ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Zak Ebrahim - Peace activist
Groomed for terror, Zak Ebrahim chose a different life. The author of The Terrorist's Son, he hopes his story will inspire others to reject a path of violence.

Why you should listen

When Zak Ebrahim was seven, his family went on the run. His father, El Sayyid Nosair, had hoped Zak would follow in his footsteps -- and become a jihadist. Instead, Zak was at the beginning of a long journey to comprehend his past.

Zak Ebrahim kept his family history a secret as they moved through a long succession of towns. In 2010, he realized his experience as a terrorist’s son not only gave him a unique perspective, but also a unique chance to show that if he could escape a violent heritage, anyone could. As he told Truthdig.com, “We must embrace tolerance and nonviolence. Who knows this better than the son of a terrorist?”

In 2014 Ebrahim published the TED Book The Terrorist's Son, a memoir written with Jeff Giles about the path he took to turn away from hate. In early 2015 the book won an American Library Association Alex award.

More profile about the speaker
Zak Ebrahim | Speaker | TED.com
TED2014

Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace.

Zak Ebrahim: Sou filho de um terrorista. Veja como escolhi a paz.

Filmed:
5,839,825 views

Se você for criado em dogma e ódio, será que consegue escolher um caminho diferente? Zak Ebrahim tinha só sete anos quando seu pai ajudou a planejar o bombardeamento do World Trade Center em 1993. Sua história é chocante, poderosa e enfim, inspiradora.
- Peace activist
Groomed for terror, Zak Ebrahim chose a different life. The author of The Terrorist's Son, he hopes his story will inspire others to reject a path of violence. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:14
On November 5th, 1990,
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No dia 5 de novembro de 1990,
00:16
a man named El-Sayyid Nosair walked
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um homem chamado El-Sayyid Nosair
entrou em um hotel em Manhattan
00:19
into a hotel in Manhattan
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00:21
and assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane,
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e assassinou o rabino Meir Kahane,
00:24
the leader of the Jewish Defense League.
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o líder da Liga de Defesa Judaica.
Nosair foi inicialmente julgado
inocente do assassinato,
00:28
Nosair was initially found not guilty of the murder,
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00:31
but while serving time on lesser charges,
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mas enquanto cumpria pena
por acusações menores,
00:34
he and other men began planning attacks
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ele e outro homem
começaram a planejar ataques
00:37
on a dozen New York City landmarks,
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a dezenas de pontos
da cidade de Nova Iorque,
00:39
including tunnels, synagogues
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incluindo túneis, sinagogas
00:41
and the United Nations headquarters.
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e a sede das Nações Unidas.
Felizmente, esses planos foram delatados
00:44
Thankfully, those plans were foiled
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00:46
by an FBI informant.
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por um informante do FBI.
00:49
Sadly, the 1993 bombing
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Infelizmente, o ataque a bomba
ao World Trade Center, em 1993, não foi.
00:51
of the World Trade Center was not.
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00:54
Nosair would eventually be convicted
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Nosair seria finalmente condenado
00:56
for his involvement in the plot.
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por seu envolvimento na ação.
00:59
El-Sayyid Nosair is my father.
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El-Sayyid Nosair era meu pai.
01:04
I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Eu nasci em Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
01:06
in 1983 to him, an Egyptian engineer,
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em 1983, filho dele,
um engenheiro egípcio,
01:09
and a loving American mother
and grade school teacher,
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e de uma carinhosa mãe americana
e professora primária,
que juntos fizeram seu melhor
01:13
who together tried their best
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01:14
to create a happy childhood for me.
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para criar uma infância feliz para mim.
Foi só aos meus sete anos de idade
01:17
It wasn't until I was seven years old
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01:18
that our family dynamic started to change.
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que a dinâmica de nossa família
começou a mudar.
01:22
My father exposed me to a side of Islam
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Meu pai me mostrou um lado do islã
01:25
that few people, including the majority of Muslims,
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que poucas pessoas,
incluindo a maioria dos muçulmanos,
01:28
get to see.
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têm a chance de ver.
Aprendi que quando as pessoas
01:31
It's been my experience that when people
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01:32
take the time to interact with one another,
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param para interagir umas com as outras,
não demora muito
para se perceber que, em geral,
01:35
it doesn't take long to realize that for the most part,
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01:38
we all want the same things out of life.
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todos queremos as mesmas coisas na vida.
01:40
However, in every religion, in every population,
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Entretanto, em cada religião,
em cada população,
01:43
you'll find a small percentage of people
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há uma pequena porcentagem de pessoas
01:46
who hold so fervently to their beliefs
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que se atêm às suas crenças
tão fervorosamente
01:49
that they feel they must use any means necessary
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que sentem que devem usar
qualquer meio necessário
01:52
to make others live as they do.
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para fazer os outros viverem como eles.
01:55
A few months prior to his arrest,
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Alguns meses antes de sua prisão,
01:57
he sat me down and explained that
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ele sentou-se comigo e explicou
que, nos últimos fins de semana,
ele e alguns amigos
01:59
for the past few weekends, he and some friends
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estavam frequentando
um campo de tiro em Long Island
02:02
had been going to a shooting range on Long Island
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02:04
for target practice.
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para praticar a mira.
02:07
He told me I'd be going with him the next morning.
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Ele disse que me levaria com ele
na manhã seguinte.
Nós chegamos ao Campo de Tiro Calverton,
02:10
We arrived at Calverton Shooting Range,
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02:12
which unbeknownst to our group was being watched
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que, sem nosso conhecimento,
estava sendo vigiado
02:15
by the FBI.
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pelo FBI.
Na minha vez de atirar,
02:18
When it was my turn to shoot,
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02:19
my father helped me hold the rifle to my shoulder
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meu pai me ajudou a segurar
o rifle no meu ombro
e me explicou como mirar no alvo
02:21
and explained how to aim at the target
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02:23
about 30 yards off.
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a cerca de 27 metros de distância.
02:26
That day, the last bullet I shot
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Naquele dia, a última bala que eu atirei
02:28
hit the small orange light that sat on top of the target
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atingiu a pequena luz laranja
que ficava sobre o alvo
02:31
and to everyone's surprise, especially mine,
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e, para a surpresa de todos,
especialmente a minha,
02:35
the entire target burst into flames.
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o alvo inteiro pegou fogo.
02:39
My uncle turned to the other men,
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Meu tio virou-se aos outros homens,
02:40
and in Arabic said, "Ibn abuh."
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e disse em árabe, "Ibn abuh".
02:44
Like father, like son.
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Tal pai, tal filho.
Todos pareceram se divertir bastante
com aquele comentário,
02:47
They all seemed to get a really
big laugh out of that comment,
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02:50
but it wasn't until a few years later
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mas somente alguns anos depois
02:52
that I fully understood what
they thought was so funny.
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eu entendi exatamente
o que haviam achado tão engraçado.
02:56
They thought they saw in me the same destruction
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Eles acharam ter visto em mim
a mesma destruição
02:58
my father was capable of.
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de que meu pai era capaz.
03:01
Those men would eventually be convicted
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Aqueles homens um dia seriam condenados
03:04
of placing a van filled with
1,500 pounds of explosives
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de colocar uma van carregada
com 680kg de explosivos
03:08
into the sub-level parking lot of the
World Trade Center's North Tower,
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no estacionamento subterrâneo
da Torre Norte do World Trade Center,
03:12
causing an explosion that killed six people
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causando uma explosão
que matou seis pessoas
03:15
and injured over 1,000 others.
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e feriu mais de mil outras.
Esses eram os homens que eu admirava.
03:18
These were the men I looked up to.
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03:20
These were the men I called
ammu, which means uncle.
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Esses eram os homens que eu chamava
de ammu, que significa "tio".
03:25
By the time I turned 19,
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Quando eu completei 19 anos,
03:26
I had already moved 20 times in my life,
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já tinha me mudado 20 vezes,
03:30
and that instability during my childhood
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e aquela instabilidade em minha infância
03:32
didn't really provide an opportunity
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não me ofereceu muita oportunidade
de fazer muitos amigos.
03:33
to make many friends.
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03:35
Each time I would begin to feel
comfortable around someone,
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Toda vez que eu começava
a me sentir confortável com alguém,
03:38
it was time to pack up and move to the next town.
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já era hora de empacotar tudo
e ir para a próxima cidade.
03:41
Being the perpetual new face in class,
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Sendo sempre o novo garoto da turma,
03:44
I was frequently the target of bullies.
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eu era sempre o alvo dos valentões.
03:46
I kept my identity a secret from my classmates
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Eu escondia minha identidade
dos meus colegas
03:48
to avoid being targeted,
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para evitar ser alvo,
03:50
but as it turns out, being the
quiet, chubby new kid in class
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mas, pelo jeito, ser o garoto novo,
quieto e gordinho na turma
03:53
was more than enough ammunition.
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era munição mais do que suficiente.
Então, na maior parte do tempo,
eu ficava em casa,
03:56
So for the most part, I spent my time at home
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03:58
reading books and watching TV
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lendo livros e assistindo a TV,
04:00
or playing video games.
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ou jogando video games.
04:01
For those reasons, my social skills were lacking,
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Por isso, eu não tinha
muita habilidade social,
04:04
to say the least,
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para dizer o mínimo.
Crescendo num lar preconceituoso,
04:06
and growing up in a bigoted household,
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04:08
I wasn't prepared for the real world.
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eu não fui preparado para o mundo real.
04:10
I'd been raised to judge people
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Eu fui criado para julgar as pessoas
04:12
based on arbitrary measurements,
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com base em medidas arbitrárias,
04:14
like a person's race or religion.
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como a raça ou a religião delas.
04:18
So what opened my eyes?
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E o que abriu meus olhos?
Uma das minhas primeiras experiências
04:21
One of my first experiences
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04:23
that challenged this way of thinking
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que desafiaram esse modo de pensamento
04:25
was during the 2000 presidential elections.
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foi durante as eleições
presidenciais de 2000.
Por meio de um programa preparatório
para a universidade,
04:28
Through a college prep program,
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04:30
I was able to take part
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pude participar da Convenção Nacional
da Juventude na Filadélfia.
04:31
in the National Youth Convention in Philadelphia.
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04:34
My particular group's focus was on youth violence,
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O foco do meu grupo em particular
era violência na juventude,
04:37
and having been the victim
of bullying for most of my life,
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e por ter sofrido bullying
por quase toda minha vida,
04:40
this was a subject in which
I felt particularly passionate.
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esse era um assunto pelo qual
eu particularmente me interessava.
04:44
The members of our group came
from many different walks of life.
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Os membros do meu grupo vinham
de diferentes classes sociais.
04:48
One day toward the end of the convention,
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Um dia, chegando ao final da convenção,
04:50
I found out that one of the kids I had befriended
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descobri que uma das crianças
com quem eu tinha feito amizade
era judia.
04:53
was Jewish.
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Bem, tinha demorado vários dias
04:55
Now, it had taken several days
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04:57
for this detail to come to light,
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para que eu descobrisse esse detalhe,
04:58
and I realized that there was no natural animosity
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e eu descobri que não havia
uma hostilidade natural
05:02
between the two of us.
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entre nós dois.
05:04
I had never had a Jewish friend before,
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Eu nunca havia tido um amigo judeu antes
05:07
and frankly I felt a sense of pride
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e, francamente, eu me senti muito orgulhoso
05:10
in having been able to overcome a barrier
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de ter conseguido superar a barreira
05:12
that for most of my life I had been led to believe
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que, por quase toda a minha vida,
fizeram-me acreditar
05:14
was insurmountable.
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ser insuperável.
Outro momento decisivo chegou,
05:17
Another major turning point came when
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quando encontrei um emprego de verão
em Busch Gardens,
05:19
I found a summer job at Busch Gardens,
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05:21
an amusement park.
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um parque de diversões.
Lá, eu fui exposto a pessoas
de todos os tipos de crenças e culturas,
05:24
There, I was exposed to people
from all sorts of faiths and cultures,
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05:27
and that experience proved to be fundamental
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e essa experiência provou-se fundamental
05:29
to the development of my character.
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para o desenvolvimento do meu caráter.
Por quase toda minha vida, ensinaram-me
05:33
Most of my life, I'd been taught
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05:34
that homosexuality was a sin, and by extension,
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que homossexualidade era pecado
e que, por extensão,
05:38
that all gay people were a negative influence.
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todas as pessoas gays
eram influência negativa.
Por um golpe do acaso,
eu tive a oportunidade
05:41
As chance would have it, I had the opportunity
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de trabalhar com alguns dos artistas gays
05:44
to work with some of the gay performers
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05:45
at a show there,
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numa apresentação lá,
05:47
and soon found that many were the kindest,
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e logo percebi que muitos eram as pessoas
05:49
least judgmental people I had ever met.
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mais gentis e menos críticas
que já havia conhecido.
05:53
Being bullied as a kid
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Ter sofrido bullying quando criança
05:55
created a sense of empathy in me
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criou um senso de empatia em mim
para com o sofrimento dos outros,
05:58
toward the suffering of others,
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05:59
and it comes very unnaturally to me
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e para mim não é muito natural
06:01
to treat people who are kind
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tratar pessoas que são gentis
06:03
in any other way than how
I would want to be treated.
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de um jeito diferente
de como eu gostaria de ser tratado.
06:07
Because of that feeling, I was able
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Por causa desse sentimento, eu conseguia
06:09
to contrast the stereotypes I'd been taught as a child
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diferenciar os estereótipos
que me ensinaram na infância
06:14
with real life experience and interaction.
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com experiência de vida real e interação.
06:17
I don't know what it's like to be gay,
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Não sei como é ser gay,
06:19
but I'm well acquainted with being judged
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mas sei bem como é ser julgado
06:21
for something that's beyond my control.
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por algo que está além do meu controle.
06:25
Then there was "The Daily Show."
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E havia o "The Daily Show".
Todas as noites, Jon Stewart me forçava
06:29
On a nightly basis, Jon Stewart forced me
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06:31
to be intellectually honest with
myself about my own bigotry
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a ser intelectualmente sincero
comigo mesmo sobre meu preconceito
06:35
and helped me to realize that a person's race,
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e me ajudou a perceber
que a raça, religião,
06:37
religion or sexual orientation
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ou orientação sexual de uma pessoa
06:40
had nothing to do with the quality of one's character.
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não tinham nada a ver
com a qualidade de seu caráter.
06:45
He was in many ways a father figure to me
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Em muitos aspectos,
ele era uma figura paterna para mim
06:48
when I was in desperate need of one.
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quando eu precisava de uma,
desesperadamente.
06:51
Inspiration can often come
from an unexpected place,
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Inspiração muitas vezes
pode vir de um lugar inesperado,
e o fato de que um comediante
judeu havia feito mais
06:55
and the fact that a Jewish comedian had done more
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06:58
to positively influence my worldview
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para influenciar positivamente
minha visão de mundo
07:00
than my own extremist father
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do que meu próprio pai extremista
07:02
is not lost on me.
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não se perdeu em mim.
07:05
One day, I had a conversation with my mother
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Um dia, eu tive uma conversa com minha mãe
07:07
about how my worldview was starting to change,
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sobre como minha visão de mundo
estava mudando,
07:10
and she said something to me
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e ela me disse uma coisa
que vou levar com carinho no coração
07:12
that I will hold dear to my heart
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07:14
for as long as I live.
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enquanto eu viver.
Ela me olhou com os olhos cansados
07:17
She looked at me with the weary eyes
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07:19
of someone who had experienced
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de alguém que havia vivenciado
07:20
enough dogmatism to last a lifetime, and said,
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dogmatismo suficiente
para uma vida inteira, e disse:
07:24
"I'm tired of hating people."
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"Estou cansada de odiar as pessoas."
07:28
In that instant, I realized how much negative energy
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Naquele instante, eu percebi
quanta energia negativa
07:31
it takes to hold that hatred inside of you.
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é necessária para manter
o ódio dentro de você.
07:36
Zak Ebrahim is not my real name.
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Zak Ebrahim não é meu nome real.
Troquei meu nome
quando minha família decidiu
07:39
I changed it when my family decided
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07:41
to end our connection with my father
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eliminar a conexão com meu pai
07:42
and start a new life.
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e começar uma nova vida.
07:45
So why would I out myself
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Então, por que eu me exporia
07:47
and potentially put myself in danger?
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e potencialmente ficaria em perigo?
07:50
Well, that's simple.
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Bem, é simples.
07:52
I do it in the hopes that perhaps someone someday
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Eu faço isso na esperança
de que talvez, algum dia,
alguém que seja forçado a usar violência
07:56
who is compelled to use violence
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07:58
may hear my story and realize
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possa ouvir minha história e perceber
08:00
that there is a better way,
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que há um caminho melhor,
que apesar de ter sido submetido
08:03
that although I had been subjected
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08:04
to this violent, intolerant ideology,
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a essa ideologia violenta e intolerante,
08:07
that I did not become fanaticized.
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eu não me tornei um fanático.
08:10
Instead, I choose to use my experience
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Em vez disso,
escolhi usar minha experiência
para revidar ao terrorismo,
08:12
to fight back against terrorism,
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08:15
against the bigotry.
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à intolerância.
08:19
I do it for the victims of terrorism
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Eu faço isso pelas vítimas do terrorismo
08:22
and their loved ones,
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e por seus entes queridos,
08:24
for the terrible pain and loss
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pela dor e pelas perdas terríveis
08:26
that terrorism has forced upon their lives.
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que o terrorismo impôs em suas vidas.
08:29
For the victims of terrorism, I will speak out
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Pelas vítimas do terrorismo,
eu vou me manifestar
08:31
against these senseless acts
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contra esses atos sem sentido
08:34
and condemn my father's actions.
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e condenar as ações de meu pai.
08:38
And with that simple fact, I stand here as proof
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E com esse fato simples,
cá estou eu como prova
08:41
that violence isn't inherent in one's religion or race,
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de que a violência não é inerente
à religião ou à raça de alguém
08:45
and the son does not have to follow
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e de que o filho não tem que seguir
08:48
the ways of his father.
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o caminho de seu pai.
08:51
I am not my father.
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Eu não sou meu pai.
08:54
Thank you. (Applause)
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Obrigado. (Aplausos)
08:57
Thank you, everybody. (Applause)
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Obrigado a todos vocês. (Aplausos)
09:01
Thank you all. (Applause)
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Obrigado a todos. (Aplausos)
09:03
Thanks a lot. (Applause)
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Muito obrigado. (Aplausos)
Translated by Gustavo Rocha
Reviewed by Tulio Leao

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Zak Ebrahim - Peace activist
Groomed for terror, Zak Ebrahim chose a different life. The author of The Terrorist's Son, he hopes his story will inspire others to reject a path of violence.

Why you should listen

When Zak Ebrahim was seven, his family went on the run. His father, El Sayyid Nosair, had hoped Zak would follow in his footsteps -- and become a jihadist. Instead, Zak was at the beginning of a long journey to comprehend his past.

Zak Ebrahim kept his family history a secret as they moved through a long succession of towns. In 2010, he realized his experience as a terrorist’s son not only gave him a unique perspective, but also a unique chance to show that if he could escape a violent heritage, anyone could. As he told Truthdig.com, “We must embrace tolerance and nonviolence. Who knows this better than the son of a terrorist?”

In 2014 Ebrahim published the TED Book The Terrorist's Son, a memoir written with Jeff Giles about the path he took to turn away from hate. In early 2015 the book won an American Library Association Alex award.

More profile about the speaker
Zak Ebrahim | Speaker | TED.com