Chapter 5 - Transcript

voice-over

they are notarizing one of the birth certificates. we do notary, all kinds of insurance - business, home owners, life insurance. soon we're going to expand to other financial services.

siddiq (arabic): hello mohammed - how are you? is everything ok?

mohamemd (arabic): everything's fine

siddiq (arabic): god bless you. as we spoke earlier about the election today, i went to the democratic party election offices, and i now have with me a list of the democratic candidates. i want to make sure you have it for the election tonight

mohammed (arabic): can you fax it to me?

siddiq (arabic): i'll fax it to you right away. good bye.

siddiq: by the way, i'm not a citizen - i can't vote. ok - now i think he got it - he's going to cast his vote.

siddiq: i have been detained as a human rights activist back home. i spent two years in jail. after all this time, in detention they called me. i met with one of the high officials of the security in his office. he asked me 'what do you think if we release you?'. i said 'i shouldn't be here in the first place. why did you detain me'. he said 'ok we're not going to answer any questions - but we are going to release you but you have to sign that you're not going to participate in any activities against the nimeiri military regime' which has been converted to islamic regime at that time - but it had nothing to do with islam that is my contention. i refused to sign and they sent me back.

siddiq: at the age of 25, i went through all this. and even the first time when they applied sharia laws and started to chop off hands and feet of people if they commit crimes of burglary or theft, i have seen that. i have seen hands that have been chopped and tied to a string. i have seen that directly - it has not been told to me - i have seen it myself. that is why i was determined not to retreat - i got committed to human rights issues.

voice-over

the first thing i did when i was released, i went and participated in the union of insurance employees and by the way i ran in the election as a candidate for parliament. i was the youngest candidate at that time in 1986. we didn't succeed but we made a difference

siddiq: that's why i keep this tape in my car. for good luck. because this tape has been played during my campaign.

mohammed: it was a great campaign

siddiq: it was a great campaign - young people, so energetic and enthusiastic - we want to change

mohammed: is this the center? we only have 2 minutes left

mohammed: any news from the result?

siddiq: hi ms. blackwell, how are you?

blackwell: fine - quite a day - it was exciting. i think the mayor has been winning so much

siddiq: the african immigrant community - the turnout  was terrific

siddiq: anything from the result? here- breaking news - he is reelected - four more years

siddiq: the point is that the african immigrants have been involved in this event. whether they voted for katz or john street, the main thing is that we started on the right track - and then we can work on the diffrences in the future. it has been a long day, but it is a victory day.