I felt proud when I first saw Khizr Khan on the stage of the Democratic National Convention last year. Not because of his politics but because of his courage. He lost a son in Iraq and because of that, he felt compelled to remind Americans of the greatness of this country. Of the rights and dignities afforded to all of us in the Constitution.
I felt proud because Khan was an immigrant like me, He, like so many of my friends and family, arrived from the Indian subcontinent with great hope for a life in, as Khan calls it, the best place on planet Earth.
Now, Khan has a new book out, “An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice.” It’s a story of the son of a Pakistani farmer who read Rumi by moonlight, studied law, fell in awe of the United States Constitution and then worked hard to study at Harvard and become a successful lawyer. It’s a story of a man devoted to his wife, Ghazala, and the three sons they raised together. And it’s a story of extreme loss and how he learned to live with grief after Captain Humayun Khan died in a 2004 suicide bombing in Baquba.
This week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Khan in Raleigh, North Carolina, a stop on his book tour. On Veterans Day, his words resonated with many in his audience.
Click here to read the story on CNN: This immigrant and Gold Star father has a message on Veterans Day
