Yasir Ishtaiwi, member of Red Bulls Minnesota Army National Guard

Thank you to all veterans for serving our country and protecting our freedoms!

The Muslim Experience in Minnesota project aims to capture and convey the Muslim experience in Minnesota through oral interviews and photographic portraits. This Minnesota Historical Society funded project documented 40 Minnesota Muslims chosen carefully to represent a diverse collection of experiences.

Continuing in the series of interviews from the Muslim Experience in Minnesota project, in this entry, I feature Yaser Ishtaiwi, a member of the Red Bulls Minnesota Army National Guard and a veteran of Iraq war. Here is an excerpt from his hour-long interview which can be found at this link.

"I joined the Army National Guard in 1992 and since that time I have been committed to the Guard. Right now, I have a family and I'm still committed to the Guard and everything I did before. I served two years in Iraq, between 2005 to 2007, with the Red Bulls Minnesota Army National Guard. And right now I work with my engineering degree as a product development engineer in one of the leading companies in Minnesota.

My family has long ties with the United States. My grandfather from my mom's side came to the States in 1935 and he worked here for a while. My mom's cousin actually was a captain in the US army serving in Vietnam in 1966. When I came, I came in '89 to continue education, and that's the reason I came. Originally I am from a city 10 miles north of Jerusalem in what's called the West Bank, Palestine right now.

John Noltner, Star Tribune

I am a strong supporter of Muslim integration in this society: bring down all the walls, talk to your neighbors, make business with your neighbors or people that you know if you have common ground of a business ideas and things like that.

Working with the Muslim community is something that I love to do from early time I came here to the States, because to find a place where you feel that you are not a stranger, you have to connect with your community. I always tell my friends and everybody I interact with, 'we want to be good citizens, ask for our rights as good citizens. But at the same time we have to fulfill our duties as good citizens, too.' That's when you can ask for everything you want as a citizen."