Hey everyone, I'm Amadale Yuckberg, and this is See Something Say Something.

This week, we're joined by poet, writer, and performer Fatima Asker.

Ultimately, what it's about is the writers of color wanting to define themselves on their own terms and be able to create the art that they want.

If you see something, you better, you better say something.

Nothing at all, nothing at all.

So Fatima's debut book of poems, if They Come For Us, is out this week.

It explores her identity as a young Pakistani-Kashmiri American Muslim grappling with sexuality and race in America.

She's also co-creator of the Brown Girls' Web series, which is in development with HBO.

Side note, this was actually recorded during Ramadan, and I was fasting, so I was a little

bit loopy, but I can't wait to listen back.

Hi, Fatima.

Thanks so much for joining me.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm so excited to be here.

So for people who are maybe not as familiar with your work, can you, like, tell us a story or moment that has inspired your work and made you into the artist you are today?

I think that there's several.

Like, I think that a lot of times it's just from, like, my life experiences, which are, or, like, exaggerations or interpolations of my life experiences, which, you know, are super, super,

based on identity. And people have asked me before, like, oh, like, how does your race or your religion affect your work? And I'm like, well, it's just, like, affects who I am. And that kind of then affects, like, the way I walk around and the way that I'm treated and the way that I kind of just vision everything, you know, like you can't, and I don't really believe that you can make art without the

lens of your identity there.

Like, I know that people will say that sometimes, but that just doesn't feel right because

it's like, I don't know, that just isn't, that's not actually like how anybody can make

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