Khalid Latif – Speech of when he was given the Alumni Distinguished Service Award at NYU 2014
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Alumni are crucial to the success of any
college, and we're fortunate in having dedicated alumni
who generally get generously give to the college
their time, their experience, and support.
And each year we recognize one of them
for their involvement with the college over the
years, as well as for their own personal
and professional achievements. And this year is someone
who many of you know,
Our
Our alumni honoree today and the recipient of
the college alumni distinguished service award is Imam
Khaled Latif.
He is the university
chaplain for NYU, executive director of the Islamic
Center here, as well as chaplain for the
New York City Police Department. He graduated
10 years ago. Yeah. I'm old.
In 2004,
with a major in Middle Eastern Studies and
Modern Politics.
Just a year after graduation, he was appointed
the 1st Muslim chaplain here, and 2 years
after graduation, the 1st Muslim chaplain at Princeton.
In 2007, under his leadership, the Islamic Center
here became the first ever established Muslim student
center at any institution of higher education in
the United States. And also that year, when
he was 24,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg nominated him to become the
youngest chaplain in the history of the NYPD.
Through his work, Heman Latif has demonstrated not
only an exceptional dedication to gaining and disseminating
religious values and values, but has begun to
carve out much needed space for young American
Muslims to celebrate their unique identity and have
their voices heard in the larger public sphere,
working tirelessly to foster dialogue with people of
other faiths in order to clarify misconceptions
and encourage mutual education.
In 2012,
Malativ cofounded with our vice chancellor, Linda Mills,
our rabbi, Yehuda Sarna, and Chelsea Clinton, the
Evmini Institute,
a programmatic groundbreaking model
for multi faith leadership at the university level.
The Of Many Institute supports a new generation
of religious and civic leaders who reach across
faith
boundaries
to solve social problems together. And it's work
has recently been documented in the film that
is made, our imam, a movie star.
The title of Many premiered at Tribeca earlier
this year. He's been named a global faith,
global interfaith visionary by the United Nations Temple
of Understanding,
one of a 100, NY New York City
Luminaries by the public library, one of the
500 most influential Muslims in the world, by
Georgetown University's
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center For Muslim Christian
Understanding, and the Royal Islamic Studies Center. He's
a millennial leader. He was named Christian Science
Monitors 30 Under 30. You all have a
lot to live up to.
And for all of those reasons, and for
the fact that he is one of the
people that makes NYU not just be a
home or a college or community in name,
but a home and a college and community
in reality.
We're lovingly
presenting to him the Back bowl, a mom
Latif.
You know, I just took a look at
myself and realized
I look like Piccolo from Dragon Palsy.
It's truly an honor and privilege to be
with you all on this special day to
accept this award.
And a decade has passed since I sat
where you all sit.
I can honestly say that my time as
an undergrad at New York University's College of
Arts and Sciences
has helped me to become a quote unquote
citizen of the world
because during my time as an undergrad at
NYU, I realized
not that the world was such a big
place, but that the world was large enough
to fit so many different types of people
in it.
As you sit in a sea of purple,
dress head to toe, exactly the same side
by side with people who are different races,
ethnicities,
have different lifestyles and beliefs, come potentially from
different countries of origin than your own,
on this special day of achievement,
I would ask that you make a commitment
that today will be the first of many
days that you will sit with people that
you could fully get away with never speaking
to at any point in your life, but
you won't do so because
your being with those who are different from
you will enhance your own individual growth.
And added to that, I would ask that
you make a commitment that when you have
the opportunity
to simply go out and do good,
you do so without condition or qualification,
not seeing if the hand that extends the
hand to you matches you in terms of
country of
origin, race, skin color, any other socially constructed
difference that we utilize to justify being separate
from each other.
But you look at the shared humanity that
you have to be able to say, I
will do when the opportunity is there for
me.
You don't know what kind of impact it
can have really on those who are waiting
for people like yourselves
to come into their lives and help them
get through some of the obstacles that they
face.
As was mentioned, one of the roles that
I fulfill today is serving as a chaplain
for the New York City Police Department, and
as a chaplain for the NYPD, I'm
given the rank of an inspector.
It's a pretty high rank. It's one rank
below a 1 star chief.
And one of the things that we do
as department chaplains is we attend the 911
memorial service that takes place every year. We
go to police headquarters and have
with family members who lost loved ones on
that day. We then take a bus down
to the ground zero site,
and we wait until the ceremony starts.
On the 9th anniversary of the 911 attacks,
the ceremony was a little different than what
you have today. You had the stage where
people spoke from. You had a area where
VIPs and family members and city officials would
stand, behind us would be a press pit,
and then behind them would be anyone from
the city who wanted to come and watch.
And as I was standing in my police
uniform, I had my beard, I was wearing
a skull cap, and I was talking to
people who were there, who had lost their
loved ones on that day.
And 3 men approached me in suits,
identifying themselves
as secret service saying that someone has spotted
you from the top of a building and
they wanted us to check your credentials just
in case.
I said, just in case what?
And the one man said, I'm sorry that
we're doing this to you.
And I said, then why are you doing
it?
And you have to understand what's being questioned
at that moment is not simply my presence
there at that time, but something that's much
bigger than that, my entire validity of emotions
tied to that site.
I was an undergrad at New York University
on September 11, 2001.
I stood with about 10,000 of my classmates
in Washington Square Park looking downtown. The Kimmel
Center was being constructed at that time. The
Global Center wasn't there. You had a more
clear shot of everything that was going on.
There was a lot of commotion, people were
talking, and as we were sitting there, a
silence erupted when we watched the second plane
fly into the towers.
Everyone just stood for what seemed like an
eternity, but really it was just moments and
as instantaneously
as that silence hit us, it shattered and
everyone went in different directions.
I went into my dorm where I was
living Goddard,
and I heard people who are living on
my floor saying things to the effect of
we should get all of the Muslims together
and send them out of the country so
that things like this don't happen.
We had to evacuate the building and someone
tried to push me down the staircase. And
when I turned around to look at her,
she had a lot of anger on her
face.
We were put in front of media outlets
from all over the world because as students,
we were arguably the closest Muslim organization to
the ground zero site at that time, and
people wanted to know what Muslims thought, and
we had to step up to take on
the responsibility.
I stood at numerous funeral services for loved
ones who were lost on that day, both
who were of my faith and people who
came from different backgrounds.
So much of the work that I even
do to this day is informed by that
day.
And those men were questioning
the validity of all of that.
And the frustrating thing wasn't that I was
going through it,
but I couldn't really do anything about it.
If I said anything in return, it would
probably make the situation that much worse.
And many people were standing and watching,
and amongst them was one woman who had
lost her son on that day.
And where I could not speak, she spoke.
And she said to those men that what
you are doing today is more dishonoring to
the memory of our loved one that we
lost than anything else.
That here this young man is standing with
us in our moment of need, and you
are making it seem as if he is
doing something wrong just because he's Muslim.
And as instantaneously
as that validation
left, it came right back.
Why I share that story with you is
for two reasons. 1, for us to overcome
certain battles, the battles have to take place.
They have to exist to begin with.
If I was not in that place or
that circumstance or situation, the scenario would not
have taken place as you move forward,
Sometimes break out of your comfort zone and
go to places that you might not necessarily
see many who are like you, but you
know your presence will set a precedent for
those who come after to have it that
much easier.
And more importantly, when you think about what
it means to achieve and to be of
a person of distinction, don't think of somebody
like me.
But think of that woman who when the
opportunity to do right came her way, she
simply did it for no other reason other
than it was the right thing to do.
Be like her.
Be like Joshua Garcia,
the Aramark food employee who works at our
university, who when one of your classmates
fell in front of a oncoming train on
a subway track and people stood with their
phones taking pictures and videos, he moved and
jumped not thinking about what he would lose,
but only about the person that he could
go out and do something for. Be like
him.
When the opportunity comes to go out and
do work, don't put conditions on who your
allies and your partners could be.
You sit right now with friends,
but think of the people who are sitting
rows behind you.
Who you might not have spoken to at
all, but they could very likely be the
people who would be your best partners in
going out and changing this world.
I have no doubt that each and every
one of you as individuals
could go out and do amazing things on
your own.
But just because you could do it by
yourself,
doesn't mean that we shouldn't be able to
start doing things together.
If I could ever be helpful to any
of you as you go through your life
journeys and trajectories,
please don't hesitate in reaching out.
I will try my best to be a
resource to you in whatever way possible.
Congratulations to you on this day of celebration
and achievement.
May your noble intentions be elevated and life's
objectives be facilitated as you continue to do
all that you do.
May you be protected from hearts that are
not humble, tongues that are not wise, and
eyes that have forgotten how to cry.
May your successes of today be the first
of many,
and we may be granted more success on
every tomorrow that you see. Go out and
change the world, class of 2014.
We all are behind you and have high
hopes. Thank you.