On April 28, New York Times reporter Anand Giridharadas joins the Center for American Progress for a conversation about his new book, The True American.
In his book, Giridharadas tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreamed of immigrating to America and working in technology. Days after 9/11, an avowed “American terrorist” named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives—one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country. Bhuiyan publicly forgave Stroman, in the name of his Muslim religion and its notion of mercy, and waged a legal and public-relations campaign to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.
Hosting the discussion with Giridharadas will be Matt Duss, policy analyst at the Center for American Progress whose work has focused on the issue of Islamophobia in the U.S. since 9/11.
Copies of The True American will be available for purchase at the event.
Welcome remarks:
Vikram Singh, Vice President, National Security and International Policy, Center for American Progress
Distinguished guest:
Anand Giridharadas, author, The True American, and reporter, New York Times
Moderator:
Matthew Duss, Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress