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Asna Tabassum: "Although this should have been a time of celebration for my family,
friends, professors, and classmates, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian
voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all," |
Statement by University of Southern
California Student Asna Tabassum, Class of 2024 Valedictorian:
I am honored to have been selected as USC
Class of 2024 Valedictorian. Although this should have been a time of
celebration for my family, friends, professors, and classmates, anti-Muslim and
anti-Palestinian voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred
because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all.
This campaign to prevent me from addressing
my peers at commencement has evidently accomplished its goal: today, USC
administrators informed me that the university will no longer allow me to speak
at commencement due to supposed security concerns. I am both shocked by this
decision and profoundly disappointed that the University is succumbing to a
campaign of hate meant to silence my voice.
I am not surprised by those who attempt to
propagate hatred. I am surprised that my own university—my home for four
years—has abandoned me.
In a meeting with the USC Provost and the
Associate Senior Vice President of Safety and Risk Assurance on April 14, I
asked about the alleged safety concerns and was told that the University had
the resources to take appropriate safety measures for my valedictory speech,
but that they would not be doing so since increased security protections is not
what the University wants to “present as an image.”
Because I am not aware of any specific
threats against me or the university, because my request for the details
underlying the university’s threat assessment has been denied, and because I am
not being provided any increased safety to be able to speak at commencement, there
remain serious doubts about whether USC’s decision to revoke my invitation to
speak is made solely on the basis of safety.
Instead of allowing the campaign of hatred to
define who I am and what I stand for, let me therefore take this opportunity to
tell you about myself.
I am a first-generation South Asian-American
Muslim whose passion for service stems from the experience of my grandparents,
who were unable to access lifesaving medical technology because they had been
displaced by communal violence.
I am a biomedical engineer who learned the
meaning of health equity through developing low- cost and accessible jaundice
for babies whose darker skin color conceals the visual yellowing of their
complexion.
I am a proud Trojan who loves my campus that
has enabled me to go from building a walker to shipping medical gowns to
Ukraine to writing about the Rwandan Genocide to taking blood pressure
measurements for our neighbors in Skid Row.
I am a student of history who chose to minor
in resistance to genocide, anchored by the Shoah Foundation, and have learned
that ordinary people are capable of unspeakable acts of violence when they are
taught hate fueled by fear. And due to widespread fear, I was hoping to use my
commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope. By
canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred.
My identities and experiences inspired me to think outside the box—a mindset I
cultivated at USC, and it is this very quality that contributed to my selection
as USC Valedictorian.
As your class Valedictorian, I implore my USC
classmates to think outside the box—to work towards a world where cries for
equality and human dignity are not manipulated to be expressions of
hatred.
I challenge us to respond to ideological
discomfort with dialogue and learning, not bigotry and censorship. And I urge
us to see past our deepest fears and recognize the need to support justice for
all people, including the Palestinian people.
Tabassum, who is South Asian-American and Muslim, said in a statement that
as a result of the backlash, she has faced "a campaign of racist hatred
because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all." NPR NEWS https://www.npr.org/2024/04/16/1244990599/usc-valedictorian-speech-canceled
USC canceled Asna Tabassum's valedictorian speech after she received a wave of hate online for supporting Palestine.
On Tuesday, April 6, the University of Southern California (USC)
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism announced on social
media that USC student Asna Tabassum was selected as valedictorian for
the class of 2024. Shortly after the announcement, she began receiving
harassment online from a social media account called 'We Are Tov,' which
reportedly launched a dishonest and defamatory attack against Asna and
created a petition calling on USC to remove her from the position of
valedictorian.
USC released a statement on
Monday, April 15, stating that while Asna would retain the title of
valedictorian, she would not be allowed to speak during the commencement
ceremony due to the hate campaign against her "to maintain the safety
of our campus and students."
For what may be
the first time in USC history, the school's commencement ceremony will
not include a speech from its valedictorian. This decision to cancel
Asna's speech empowers voices of hate, violates USC's obligation to
protect its students, and sends a terrible message to not only Muslim
students at USC but all students who dare to express support for
Palestinian humanity. CAIR PETITION https://cair-la.salsalabs.org/usc-cancels-valedictorian-speech/index.html
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by
representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all
regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United
Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A)
as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.
It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be
universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The
UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for,
the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today
on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing
references to it in their preambles).
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