Themes like Islamophobia and racism emerge organically: Riz Ahmed

Actor, writer and rapper, Riz Ahmed has gained recognition in movies like The Night Crawler, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Four Lions. Currently starring as Naz in the HBO series The Night Of, Riz is flying high on the acclaim for his show and character. A quick chat with the actor on the grim reality of criminal justice systems and shooting the show:

Tell us a little about Naz.
He’s a college student from Queens, New York. His dad’s a cab driver and, I guess, he’s got the America dream. One day he borrows his dad’s cab to get to a party. On the way he meets a beautiful, mysterious girl and the events go completely out of control!
 
What’s your character’s status as a Muslim in New York today?
It’s the sad reality that we’re living through a time of war and recession and inequality; that leads to prejudice. Sadly, Muslims have been one of the minorities that are more prominently victimised, as a result. But many other minorities feel that too. Something that was really interesting while researching this was just seeing the reality of the prison industrial complex. We visited Rikers Island: it’s a completely black institution, from the wardens to all the inmates.

That’s eye opening and disheartening and it lays bare what systemic racism looks like. I have to say, though, I don’t think it’s the intention of the writers here necessarily to explore Islamophobia or racism in the criminal justice system. I think that those themes emerge organically, just by them trying to render authentically the world that they’re exploring.

But in terms of Naz’s position, I think that you have a deep mistrust of authority. You’re aware the NYPD is constantly surveying your community, your mosques… you have sting operations taking place to entrap the young Muslims, and it feeds into Naz’s distrust of the detectives and criminal justice system

How did filming in New York affect you, and how’s it like being somewhere in a jail complex like Rikers Island?
Filming in New York meant I could go to Rikers and do research; go to high schools in Queens and the Bronx and Workers South Asian Youth charities in Jackson Heights; speak to people who’d just come out of Rikers; or, you know, defence attorneys that have been through that system, so that was a big thing.

Just getting to know Queens and spending time there, building bonds in that community; it can be really exhausting, emotionally, just putting yourself in that place (Rikers). But ultimately, you have a responsibility, within the artifice of that situation, to try and do justice to the people, who have opened up to you, when you’re doing the research. That’s something that always stays with me. Kalief Browder’s story came out while we were there, as well — about a young man who’d been in Rikers for three years and committed suicide, tragically, when he was released, because of the PTSD that he experienced. These kinds of things motivate you.

What did you make of the criminal justice system while you shot for the show?
I didn’t know about the reality of being in a prison or in Rikers. The more I researched about that, the more eye opening it was. As I said, hearing of stories like Kalief’s, knowing how long you could be rotting in prison waiting for a trial; I wasn’t aware of that, and it was all pretty shocking.

The season finale of The Night Of  will air at 10 pm on August 31 on Star World Premiere HD