Loading ...LISTEN: Growing up Arab American in West Virginia with Sharif Youssef
By ZANDER ALOI
Public Broadcasting
This week Scott, Laurie, and Rick are joined by guest Sharif Youssef. Youssef is the child of an Egyptian immigrant who grew up in the town of West Liberty, West Virginia, who now works as a producer on the popular podcast “99% Invisible” in the San Francisco Bay area.
Youssef’s recent Facebook post on the election of Donald Trump has gained popularity and been shared across the internet. In it, he describes the discrimination he faced both as a person of Middle Eastern descent growing up in Appalachia and as an Appalachian in more liberal and often more elite Ivy League and coastal communities. The post attempts to Trump’s opponents why areas like West Virginia voted for him, and to his supporters why his election has so many people afraid of what comes next.