Vimeo / Medill Reports – via Iframely

Video: Askar and Asef Askar talk about how they got into MMA and how they hope to destroy the negative stereotypes cast on Arabs and Muslims (Michael Bacos/Medill)

CHICAGO — Askar Askar and his brother Asef were teenagers when they came to the United States from Palestine in 2001 to reunite with their father.

They were bullied in school because of their ethnicity. So Askar’s dad enrolled him in tae kwon do in Chicago, while Asef decided to bulk up by lifting weights until he decided to take a tae kwon do class, too.

Then one day, when walking home from the class, they stumbled across an LA Boxing gym and decided to take up MMA.

“We went in and got our asses whooped the first day,” said Askar. “It was a straight-six-month period of getting destroyed.”
The brothers decided to quit, but one of the coaches berated them, inspiring them to give it another shot.

Years later, they have moved on from beating bullies.

Now, they are moving into the professional ranks.

Askar racked up a 7-2 record in the amateur MMA ranks and won his first professional fight Saturday in Michigan City, Indiana. On the same card, Asef improved to 4-0 as an amateur and retained his Hoosier Fight Club featherweight title.

Being Palestinian, Asef said, is great preparation for MMA.

“Palestinians go through wars everyday,” he said. “We’re some of the toughest people out there.”

Askar has experienced his share of racism during his first few fights for Hoosier Fight Club.

“Every time I walked out, I got booed,” said Askar. “You get that one guy that’s pretty racist and starts yelling, spitting and being judgmental against us. The biggest thing is, you ignore it and prove them wrong in the cage.

“Just because you think a guy with a long beard, long hair and a turban blows up stuff doesn’t mean it’s all of them. I want to prove everyone who thinks we’re a terrorist wrong.”

The Palestinian community in Chicago has thrown its support behind the Askar brothers –including an estimated 500-1,000  fans at their fights in Indiana.

They hope to become so popular that Palestinians will fly to the States to watch them fight.

“Sports helps you fit into American culture,” says Asef. “It shows that just because we’re Arab, we’re doing what everyone else is doing. It’s not like we stick to one thing because we’re from a certain culture or background.”

Vimeo / Medill Reports – via Iframely

CHICAGO — The 2015 Welcome Home Warrior Summit took place at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday.

The event was designed to help bridge the gap between military and civilian life for veterans transitioning out of the service. Government offices, employment services and universities were on hand to give veterans the resources they need to create successful post-military lives.

Army veteran James J. Flagg created the Warrior Summit Coalition after his own frustrations with the Veterans Administration system while attending the University of Illinois-Chicago.

“In a six months timeframe, we created a task force at UIC’s campus that centralized all services for military vets,” Flagg said.

It is that philosophy that led to the creation of the Welcome Home Warrior Summit.

Government agencies including Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office and the Cook County Recorder of Deeds were present to educate veterans of their state benefits.  Non-profit organizations were also there to give veterans a way to continue serving after the military. When some veterans leave the service, they may feel a loss of purpose.

Organizations like The Mission Continues team veterans and the communities to tackle various projects together. This way, veterans feels integrated within a community while fulfilling their desire to serve a greater good.

Veterans still face a tough time with post-military life, especially when interacting with other civilians.

“The customs that we’re so used to while in the service, you have to get that mentality out of your head,” Marine vet John Aranda said. “The way we interacted with each other in the military is something we can’t do in the civilian world.”