Tonight at the 9/11 Memorial Museum: Filmmaker and Activist Deeyah Khan Discusses Extremism

On Thursday, May 16, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum will host a public program featuring Emmy Award–winning documentary filmmaker and activist Deeyah Khan, who will discuss her filmmaking and her quest to understand what draws people to extremist ideologies.

In 2015, Deeyah Khan released her documentary film “Jihad: A Story of Others.” At a time when many young people from the Western world were joining ISIS, Khan set out to find out why the extremist jihadi message held such appeal for people raised in the West. Through interviews with former extremists and leaders in the British jihadi movement going back three generations, the film dissects the dynamic pull of radical jihad and the regret that many experience when that pull fades. Khan also interviewed young British Muslims who often find themselves caught between cultures in an effort to understand their sense of identity, community and their hopes for the future.

In August 2017, a “Unite the Right” rally comprised primarily of white nationalist groups ended in a violent vehicular attack that resulted in the death of anti-racist protestor Heather Heyer. Khan was there, filming with a neo-Nazi organization for her latest film “White Right: Meeting the Enemy.” Compelled by her family’s experience being terrorized by skinhead gangs during her youth in Norway, Khan traveled across the United States to meet with current and former neo-Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists. The resulting film earned Khan an Emmy Award and a BAFTA nomination.

Join us on Thursday, May 16, at 7 p.m. for “Confronting Hate.” Reserve your tickets here.

By Harmony Barker, Assistant Manager of Public Programs, 9/11 Memorial & Museum