We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments
Society & Culture
“God writes straight with crooked lines” is a popular adage that has been used to describe the journey of Hamza Perez, and he good naturedly agrees. With a life story that’s movie script-worthy, Hamza has walked his path with humor, humility, music and openness. He is founder of the YA-NE (Youth Alliance of Networking and Empowerment) at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, co-founder of Light of the Age Mosque and a spiritual advisor for communities in Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA.
In this conversation, he shares why Emma González is the future, tackles the role of race in our country’s drug epidemic, and is clear on why understanding the difference between “old” and “elder” is key to our progress on the arc of justice. Named one of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Strategic Islamic Center, he is smart, funny and hopeful – and he’s making a difference in how many perceive Muslims in the world today.
From his Catholic upbringing in Brooklyn to his present-day youth leadership in the Muslim community in Pittsburgh – with stops along the way as a drug dealer with his own apartment by age 18, and in rap duo M-Team with brother Suliman – Hamza has made defying perceptions his life’s work.
Hamza’s route from a Puerto Rican Catholic family to a Muslim leader in the Mid-Atlantic has been one with many turns, and that is just what makes him – and his work – so engaging. His life thus far has been about overcoming perceptions – of what he could become, where he could go, what he should believe – of family, friends and in some instances a suspicious and hostile world. Hamza is the subject of a PBS film New Muslim Cool, and he is a positive and hopeful force in our world.
“We Can Be” is hosted by The Heinz Endowments’ Grant Oliphant and produced by the Endowments and Treehouse Media. Theme music is composed by John Dziuban, with incidental music by Josh Slifkin.
Community Kitchen Pittburgh founder Jen Flanagan is changing lives at intersection of food insecurity & living wage jobs (S05EP04)
Leah Penniman “Farming While Black” author, Soul Fire Farm cofounder & Heinz Award honoree (S05E03)
Fearless champion for cleaner air Dr. George Thurston NYU Grossman School of Medicine (S05E02)
Uplifting Black artists' beauty, depth & vision w/ Kilolo Luckett of art platform ALMA I LEWIS (S05E01)
Breaking down the hydrogen hub hype w/ Joanne Kilgour, exec. dir. Ohio River Valley Institute (We Can Be S04EP16)
Groundbreaking Post-9/11 veterans data w/ Dr. Daniel Perkins, founder Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness @ Penn State Uni.(S04EP15)
Black Urban Gardeners’ Raqueeb Bey is growing food, minds & leaders (S04EP14)
PBS NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown: Yes, the arts are essential & here’s why (S4E13)
”Your dreams are possible” w/ Dr. Kathy Humphrey, trailblazing pres. of Carlow University (S4E12)
Grant Oliphant on gratitude, speaking truth to power & making room for everyone (We Can Be S4EP11)
Facing America‘s crisis of connection w/ Jenn Hoos Rothberg, Einhorn Collaborative Exec. Dir. (We Can Be S04EP10)
The New Climate War author Michael Mann & the fight to take back our planet (We Can Be S04EP09)
Appalachia‘s battle b/w wish & hope w/ energy industry researcher Sean O’Leary (We Can Be S04EP08)
Environmental Health News investigative reporter Kristina Marusic uncovers hard truths & arms public w/ facts (We Can Be S04EP07)
The true cost of military service w/ War Horse founder/journalist Thomas Brennan (We Can Be S04EP06)
Reinventing Social Change author Nell Edgington on embracing abundance, joy & power of “yet” (We Can Be S04EP05)
Dr. Barry Kerzin, personal physician to Dalai Lama & Altruism in Medicine Institute founder on power of compassion (We Can Be S04EP04)
Rebuilding Appalachia for a new energy economy w/ Coalfield Development CEO Brandon Dennison (We Can Be S04EP03)
How & why radical generosity works w/ GivingTuesday co-founder Asha Curran (We Can Be S04EP02)
“Diversity Explosion” author/demographer William Frey on where America is headed & why it's good for us (S04EP01)
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