President Obama Praises Princeton Teen For Battle Against Racism

A teenager from Princeton is taking a stand against racism, and his efforts have been recognized by President Barack Obama.

Ziad Ahmed, 16, launched campaigns this year to raise awareness on issues related to race using redefy.org as his platform. He founded redefy when he was 14.

Ahmed observed Iftar as part of a group of Muslim Americans who were honored by Obama at the White House on June 22. Iftar is the breaking of fast at sunset observed by Muslims during the month of Ramadan.

“As a Bangladeshi-American growing up in New Jersey, he saw early on that there was not enough understanding in the world. So two years ago, he founded Redefy, a website to push back against harmful stereotypes by encouraging teens like him,” Obama said during the observance. “In Ziad’s words, ‘ignorance can be defeated through education.’ He wants to do his part to make sure that ‘Muslims can be equal members of society and still hold onto their faith and identity.’ So we’re very proud of you, Ziad.”

“Since the event, a lot of people have messaged me and mentioned that my future is going to be bright,” Ahmed said. “My hope is not that my future is going to be bright. It is now that our future is going to be bright.”

He recounted his story to MTV, including the fact that he was placed on the Transportation Security Administration’s watch list because of his name.

It was the highlight of as busy year for Ahmed and redefy.

He launched VOICES, a conversation series which seeks to engage teens on current events and social justice issues to inspire teen activism, this year.

VOICES has hosted teen forums on racial profiling, LGBT rights, and on the social justice priorities of the 2016 Presidential candidates.

VOICES is hosted at the Princeton Public Library by redefy, the Princeton Public Library Teen Advisory Board, and Not in Our Town – Princeton.

Ahmed launched #PrincetonAgainstRacism in April. This was a social media campaign to inspire Princeton residents to take a public stand against racism using this hashtag.

The redefy team took over 125 portraits of people at Princeton Day School and Princeton’s Communiversity street fair asking people to finish the prompt “I stand against racism because...”

Redefy spread the hashtag and the portraits across social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, in an effort to inspire teens everywhere to stand up and fight racism.

Redefy led this initiative in partnership with Princeton CHOOSE and Not in Our Town - Princeton in recognition of the YWCA’s Stand Against Racism campaign.

“I started this organization because nothing is more important to me than creating a world that is safe for all and accepting of everyone. Redefy is a platform by which people can learn about underrepresented minorities, advocate for social justice, embrace acceptance, and dismantle detrimental stereotypes piece by piece,” Ahmed said. “Redefy is a vehicle for change, and my attempt to do something about the suffocating injustice. Through our articles, stories, programming efforts, and campaigns, my hope is that teens across the world realize our age does not limit our activism, all injustices are one injustice, and that we can and will make a difference. “

Redefy is currently working on its “Clean Air Campaign,” which is an effort to rid vocabularies of derogatory terms, racial slurs, and words and phrases, which belittle populations.

The leadership team is creating a video which will feature a diverse group of people requesting society to refrain from the use of derogatory terms. All those featured in the video will end by stating their name and vowing to keep the air clean.

Ahmed intends to promote the video through their strong presence on various social media platforms. The Clean Air Campaign is inspired by Cierra Moore’s redefy article “Clean Air.”

Redefy’s leadership team includes Lara Strassberg, Cierra Moore, Michael Zhao, Ziyad Khan, Nick Jain, and Julia Marshall.

The attached images were provided.