The Mindful Muslim Podcast #44 – Racism, Colourism & the Muslim Identity with Lily Syed and Naila Huggins-Grimley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKFmZOHTNsQ The Mindful Muslim is an Inspirited Minds podcast that hosts raw, open, and honest conversations on various topics within the sphere of mental health, psychology, Islam and spirituality. In this episode we spoke to friends Lily Syed and Naila Huggins. A graduate of International Relations from the University of Birmingham, Lily has conducted research into the effects of Islamophobia on the Muslim youth and the discriminatory application of counter-terrorism legislation on the UK’s Muslim communities. With 7 years experience in counter-extremism and supporting victims of hate crime, domestic and sexual violence, she has embarked on a career change with the ambition of becoming a human rights lawyer to further support and improve standards for British Muslims. Having visited Bangladesh, Palestine and China, she is determined to support the Rohingya, Palestinians and Uyghurs. Lily is currently on a scholarship with the University of Law studying MA Law. She will then undertake the LLM with LPC funded by the Law Society. Naila is a mixed race revert and has been a Muslim for 9 years. She is the only Muslim in her immediate family. Her family has been her biggest test and she has unfortunately been estranged from some, as the case with many reverts. She is a health and social care graduate and has worked within the sector for 7 years and has been working within children social services for the past 5 years. Working within children's social service has had a big impact on how she understands people and working systems. As a mixed-race black revert woman, she feels it is very important as Muslims that we are brave enough, where able, to be that voice for the community as we are often not correctly represented within organisations and systems. They discussed: * Experiences with colourism, racism and racial confusion * Struggles with identity and sense of belonging * Growing up in families and communities and facing discrimination * Islam and inter-racial marriages * & so much more! If you would like to ask us a question, suggest a topic you would like us to discuss on the podcast or if you would like to feature on the podcast as a guest, then please get in touch with the Mindful Muslim Podcast Team at [email protected]. Support our podcast by becoming a Torchbearer for Inspirited Minds.