[music] “Can you tell me, what is the history of Muslims in America?” “There were Muslims on Columbus’s ship and traveling with explorers all around the New World. Up to a third of all enslaved peoples were Muslim, and the White House was built by enslaved peoples, so it’s reasonable to expect Muslims helped build the White House.” “Did we have any relations with Muslim countries in those early days?” “Have you heard of the United States Marine Corps song? ‘From the halls of Montezuma — ’” “‘ — to the shores of Tripoli.’ Yes.” “That’s it! Well, Tripoli’s a modern-day Libya. And the reason that’s in the song is because we were allies with them. And as a thank you for helping them deal with piracy issues, the Marine Corps was gifted a sword, which has now become the saber of the Marine Corps dress uniform.” “What? So many people don’t know that.” “And Thomas Jefferson was also hosting dinners at the end of Ramadan for Muslim diplomats in the White House.” “Wow.” “Jefferson once said that he knows the American experiment is a success when we can get a Muslim as a president.” “I heard somewhere that the Statue of Liberty has some Muslim connection.” “The designer based it on an Egyptian Muslim woman.” “Oh, my god. Lady Liberty totally has a Muslim face, and that kind of tracks because I feel like mine and her nose are very similar.” “And we get town names like Allah, Arizona, and Mahomet, Illinois, named after the prophet Muhammad. These towns were not predominantly Muslim. They got these names as a sign of respect Americans had for Muslim cultures, Muslim civilization, Muslim people.” “Did they build any mosques up in these towns?” “Two of the oldest we have are in Ross, North Dakota, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” “Cedar Rapids, Iowa? I would feel like that’s the place you would say has the first Applebee’s, not the first mosque.” “We can look at the ways Muslims have inspired American architecture, but we can’t forget the people like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, who were turning to Islam to recover their heritage that had been taken away from them and to say that you can’t claim that there is only one way to be American.” “And what about today’s Muslim influencers, or as I like to call them, Mus-fluencers?” “I grew up in New York listening to A Tribe Called Quest and when they dropped their new album, I was really excited. And they performed with Dave Chapelle on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and I think it was the first time that both the host and the musical guests of ‘Saturday Night Live’ were all Muslims.” “Dave Chapelle is a Mus.” “He is.” “So is Ice Cube.” “DJ Khaled, French Montana.” “Shaquille O’Neal.” “Shaquille O’Neal.” In the Olympics we had two American Muslim women — Ibtihaj Muhammad in fencing and Dalilah Muhammad, who won a gold in track and field.” “The owner of Chobani is a Mus, and I eat one of those pumpkin Greek yogurts, like, every day.” “And speaking of delicious food, the founder of Edible Arrangements is a Muslim as well.” “Oh, hey, they look like flowers, but you eat them.” “Muslims only represent about 1% of the American population.” “How many of us are there?” “About 3.5 million Muslims.” “Here’s a new stereotype about us. We are really bad at bowling, but really great at giving hugs.” “You know the show ‘The Simpsons’?” “Yeah.” “Bart has a Muslim friend.” “Yeah.” “And if Bart can have a Muslim friend, I think we can all have Muslim friends.” “Guys, go out there and get yourself a Muslim friend. We’re pretty nice.” “Learn from Bart Simpson. Cowabunga, dude.”