Zahra Billoo, a civil rights attorney and Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA), brings her years of tireless Civil Rights work and activism to bear as she discusses the recent protests and encampments taking place across college campuses placing them within the broader Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and discussing their overall goals and objectives. The conversation also tackles the criticisms that such protests and encampments have garnered from voices outside of and within the Muslim community, as well as certain initiatives and organizations that some argue seek to normalize relations with the State of Israel and Zionism.
About Zahra Billoo
Zahra Billoo serves as the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA) office, the oldest CAIR chapter office. Since joining in 2009, Zahra has led the organization through a period of six-fold growth. Today, she manages one of the largest CAIR offices in the country with a team of civil rights and social justice advocates dedicated to the empowerment of American Muslims through legal services, legislative advocacy, and community organizing.
Under Zahra’s leadership, CAIR-SFBA has filed lawsuits against the United States Department of Justice, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Southwest Airlines, representing American Muslims facing discriminatory treatment. CAIR-SFBA has also significantly expanded its capabilities to provide know-your-rights sessions on a nearly weekly basis to mosques and community members in the San Francisco Bay Area, while also providing direct legal representation to Bay Area residents facing numerous civil rights violations, including FBI interviews, employment discrimination, airport harassment, school bullying, and hate crimes.
Zahra’s advocacy has included media appearances in local and national media, including MSNBC, NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and even FOX News. Among her awards, she received the 2017 Human Rights Award from the Society of American Law Teachers and the 2018 Community Builder Award from People Acting in Community Together (PACT). She was also listed by the San Jose Mercury News as a “Woman to Watch” in March 2017 for Women’s History Month, as well as by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in their January 2018 cover story on millennials who lead.
She is currently a fellow with Levi Strauss Foundation Pioneers in Justice, a senior fellow with the American Leadership Forum’s Silicon Valley Chapter and an alumna of Rockwood’s Fellowship for a New California, LeaderSpring’s Executive Directors Fellowship, and USC’s American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute. Zahra earned her undergraduate degrees from the California State University, Long Beach, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Hastings. She is licensed to practice law in California.
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This podcast, which explores and celebrates the many facets of the American Muslim experience, has been hosted by Parvez Ahmed and Omar Ansari since October 2013. Zaki Hasan was co-host from 2013 to 2019. This is Episode 150. It aired on May 21, 2024.
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With new episodes slated to drop the first Friday of every month, the goal of our show is to highlight and focus on unique and interesting personalities from both within and without the American Muslim community, and engage them in what will hopefully be a worthwhile and invigorating conversation not only for the guests, but also for listeners.
Since its inception in 2013, Diffused Congruence: The American Muslim Experience has been dedicated to highlighting unique and interesting personalities from within the American Muslim community, and engage them in what will hopefully be a worthwhile and invigorating conversation not only for the guests, but also for listeners. We like to think of the podcast as part oral history/personal narrative and part a discussion of critical issues, with listeners feeling as though they are sitting in on a casual (and non-scripted) conversation. Our guests include scholars, thought leaders, academics, artists, actors, journalists, and activists.
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