When Özlem Cekic became the first Muslim MP in the Danish Parliament, her email inbox was inundated with hate mail and threats. Her gut reaction was to delete and ignore each abusive message. But when a neo-Nazi threatened her, she chose a different approach: she started replying and inviting each sender to meet and engage in dialogue over coffee. She met people like Kim, a right-wing extremist and fervent Islamophobe. She met armed Muslim adolescents on Norrebro's Red Square, whose contempt for Danish peoples ran deep. She visited a mosque where the imam preached against democracy, and a church where the priest spoke against homosexuality. And, along the way, she confronted her own history of prejudice. With time, understanding, and patience, Özlem began to make a difference in both the lives of those who hated her before even meeting her -- and in her own.
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