Week 11: The Coolest Patel I Know

When I first saw that someone named Eboo Patel was giving a lecture on campus, I was both surprised and confused. Of course the word "Patel" just naturally jumps out at me, since it's my last name. Yet I've never heard it paired with Eboo before. Then I realized that this man must not be your typical Gujarati "Patel" like most of the ones I know. In fact, he is anything but that.

Eboo is a Muslim Indian American of Gujarati heritage. Although I have met a few others who were like this, he is the first "Patel" I've ever known that practices Islam. He's the founder and director of the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a member of Obama's faith advisory council, an author, a speaker, a father...the list goes on. Patel was named one of "America's Best Leaders" in 2009 by U.S News & World Report, and for good reason.

An article describes him as one of "America's deepest thinkers on religion and the human condition." And here at the University of Illinois is where it all got started, which is incredible to think about. Patel spoke to us about his undergrad years in the early 90's. He found that lots of important conversations about race, sexuality, and gender identity were already happening, but nothing was being said about religion. To some extent, we still see this today. I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance in elementary school, and then somewhere along the way it just fell off the radar. I don't even remember when that happened. It's true though that religion has become a sort of taboo topic, especially when we think about everyday American classrooms.

Growing up, Patel always tried to "play in the white game" and recalls becoming a target for racial slurs by classmates. (On a side note, I also found it interesting that many of the attendees for this lecture seemed like older white men and women. Traditionally, I tend to think of this group as being the most conservative...but surely stereotyping has played a role in that) Later on in life, he began to ask big questions like "Who am I?" and "How do I contribute?". For Patel, the college campus is the best place to begin these experiences and expand religious awareness. He believes the campus can (and should) play a vital role in promoting interfaith cooperation and appreciation. The identity politics that have shaped our turbulent world history is best summed up in the question, "How have you oppressed me?" Patel's most basic job is to try and fight these problematic dialogues every day. The conversation we should be engaging in with one another should involve questions like: "Who am I? How do we relate to each other? What can we do together?". Yet he also believes that in order to become a part of that larger conversation we must have a strong sense of our own identity. For him, this meant finding value and appreciation for his own heritage, for Islam, for the samosas that his mother packed for lunch...

Patel wanted to make it clear that interfaith cooperation was not about taking a spiritual or political stance. One of the main goals of the IFYC is to "change the public discourse about religion from one of inevitable conflict to one of cooperation and religious pluralism." And basically what that means is using faith as a bridge instead of a barrier in order to strengthen societies and promote "the common good for all". This ties along very harmoniously with last week's student panel on religion - I have a feeling Eboo Patel would have been proud just knowing that such a conversation was taking place.

Overall, I found him to be very knowledgeable and truly leader-like. I found more of his lectures on YouTube, and shared one of the videos about the strong influence of women in his life and faith with fellow blogger (and roommate) Roshni. After watching, she said it "brought me to tears" and that his passion is "so beautiful." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIaEOl6tLF8

Sources:
http://www.usnews.com/news/best-leaders/articles/2009/10/22/eboo-patel-obama-faith-adviser-preaches-religious-tolerance
http://business.illinois.edu/ael/alumni/illinois-entrepreneurs/profiles/patel.html

This event took place at the University YMCA as a part of their Friday Forum series.