Kanza Khan is a Juris Doctoral student in the MSU College of Law. She is also a native to Michigan State, having completed her undergraduate degree here. During her time as an undergraduate, Kanza was a part of the Transforming Theater Ensemble where she was a part of a group that aimed to present stories on a human level and help get people passed the barriers that separated them from others. For Kanza, the arts helped her make a more meaningful impact. “We’re all just humans at the end of the day and I hope no one can argue with that,” she said. Despite her dedication to helping people understand one another and navigate social systems, she didn’t always want to attend law school. In fact, there is a very specific moment that Kanza recalls as the confirmation experience that led her to where she is.
In January of 2017, Kanza was flying back to the United States after a visit to Pakistan. Her flight was supposed to be a week later, but she changed it because of political mention of a flight ban for people from particular countries to the U.S. The day she flew home was the day the “Muslim Ban” was enacted. Her flight was even delayed because the airline had to remove a few passengers before taking off. Despite her legal U.S. status, Kanza was nervous. When it came time to fill out her customs card, her seat neighbor needed help. She was Sudanese (a country on the banned list) and was trying to visit her son. Kanza tried to help the best she could but her neighbor’s lack of English speaking skills made it challenging and Kanza turned to the flight attendant for help. Despite witnessing airline staff help in similar instances in the past, this time the attendants said they had no help to offer. This made a huge impact on Kanza. “That was it,” she said, “that was when I knew I had to go to law school. You can fight who you are, and I knew that was a battlefield I needed to be on to help fight the fight.”
With the support of her parents, Kanza began preparing for the LSAT and eventually was admitted to Law School at MSU. She chose MSU because of her previous experience with the MSU community. The previous support she felt to present her ideas, share creatively, and take on leadership roles al played a part in shaping her ideas of how the MSU Law environment is so unique. “Eventually I want to practice international law of sort. It's just such a personal thing for me as a person who identifies themselves as an American Muslim, Pakistani, Canadian, I'm just not cool with lots of extremists taking over the narrative of what it means to be Muslim and oppressing so many people around the globe on the basis of religion… You know, life is uncertain and you never know and you have to just pick your battle. And I guess this is mine, even if I die on the battlefield… I could never make it or I could be in so much stress that I die or something. But this is a poison I pick. For me it is, it is that way. It's so personal. For me, it's not a career. It's how I define my duty on earth.”
Originally written and photographed by Makena Neal, 2019
