“June 15th, 2002. I was elected in Columbus, Ohio as a moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA. That is the highest elected position in the church… I represented the church all over America and all over the world. As I think about my journey,…

“I became [a] citizen on March 10, ‘81… I celebrate July the 4th four times. The first one, January the 29th when I came to the United States. The second one is March the 10th, and the third one is June 15th. I want the children and youth to see the…

“I’m leaving [St. James United Methodist Church] and [the] secretary said, ‘Will you please take John [to Brookhaven Station]?’ I said, ‘Of course. He’s on my way.’ Before Brookhaven Station, I said, ‘John, I want to take you home… This is the best…

“So, I went [to Trinity University in Chicago, Illinois], and I experienced my first winter in my life in that windy city… And one morning, I wanted to go to the cafeteria, you needed to walk like ten, fifteen minutes… By the time I arrived, my…

“I wanted to become a minister. I felt a call to the ministry. Presbyterian Church had [a] seminary in Beirut, Lebanon, and had a seminary in Cairo. But there is not political relationship, so I couldn’t go to study there. So, two women from…

“The high school teacher came to the class and said, ‘...I want to tell you about Martin Luther King,’ and that’s the first time I heard [of him]... I remember vividly that he told us [Dr. King] was in jail… For the first time, a black Baptist…

“As I reflect back, we were not allowed to say we are Palestinians. So, in elementary school, and high school, I study more about Israel and Jewish history and Zionist history… For us as children, my first language was Arabic. In the fourth grade, I…

“My dad took us to Yirka, and we were put in a makeshift Palestinian refugee camp… I wanted to know why my mother did not go with us, and I remember asking her… She is the one that said to Dad, ‘You take the children, you can protect them. I’m going…

“I grew up in [a] small Palestinian Arab village 25 miles northwest of Nazareth. My dad was a farmer and my mother, a housewife, but she helped in everything. I have five sisters and two brothers. It was a small neighborhood. Everybody knew…

"On Saturdays and Sundays, I would go door to door, selling housewares: linens, bed linens, blankets, silverware, pots and pans, aluminum pots and pans, credit, etc. So, by the time we graduated college, I dreamed of going to Wharton School of…