Today I gave an interview for ABC RN’s ‘Soul Search’ with Meredith Lake. Though this was intended to be a spruik for the new edition of ‘Coming of Age: Growing Up Muslim in Australia’ in which I have a chapter, the interview began with my reflection on the Christchurch massacre and the way in which identity and belonging are negotiated in a post-colonial, post-truth era. 

Later I spoke to a myriad of experiences that shaped my spiritual and cultural evolution, stemming from a country Victorian upbringing from childhood to adolescence. In closing I remarked that freedom of expression was essential to well being and that reigning in hateful rhetoric so that others can live in safety should be a basic human right afforded to any person growing up in Australia, yet denied to too many. #endracism #endislamophobia #staystrongchristchurch