Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters30 Maalis 2018

Episode 188: Bangladeshi Immigrant Rais Bhuiyan Survived a Hate Crime and Fought to Save from Execution the Man Who Shot Him

On September 21, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working behind the counter at a gas station outside Dallas, Texas when a man named Mark Stroman walked in brandishing a sawed-off shotgun.

Stroman was a self-proclaimed white supremacist in the midst of a deadly hate crime spree. Seeking revenge for the recent September 11th attacks just days earlier, he roamed the area looking for what he believed to be Arabs to kill. In that killing spree Stroman took the lives of an Indian immigrant named Vasudev Patel and Waqar Hassan, a Pakistani immigrant.

Stroman shot Rais in the face. But Rais, who was a former Bangladeshi air force pilot, survived the attack. Stroman was eventually arrested, convicted of murder and sent to death row.

As Stroman awaited execution, Rais embarked on an improbable campaign to spare the life of his attacker.

This story was masterfully told in the 2014 book "The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas" by Anand Ghirdiharas. A major hollywood movie based on the book is currently in production.

Today, Rais is the founder and president of the NGO, World Without Hate. When we caught up, Rais had recently returned from a trip to Canada, sponsored by the US State Department, where he told his story. That trip also included a visit to the Islamic Center of Quebec City which was the scene of a mass shooting hate crime just one year ago. We kick off discussing this trip and Rais' work with the State Department before entering into a long and powerful conversation about Rais' experience.

Links:

http://worldwithouthate.org/

Support the Show

Leave a review!

"The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas"

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(1172)

Russia's War Economy Is Starting to Crack

Russia's economy once seemed remarkably resilient in the face of international sanctions. But in recent months, a growing number of indicators suggest that Russia's war economy is coming under strains...

6 Elo 28min

What are the "Causes of Peace" Today? | Live from the Aspen Security Forum with the International Crisis Group

What can bring about peace in an era of geopolitical rivalry and persistent conflict? In an ambitious new report, the International Crisis Group takes a hard-nosed approach to this question, offering ...

3 Elo 31min

World Food Program Chief Carl Skau on the Perfect Storm Driving Up Global Food Prices

With humanitarian needs surging and resources increasingly scarce, how does the World Food Programme decide where to cut assistance? Our guest today is Carl Skau, acting executive director of the Worl...

30 Heinä 29min

What Is the Future of US-China Relations? | Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Live from the Aspen Security Forum

Nicholas Burns is a veteran diplomat who served as President Biden's ambassador to China during a crucial period in U.S.-China relations. We caught up at the Aspen Security Forum in July for a wide-ra...

27 Heinä 19min

UN Secretary-General Candidate María Fernanda Espinosa: The Interview

The race to become the next United Nations Secretary-General is heating up, with the Security Council preparing to hold its first straw polls to test the viability of the candidates. In this Global Di...

22 Heinä 28min

How Ukraine Turned the Tide of the War | Live from the Aspen Security Forum

In recent months, Ukraine has clearly seized the initiative against Russia. Its impressive use of drones and autonomous weapons systems has put Russia on the defensive, while strikes on Russian energy...

20 Heinä 20min

How the Civil War in Myanmar Became the Deadliest Conflict in Asia

The civil war in Myanmar recently passed a grim milestone. According to the conflict-monitoring NGO ACLED, an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since the war broke out in 2021. Seventy percent...

16 Heinä 35min

Josh Rogin on Iran, NATO, and the Latest in Trump Foreign Policy

It was a pleasure to welcome The Washington Post's Josh Rogin for a wide-ranging discussion of the foreign policy topics du jour — from Iran and NATO to Syria, Ukraine, and the latest moves from the T...

13 Heinä 40min