Thread by @usnehal

Also, btw, any woman who has been in c-suite in NYC has literally worked with/around people with mob connections.

I take a lot of stands & speak on things that people want to keep hidden.

If there were “dirt” on me to find, it would have been found & used against me already.

I’m super annoying that way (in many ways) to folks who align against me.

When you are Muslim, activist, female, not seeking anyone’s patronage or protection, you are always exposed, surveilled, at risk - it is unavoidable.

Protection is in transparency, ethics, standards

These are life’s trade offs, I avoid certain shackles or cages and in doing so, carefully check off certain boxes to stay protected. I have worked in #compliance vs #fraud & #abuse, and I have seen every tiny detail that gets people caught up in the system. Stay out of harm’s way

..but don’t be risk averse. Yes, Cuomo’s voice, but he was my governor through the worst of the #pandemic. His voice & briefings were a source of consistent, pragmatic hope

#NYC will kick you upside the head. Leave you bleeding. Get back up. Kick it back

I’m not an American style feminist, I realize. I don’t reach for smelling salts. I’m an American-born woman of Pakistani & Muslim heritage, with probably some Genghis Khan in me, of same mettle as Malala, Asma Jehangir, Sania Nishtar, Iqbal Bano, Tania Aidrus.

And my mother.

Sometimes the door to pain on my mind swings open, sucks me in.

I don’t talk about certain things about my mother’s last weeks.

It’s obvious to me she suffered A LOT. Needlessly. I was not there for her. This entire country failed her.

But she would not want me to dwell.

My mom was the strongest person I know, like her own mother. She was SO stoic while #COVID19 ARDS essentially was waterboarding her - that is literal torture. She was falling. Her elbows had almost no skin on them from trying to get up for hours. She suffered. All unnecessary.

I failed her
We all failed her

Anyone who thinks they can cause me pain or suffering

Wishes to enjoy watching suffering

does not understand pain I have been thru before
or the pain it is to lose one’s mother

That level of pain can’t be added to

Sometimes, just lean into it