, all of this is not being done because they're Muslim. The people who were at City Hall this morning, 90% of them didn't identify as Muslim.
[:[00:12:30] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:12:42] Dr. Dilara: Um, so what we say at the Muslim Civic Coalition is we have to build our civic power
[:[00:12:49] Dr. Dilara: With allyship and allies and partners of course. Um, and we do that when, you know, civic power is built when. Laws [00:13:00] made for us are actually made with us. And that's what we were trying to do today in City Hall, right?
[:[00:13:30] Dr. Dilara: And then lastly, when, when our stories drive change, when the data about us drive change. So you talked about some of the data, why it's important for us to have civic power because we are here, we are fully American. We are the largest per capita Muslim population in the nation. We must be heard. We must be seen.
[:[00:13:53] Dr. Dilara: We must be part of the city's landscape and diaspora and not just our city, our, our suburbs, our [00:14:00] state, and our nation. So. This is our work when we founded the Muslim Civic Coalition. And I say when we, 'cause you were part of it. Mm-hmm. And so were many, many, many others we had built, I could go from New York City Imam to California in my car and probably pray in the masala for every prayer along the way.
[:[00:14:27] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:14:49] Imam Tariq: Hmm.
[:[00:14:54] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:15:16] Imam Tariq: So the teacher as an authority, figure, as a provider of care, one who recognizes the potential of those in their care.
[:[00:15:26] Imam Tariq: Do you reach back to that and think about that in the community work, the work that you're doing with the coalition? Is it a real extension of that? Yeah.
[:[00:15:43] Dr. Dilara: Like how does that work? And. It's such an easy extension. Mm-hmm. The right extension of the next phase of my work. Right. And so at its core, the Muslim Civic Coalition is a education and community [00:16:00] organizing entity. We are an advocacy group for all people to be able to build a life. What do teachers do in classrooms?
[:[00:16:36] Dr. Dilara: Because when I didn't see my story in the American story, how do I make sure my story is in the American story?
[:[00:16:42] Dr. Dilara: Right. Like when I was first teaching, the first few years I was astounded. Like I was never in the American story. I taught for, for a year, right? From the 16 hundreds to two thousands in the US and the history of it and the government of it, and I was never in it.
[:[00:17:11] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:17:26] Dr. Dilara: And I think we shifted curriculum in the US for it to be more inclusive of all our stories. And then remember when I moved to the Civic Coalition, what was the other part of what I learned? US History and Government, how do people work within the government? Change the government. And that quote is not wrong.
[:[00:18:15] Dr. Dilara: Um, and we're getting it done, I think of when we, um, walked and protested and worked towards the conviction of the murderer of George Floyd.
[:[00:18:27] Dr. Dilara: In the last five years, look at how much has changed. Right?
[:[00:18:31] Dr. Dilara: How much pride did we have that the chief prosecutor of the murderer of George Ply was a black American Muslim.
[:[00:18:42] Dr. Dilara: Right, that's
[:[00:18:43] Dr. Dilara: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, our dear brother and friend.
[:[00:18:48] Dr. Dilara: When it was time to, you know, work on COVID, how many of us worked in neighborhoods? Where we were in danger were, um, [00:19:00] in, in terms of our health to ensure that people were getting vaccinated, they were getting education about COVID, they were getting true information and not misinformation.
[:[00:19:10] Dr. Dilara: This is what civic organizations as allies, we all did. When we saw injustice, uh, in, in, in, and again and again and again, school shootings and shootings on the south side of Chicago, the west side of Chicago, in neighborhoods and hoods in Philadelphia, in Detroit, of the mass incarceration of black men or the shootings of black men.
[:[00:19:38] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:19:56] Dr. Dilara: You look at your phone, I promise you saying the idiom wrong there. But you open your phone, you [00:20:00] pick up your phone, you look at your phone in the morning, and you cannot help but see the images of children begging for water and being shot 2025. In a world where there is enough food, enough water, and enough money for all human beings to live and live comfortably, we have this kind of a scarcity mindset.
[:[00:20:50] Imam Tariq: Hmm hmm. So the challenge really becomes. Replicating that environment, that [00:21:00] classroom environment in the public square, replicating that, that same environment, a healthy
[:[00:21:13] Dr. Dilara: I do not assume every classroom and every environment is safe. Mm-hmm. We have the research and we have the common sense, and we have the faith that tells us what good teachers are like. Sure. And what good safe classrooms and environments are. Like. We have the prophet mohamad salam, our prophet, and all of the prophets in our faith who taught us what good teachers are.
[:[00:21:41] Imam Tariq: or shepherds in some way. Right. Or
[:[00:21:46] Imam Tariq: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:21:52] Imam Tariq: Hmm.
[:[00:21:58] Imam Tariq: their model. Talk to us a bit [00:22:00] about what has it meant for you to lead such an important.
[:[00:22:09] Dr. Dilara: You know, I used the word leader two or three times, and I, I, I, I feel like a, a partner in this work. I really do. I feel like a partner in this work, and I feel like the follower of profits and the message, so I'm just doing what I know I have to do, right?
[:[00:22:31] Dr. Dilara: And, and I'm doing it. With priorities that are actually above service to community. So , I do wanna talk a little bit about that. 'cause , I love the premise of this podcast. You know, what's the story behind what we see this moment? And I think people see like. This morning I was at City Hall This afternoon I was at Shy Care's, uh, mobile Medical Launch, which is amazing social service, you know, now, uh, having a mobile unit that will go to areas that need, um, medical [00:23:00] support and healthcare access.
[:[00:23:27] Dr. Dilara: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:23:53] Dr. Dilara: Mm,
[:[00:24:13] Imam Tariq: yeah.
[:[00:24:22] Dr. Dilara: Often I get a mixed up, but I, what I would want it to be is, number two, is my relationship with myself. I have to be able to look in the mirror. And see someone that I can respect so that others can respect her, see someone that I can love so others can love her. See someone that is kind so that others think she is kind.
[:[00:25:08] Dr. Dilara: Hmm.
[:[00:25:27] Imam Tariq: That's right.
[:[00:25:30] Dr. Dilara: So he's a model for us to be good to our families. So number two and number three, best to yourself. Relationship with yourself and relationship with your family. And then when you have those three priorities, you know, chugging along. You can do number four, which is relationship with your community, your Oma and your world, because then you're bringing your best self to them.
[:[00:26:00] Imam Tariq: That's right.
[:[00:26:11] Imam Tariq: Yeah.
[:[00:26:14] Imam Tariq: Hmm.
[:[00:26:34] Dr. Dilara: And that's what advocacy , and education is. Those are the priorities. Our creator, ourselves, our family, our neighbors.
[:[00:26:44] Imam Tariq: I want to, uh, examine this a little bit. Uh, do you, do you avoid the, the label of leader.
[:[00:27:00] Dr. Dilara: No.
[:[00:27:01] Dr. Dilara: But I wanna make sure that I'm constantly, when I'm looking in the mirror, earning that label.
[:[00:27:12] Dr. Dilara: A hundred percent.
[:[00:27:14] Dr. Dilara: Through partnership. Through coalition building.
[:[00:27:17] Dr. Dilara: Again, I go back to my classroom. Um. Teachers who just think they're the teacher and not part of the learning community in their classroom.
[:[00:27:42] Imam Tariq: mm-hmm.
[:[00:28:02] Dr. Dilara: And they're unafraid to step up in those spaces. And I am unafraid. I, you know, uh, gender plays a role. You know, being a woman plays a role. Being, uh, you know, of a certain age group plays a role. Being a certain background plays a role, but we also have to be unafraid if we have the skill sets to take the leadership too.
[:[00:28:31] Dr. Dilara: Know the priorities in life. Know that service is a privilege.
[:[00:28:40] Dr. Dilara: So do it well and be all in. Be authentic because it shows when you're not.
[:[00:28:56] Dr. Dilara: And, uh, be consistent. [00:29:00] Too many leaders think this is hard, and then they're like, forget this, and then they go onto something else.
[:[00:29:08] Dr. Dilara: sometimes I, I'm jealous of that, but be consistent.
[:[00:29:14] Dr. Dilara: Um, it is, it is every day. Uh, and you, you know, you suffer the slings and arrows. Um. But you know, sometimes, uh, almost all the time actually when someone is angry, it isn't about us, Imam, it's, it's what they're carrying themselves,
[:[00:29:36] Dr. Dilara: It's the trauma they're carrying, the anger they're carrying, the frustrations they're carrying, and they don't know what to do with it. And so they lay it on you and they blame you, and they want change so badly. That they, they say you gotta do it. Um. That's a privilege that someone thinks you have that kind of power you, so [00:30:00] were like, I dunno what the hell I'm doing either.
[:[00:30:06] Imam Tariq: It's It's the American Muslim.
[:[00:30:17] Imam Tariq: Oh man.
[:[00:30:35] Dr. Dilara: Uh, and I'm not always there. I'm not always there. Sometimes I reflect the pain too. Um, and I'm praying I get better. And, um, you know what? I don't see thic, uh, a world getting that's getting better. I, you tell me. I'm actually, for the first time in my life, I'm a half full person. Like the cup has [00:31:00] gotta be half full.
[:[00:31:20] Imam Tariq: Hmm. Hmm.
[:[00:31:54] Imam Tariq: Hmm.
[:[00:32:29] Imam Tariq: What has that meant for you?
[:[00:32:59] Dr. Dilara: [00:33:00] Even when our governor is, uh, questioned by, uh, in Congress, you know, you gave money to the Muslim Civic Coalition. They protested the US backed, uh, war on za. Um, what, what are their values and, and, and do you support them? And our governor who has aspirations of course, to uh, be governor, if not president, could have said any.
[:[00:33:53] Dr. Dilara: And that's the relationship building, right? So when, uh, and, and, and after my, my phone blew up. I got texts, are [00:34:00] you okay? And I was like, actually, I'm worried about my team. Uh, what happens is people read into that message. Go look us up. See who's on our team. You know, wanna dox us, uh, attack us, et cetera.
[:[00:34:32] Imam Tariq: Right?
[:[00:35:02] Dr. Dilara: That was huge. Now that grant ended and we continue to do it, and it's been a very difficult year for funding this year. Very difficult year. People are afraid to fund demo democracy. People are afraid to fund civic organizations or they don't want to fund a name that is Muslim in it. Um, so it's been really hard to get grants.
[:[00:35:45] Dr. Dilara: Uh, we are working on a bill tracking system because so many bills are pa, uh, are introduced into law. Mm-hmm. Bills like, um, uh, you know, anti BDS bills, uh, bills that, uh, uh. Put [00:36:00] black and brown people in boxes and actually they pass by us and we can't catch 'em. 'cause there's thousands of bills across the states that are introduced every year.
[:[00:36:26] Dr. Dilara: That was a, uh, a, a tool that was gonna cost, um, a significant amount of money. We worked across three or four states and we all decided we're gonna get that bill together, get that tool together. And now it costs so little and all these states now can look at this tool. So ways that we are collaborating across the states when we find good tools so that we could share both the benefits of the tools and the costs of those tools.
[:[00:37:17] Dr. Dilara: Everybody, right? Like everybody loves Li the Champs. So, um, we're working with about, uh, you know, a few other states, a half a dozen states to pass a Muhammad Ali Day bill, and we're working with his grandson, Jacob Heimer Ali and his daughter Mario Ali, to do it as well. So what a great coalition of different states.
[:[00:37:58] Dr. Dilara: And I remember a state said [00:38:00] to, to me after we'd like, we'd had multiple, um, consulting time with them, and they were like, you haven't asked us for a penny. Why do you do this? And I said, first of all, when you have a penny, you're welcome to give it to us. Second of all, we ramped up. We were a baby organization seven, eight years ago.
[:[00:38:48] Dr. Dilara: Guess who wins? All of us.
[:[00:38:51] Dr. Dilara: All of us swim. You ramp up faster. We all win you. I tell you the mistakes we made, you don't make 'em. We all win. You do something new [00:39:00] that we hadn't thought of because you're new to this game. We do it too. We all win. And so the point here is collective growth, collective impact, collective success of our American Muslim community and of all communities that are our allies.
[:[00:39:34] Dr. Dilara: We're this tiny little organization here and yet we'll do micro grants if for young, especially young adult organizations that are starting. Happy to subgrant to, uh, Muslim Muslims in public policy, a group of young Muslim women who are working in public policy and facing challenges and successes. Happy to subgrant and sponsor to, um, so many of the basketball tournaments where young men are finding [00:40:00] great outlets of playing basketball.
[:[00:40:24] Dr. Dilara: We got a small grant for this year, 90 people, which says how desperate young people want to learn more about how to do civic leadership work. We could only accept 45. We accepted 45. They're from about a dozen different states across the union. Mm-hmm. This week is the first module. The first module is on Thursday, and it will be about owning our American Muslim story, understanding how supremacy threatens us all in America, and what young people can do to ensure that they are leading through this and navigating through this, [00:41:00] uh, collectively.
[:[00:41:22] Dr. Dilara: Yaminah El-Amin.
[:[00:41:24] Dr. Dilara: Mohammad Attiya and Alima. , Our amazing young people and the 45 people that we will meet this week, I'm so excited for their future, their leadership and, and, and their presence with us. So what a great way to end this on. Right. Like I, I absolutely just did the, the, the hope of a generation
[:[00:41:50] Dr. Dilara: That is ready to take on and actually is taking on.
[:[00:41:54] Dr. Dilara: They are leaders today. We're simply strengthening, nurturing, and giving them some tools, but they [00:42:00] are leaders today in the dozen states that they all come from.
[:[00:42:20] Imam Tariq: She's just talking about the experience and how. Being able to have these relationships with folks that she might not otherwise be able to, and to be able to share space and to share a mission and a vision that is collective, , it is benefiting the community. , Yeah, she was just, she was just all smiles and I just couldn't, be more appreciative.
[:[00:43:01] Dr. Dilara: Yeah. Yeah. So the Civic Polls podcast, , was actually inspired by, , con when he was Congressman Keith Ellison, who said, this work has to be shared.
[:[00:43:12] Dr. Dilara: , You have to have a podcast. Whose audience is all people, and they have to understand that Muslims do civic work and Muslims do coalition building work, and you should have people who is, who aren't part of an echo chamber on there. And so we've had, uh, this podcast, it's been eight sessions.
[:[00:43:54] Dr. Dilara: , And so what you will get from us is a lot of great information, a lot of really important [00:44:00] information, , to take ownership, , and to keep that ownership and to strengthen that ownership of being fully American, fully. Whatever faith you follow fully, whatever ethnic and racial background you are, , fully you.
[:[00:44:15] Dr. Dilara: As I am trying to be fully me,
[:[00:44:19] Imam Tariq: that was my penultimate question. Final, if you would, Dr. Dilara, uh, finish this sentence. The one lesson I keep learning is
[:[00:44:45] Imam Tariq: Hmm, Hmm.
[:[00:44:54] Imam Tariq: Right, right. Well, doc, I really appreciate you taking the [00:45:00] time now. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the American Muslim Podcast. We will be back next week in Sharla with another conversation. Where voice, vision and values come together.
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