SNEAKO - April 23, 2024


INTERROGATION (Letter from Medina)


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

204.2518

Word Count

1,233

Sentence Count

89

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.220 All the footage you're about to see is already in the hands of the U.S. government.
00:00:05.520 As I returned to my native country after a month in the Middle East,
00:00:09.040 Border Patrol decided I was randomly selected to download the data on all my devices.
00:00:13.540 Sitting in the interrogation room while a technician wrote down my passcodes,
00:00:16.800 it occurred to me how fortunate I was to not be a terrorist.
00:00:20.540 Imagine how much panic you would be in if you had a bomb in your backpack.
00:00:23.920 In hindsight, wearing an Arabic thobe was not the most strategic decision in an American airport.
00:00:28.500 My bags were inspected and I saw all the gifts from Muslims being carefully manhandled with rubber gloves.
00:00:34.100 A pretty lady was then tasked to interrogate me while U.S. Customs read my text messages.
00:00:38.820 She was getting bored with the questioning as it became obvious I didn't have nuclear codes
00:00:42.440 and I thought back to when the Senator of Michigan played my stream in a committee.
00:00:45.960 The spread of the hateful, dangerous, and extremist content that has motivated real-world violence.
00:00:52.180 That was two years ago.
00:00:53.780 A year later, I met the President.
00:00:55.480 Eleven years before, all I had was a dream.
00:00:58.500 Strangely enough, I always knew and perhaps decided I would be exactly here in the interrogation room.
00:01:07.440 The interrogation lady asked about my time in Saudi Arabia,
00:01:10.860 so I politely mansplained the significance of Ramadan.
00:01:13.980 Our charity is required in Islam and how my community raised $100,000 for hungry people.
00:01:18.820 She scribbled some notes in a pad.
00:01:20.480 So the Muslim good deeds act as the sole currency to purchase a spot in heaven.
00:01:24.840 Her woman brain didn't understand it.
00:01:26.440 You really had to leave the country for a month to do this?
00:01:29.300 I told her time away from Western distractions allowed full focus on Eastern solutions.
00:01:34.280 For a month, I was only around people who agree with me instead of around people who radicalize me.
00:01:38.960 The trip began in the Mecca of the world.
00:01:41.300 Mecca.
00:01:42.060 Expensive if you like luxury, but the mental clarity is worth the investment.
00:01:45.540 But the interrogator didn't understand why an American would go to Saudi Arabia for one day just to then fly to London.
00:01:51.620 As she kept prying, I realized this definitely wasn't a random selection.
00:01:55.220 So I explained in the most un-terrorist way possible, I simply went to Mecca to make a plan.
00:02:00.280 And within that day, I gathered all the biggest names in Dawah together for the first time.
00:02:04.400 The technician walked in, interrupting or questioning to get the correct passcode for my backup phone.
00:02:10.380 I gave the wrong code, hoping they were lazy.
00:02:12.660 This phone contained the memories of my life in New York City.
00:02:15.540 A time where I had no money, no faith, but ambition and creativity.
00:02:19.200 And the only incriminating information there was maybe pounds of weed and possibly an unlicensed firearm.
00:02:24.700 I was calculating the statute of limitations in my head, then flashbacks of that life hit me.
00:02:29.300 Back in New York City, I would have never been pulled into an interrogation room.
00:02:32.820 A fraction of the popularity, but with access to all the platforms I'm now banned on.
00:02:37.060 A man without faith is simply not a threat.
00:02:39.560 The technician fumbled the phone with his rubber gloves as I handed it back.
00:02:42.860 My co-worker said he's seen you on YouTube before.
00:02:46.380 He pointed a purple finger at me.
00:02:48.140 What do you do?
00:02:49.520 What do I do?
00:02:50.520 I thought about telling him those broke New York City days doing stand-up comedy and random jobs.
00:02:55.200 He was about to see them anyway.
00:02:56.520 He might be so entertained by memories paired with personal context that I wouldn't be convicted.
00:03:01.000 Investigating an intimate life story paired with so much public information, it redefines the term autobiography.
00:03:07.200 What do I do?
00:03:08.500 I thought maybe I'll explain that I've been banned for years on BotTube and my existence is kept alive by talentless haters.
00:03:14.480 Instead, the interrogator just said I stream on Rebel.
00:03:16.840 I didn't correct her, but I still wasn't in the clear.
00:03:19.080 Before the technician left to finish breaching my privacy, he asked how I was trapped in a cage with a tiger.
00:03:24.940 He must have been bored with my phone's lack of terrorism.
00:03:27.500 I relaxed.
00:03:28.280 Hey, maybe the Middle East isn't so bad after all.
00:03:30.980 They laughed, and I knew I beat the case.
00:03:33.120 You cannot blame employees of the government for holding a bias created by decades of war propaganda.
00:03:38.500 It's easy to forget when an Arab steps in line in airport security, every American still does a triple take.
00:03:44.320 While the download slowly completed, the interrogator made small talk about her job.
00:03:47.900 How usually drug traffickers and pedophiles get caught because of the photos in their phone.
00:03:52.360 About the innocent smile on an illegal immigrant's face when she reads their rights in a language they don't understand.
00:03:57.820 Because of her job, she knows about Ramadan and the importance of the holy city Medina.
00:04:02.840 One of the few places left in the world where the collective goal is worship.
00:04:06.480 The city where kids are confused why I'm even allowed with arms covered in tattoos.
00:04:10.580 The tranquility drew me there much longer than I plan to stay.
00:04:14.200 Medina is busy enough to be a music festival five times a day, but safe enough for kids to be kids.
00:04:19.840 There is so much paranoia in American air, I had forgotten what it feels like to be comfortable around strangers.
00:04:25.400 It's the perfect place to finish a month of fasting and join a random Indian family for Eid celebration.
00:04:31.040 Eating there after sunrise with the Patel family, I realized weirdly, I was going to miss fasting.
00:04:36.300 Not the lack of food and water, but the discipline you learn.
00:04:39.360 Hearing the prayer call on the roof alone, yet accompanied by my brothers from around the world in the Middle East.
00:04:44.940 I pray one day the interrogator sees this video and curiosity pulls her to explore the secrets of Medina for herself.
00:04:51.120 From the steps inside the very first mosque ever built, all the way to the mountains where companions seeked refuge in the midst of holy war.
00:04:58.600 Overlooking the beauty of where this religion of Islam began, I was reminded of the domino effect that triggered my eventual presence right here.
00:05:06.320 The contradiction of a mind carrying youthful ambition amidst the glamorous distractions of America's empty temptations.
00:05:13.740 The interrogator was warming up to the God talk.
00:05:16.080 She opened up.
00:05:17.060 The worst thing she sees on the job are the phones of the Palestinians.
00:05:20.140 As she began describing what she's seen from the videos on their phones, she cried.
00:05:25.780 I changed the subject.
00:05:26.960 Palestinians have a strength their enemies lack.
00:05:29.880 She wiped the tear and gained composure.
00:05:31.660 Those terrible videos are of people now in eternal paradise.
00:05:35.740 When a Muslim dies for the sake of God, they attain the highest rank in heaven.
00:05:40.380 No wonder the enemy is jealous.
00:05:42.420 There is no missile that defeats faith.
00:05:44.840 My privacy was taken and my phones were returned, so the interrogator walked me out the airport.
00:05:51.100 I would shake your hand goodbye if you didn't tell me it's not allowed.
00:05:54.520 I wondered if she was flirting and then prayed to God she never sees my Snapchat.
00:05:57.600 I'll give you everything I've got, a little piece of mine.