Wajahat Ali '07 Publishes Op-ed in New York Times

Wajahat Ali '07 published an essay, "Inshallah is Good for Everyone" in the April 22 edition of the New York Times. In the article, Ali writes about a recent incident in which a passenger was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight after being overheard to say the Arabic word "inshallah," which translates as "God willing." 

Though humorous in tone, the article makes the point that "We're encouraged by authorities to say something if we see something. Unfortunately, the toxic mix of fear, ignorance and hate clouds the better judgment of otherwise well-intentioned Americans who transform common occurrences, and dark-skinned neighbors, into permanent threats."

Ali, a Pakistani-American who grew up in Fremont before attending UC Berkeley and then King Hall, has enjoyed a successful career as a writer, authoring an acclaimed play, Domestic Crusaders, and contributing essays and articles to publications including The Guardian of London and The Huffington Post. He has also worked as a journalist at Al Jazeera America.