The Cost of Speaking Up

What does it mean to be an ally when speaking up comes with a cost?

In the first episode of season three of Chosen For What?, Tommy Schnurmacher sits down with Sara Ghorbani, a former Muslim, women's rights activist and content creator who has become an outspoken ally of the Jewish community. Sara shares how her own background has shaped her perspective on antisemitism, Israel and extremism, and why she believes people outside the Jewish community have a responsibility to speak up against hate.

Sara also discusses the pressure that can come with expressing those views publicly, both online and in everyday life. She recounts an incident at a Toronto mall involving a shirt she designed bearing an anti-Hamas message, an encounter that eventually involved police, and what the experience revealed to her about the current climate surrounding political expression in Canada.

Tommy and Sara explore what meaningful allyship actually requires, why fear of backlash can keep people silent, and what happens when supporting another community risks followers, relationships, opportunities or even your own sense of safety.

Chosen For What? is brought to you by the Foundation for Genocide Education, a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that every student understands the history and lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. To learn more about their work, or to make a donation, please visit GenEd.org.

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Episoder(20)

TRAILER: Season 3 of Chosen For What? Starts October 8th 2026!

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