Director Qasim Basir Talks about "MOOZ-lum"

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - It's said to be a film that will break down stereotypes and educate the masses about the Muslim community, and it premiered Thursday night in Southfield.

You may not care about his struggle. You may be glad you will never have to walk a mile or even a minute in his shoes. If you have never been discriminated against, then you have no idea how this man feels, but he wants you to.

"If you have no exposure to that. If you don't know anyone who's Muslim. If none of your family or friends or anybody has even been through any of that and you're not on the side of the discriminatory acts or verbiage, then you don't know what it's like. But that needs to be acknowledged because it's real and it's happening right now in our country," said Qasim Basir.

As a black man, the color of Basir's skin may always come before the content of his character, but being Muslim in America is a discrimination, he said, of a different kind.

"It saddens me to know that right now in our country we have people walking around in fear because they're wearing a hijab or a scarf, and I really believe … that's something we have to face, we have to deal with at this point in our history," Basir said. "I know that the only thing that's hindering us is like this ignorance, this association that happened when they connected those two words, Muslim extremist, Muslim terrorists. That should've never happened because now it's so hard for people to separate those, and that's what we're trying to do."

By exposing the plight and dispelling the stereotypes on the big screen with a movie that he wrote and directed called "MOOZ-lum".

"It's imperative that this voice of people that has been drowned out by the heavy volume of extremism for so long has a voice now and can say like listen, man, I'm a human being, too. Like I love, too. I feel, too. I have a family, too," said Basir. "I want people to see the humanity of Muslim people, of this culture, of this faith. I want people to see them other than a hateful, an angry, a violent image when they can share that human experience with this family, with these characters. I really believe it could do some good. I do."

With the help of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated's Phi Tau Omega chapter, the Pearls of Service organization and a grass roots campaign on the ground and online, "MOOZ-lum" will hopefully be able to make a difference.

"You can't preach to Egypt. We can't preach to these Arab nations if we ourselves do not hold true who we say we are at our basic level, that we care about everyone, that everyone has a fair chance to be treated appropriately in America," said Miriam Blanks-Smart, president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Phi Tau Omega.

"Take a stand for what's right because that's what we do. This is America. That's what we're supposed to do," Basir said.