Persecuted Rohingya Muslims find rare refuge in Chicago

For the majority of his life, Nasir Bin Zakaria was a citizen of nowhere. He was 14 when he was kidnapped by militants at a bazaar in west Myanmar. “Kalah,” they hissed at him, a racial slur used toward Rohingya — the ethnic Muslim minority residing among the country’s Buddhist majority.

Chicago Rohingya Organize To Help Their Own

A growing number of Rohingya Muslims, who fled persecution and violence in their native Burma, have made Chicago home.

The community has grown over the last several years and this Saturday they’ll open the Rohingya Culture Center.

WBEZ’s Odette Yousef and Nora Rowley, a human rights physician who did medical relief work in Burma, join us to talk about the Rohingya community here in Chicago and the ongoing problems they face in Burma.