[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was a child,\NI knew I had superpowers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s right.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought I was absolutely amazing because\NI could understand and relate to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the feelings of brown people like\Nmy grandfather, a conservative Muslim guy,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also I could understand\Nmy Afghan mother and Pakistani father,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not so religious but\Nlaid back, fairly liberal.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course I could understand and\Nrelate to the feelings of white people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the white Norwegians of my country.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know white, brown,\Nwhatever, I loved them all.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I understood them all even if they\Ndidn’t always understand each other
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were all my people.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My father though was\Nalways really worried.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He kept saying that,\Neven with the best education
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was not going to get a fair shake,\NI would face discrimination,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,according to him, and the only way\Nto be accepted by white people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would be to become famous.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now mind you, he had this conversation\Nwith me when I was seven years old.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, while I’m seven years old he said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'Look, so its either got to be sports\Nor its got to be music.'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He didn’t know anything about sports,\Nbless him, so it was music.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when I was seven years old\Nhe gathered al my toys, all my dolls,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he threw them all away.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In exchange he gave me a crappy little\NCasio keyboard, and singing lessons,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and forced me to practice for hours\Nand hours every single day.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Very quickly he also had me performing\Nfor larger and larger audiences,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bizarrely I became almost a poster child\Nfor Norwegian multiculturalism.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt very proud of course because\Neven the newspapers at this point
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were starting to write\Nnice things about brown people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I could feel that\Nmy superpower was growing.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when I was 12 years old walking home\Nfrom school I took a little detour
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I wanted to buy\Nmy favourite sweets called 'salty feet'.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know they sound kind of awful,\Nbut I absolutely loved them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are basically these little\Nsalty licorice bits, in the shape of feet.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now that I say it out loud I realise\Nhow terrible that sounds,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but be that as it may,\NI absolutely loved them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On my way into the store, there was this\Ngrown white guy in the doorway
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,blocking my way, so I tried to walk around\Nhim, and as I did that he stopped me,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he was staring at me,\Nand he spit in my face and he said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Get out of my way you little black bitch,\Nyou little Paki bitch, get out of my -
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go back home where you came from.’\NI was absolutely horrified.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was staring at him, I was too afraid\Nto wipe the spit off my face,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even as it was mixing with my tears.\NI remember looking around,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hoping any minute now a grownup\Nis going to come and make this guy stop.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But instead people kept hurrying past me\Nand pretending not to see me.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was very confused because I was thinking
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Well, my white people come on,\Nwhere are they? What’s going on?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How come they’re not\Ncoming and rescuing me?’
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So needless to say I didn’t buy the sweets\NI just ran home as fast as I could.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Things were still ok though, I thought.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As time went on, the more\Nsuccessful I became,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I eventually started attracting\Nharassment from brown people.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some men in my parents community felt that\Nit was unacceptable and dishonorable
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a woman to be involved in music,\Nand to be so present in the media.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So very quickly I was starting to\Nbecome attacked at my own concerts.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember one of the concerts, I was\Non stage, I lean in to the audience,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the last thing I see is \Na young brown face,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the next thing I know is some sort\Nof chemical is thrown in my eyes.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I remember I couldn’t really see,\Nand my eyes were watering,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I kept singing anyway.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was spit in the face in the streets\Nof Oslo, this time by brown men.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They even tried to kidnap me at one point.\NThe death threats were endless.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember one older bearded guy\Nstopped me in the street one time and said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘The reason I hate you so much is that\Nyou make our daughters think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they can do whatever they want.’
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A younger guy warned me\Nto watch my back, he said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Music is un-Islamic\Nand the job of whores,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if you keep this up you are going to\Nbe raped and your stomach will be cut out,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that another whore\Nlike you will not be born.’
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Again I was so confused.\NI couldn’t understand what was going on,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my brown people now\Nstarting to treat me like this.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How come?\NInstead of bridging the two worlds,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt like I was falling\Nbetween the two worlds.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I suppose for me,\Nspit was kryptonite.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So by the time I was 17 years old\Nthe death threats were endless,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the harassment was constant.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It got so bad at one point\Nmy mother sat me down and said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Look, we can no longer protect you,\Nwe can no longer keep you safe,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so you’re going to have to go.’
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I bought a one-way ticket to London.\NI packed my suitcase, and I left.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My biggest heartbreak at that point\Nwas that nobody said anything.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had a very public exit from Norway.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My brown people, my white people,\Nnobody said anything.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nobody said ‘Hold on, this is wrong.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Support this girl, protect this girl\Nbecause she is one of us.’
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nobody said that. Instead I felt like,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know at the airport,\Non the baggage carousel,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have these different suitcases\Ngoing round and round,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there’s always\Nthat one suitcase left at the end.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The one that nobody wants.\NThat nobody comes to claim.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt like that. I’d never felt so alone.\NI’d never felt so lost.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, after coming to London,\NI did eventually resume my music career.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Different place, but unfortunately\Nthe same old story.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember a message sent to me saying\Nthat I was going to be killed,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that rivers of blood\Nwere going to flow,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that I was going to be raped\Nmany times before I died.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By this time I has to say I was actually\Ngetting used to messages like this.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what became different was that now\Nthey started threatening my family.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So once again, I packed my suitcase,\NI left music, and I moved to the US.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d had enough. I didn’t want to have\Nanything to do with this anymore.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I wasn’t going to be killed for\Nsomething that wasn’t even my dream,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was my father’s choice.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I kind of got lost, \NI kind of fell apart,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I decided that what I wanted to do is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to spend the next however many years\Nof my life supporting young people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to try to be there in some small way,\Nwhatever way that I could.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I started volunteering for various\Norganisations that were working
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with young Muslims inside of Europe.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, to my surprise what I found,\Nwas so many of these young people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were suffering and struggling.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were facing so many problems\Nwith their families and their communities,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who seemed to care more about\Ntheir honour and their reputation
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the happiness and\Nthe lives of their own kids.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started feeling like maybe I wasn’t\Nso alone, maybe I wasn’t so weird.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe there are more\Nof my people out there.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing is what most people\Ndon’t understand,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that there are so many\Nof us growing up in Europe
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who are not free to be ourselves.\NWe are not allowed to be who we are.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are not free to marry, or to be\Nin relationships with, people we choose,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can’t even pick our own career.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the norm in\Nthe Muslim heartlands of Europe.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even in the freest societies\Nin the world, we are not free.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our lives, our dreams, our future,\Ndoes not belong to us,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it belongs to our parents,\Nand their community.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I found endless stories of young people,\Nwho are lost to all of us,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who are invisible to all of us,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they are suffering and \Nthey are suffering alone.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kids that we are losing to forced marriages,\Nto honour based violence and abuse.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So eventually I realised, after several\Nyears of working with these young people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I will not be able to keep running,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can’t spend the rest of my life\Nbeing scared and hiding,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that I’m actually going\Nto have to do something.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I also realised that\Nmy silence, our silence,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,allows abuse like this to continue.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I decided that I wanted to put\Nmy childhood superpower to some use,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by trying to make people on\Nthe different sides of these issues
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,understand what it's like to be\Na young person stuck
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between your family and your country.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I started making films,\Nand I started telling these stories.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I also wanted people to understand
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the deadly consequences of us\Nnot taking these problems seriously.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the first film I made was about Banaz.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was a 17 year old\NKurdish girl in London.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was obedient, she did\Nwhatever her parents wanted.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She tried to do everything right.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She married some guy\Nthat her parent’s chose for her,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even though he beat\Nand raped her constantly.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when she tried to go\Nto her family for help they said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Well, you’ve got to go back\Nand be a better wife.’