[Anderson:] Oh, the good life. Less than two weeks out of the White House, and Barack Obama clearly trading up, swapping freezing Washington for the Caribbean where he is hanging out on the billionaire, Richard Branson's private island. Of course, with everything that is going on in Washington, it is easy to see why Obama might just want to forget about it all for a while. But for Muslims across America, it will be much harder to get all the uncertainty off their minds. That's something almost half of all Americans who have never met a Muslim may not understand so well. But one woman, well, she is trying to change all of that. These are your Parting Shots this evening. Meet Moina Shaiq, she's a Muslim woman from Pakistan. And on this day, she is speaking with a church group in Atlanta. A U.S. resident for 38 years and a mother of four, since 911 she has been on a mission to combat misconceptions about Muslims.
[Moina Shaiq, Muslim-american Activist:] For the most part, Muslims got underground, basically, because they were very scared. I decided that I'm not going to do that. I'm going to get out and educate my fellow Americans about who Muslims are. Because I realize for the most part, people in America don't know Muslims.
[Anderson:] There are 1.8 million Muslim in the U.S., but nearly half of U.S. adults say they don't personally know any. Shaiq says, because of that, there are many misconceptions about Islam, which is why she began touring the country with her "meet a Muslim" initiative.
[Shaiq:] Why are women oppressed in Islam? What is the difference between Shia and Sunni. What is Shariah law, you can ask all these questions.
[Anderson:] She says she has conducted over 50 of these discussions since January, 2016.
[Shaiq:] I started doing "Meet a Muslim" conversation after the San Bernardino shootings. And so I thought, I will go and put an ad in the paper, in a local paper, and go sit in a coffee shop and see if somebody comes. There were over 100 people at the first event.
[Anderson:] She says, no question is off the table.
[Shaiq:] ISIS is the same as KKK, it is exactly the same thing. Now, would anybody call KKK Christians? No. Nobody in the right mind would call them Christian. The same thing, ISIS is doing things in the name of Islam, but it is completely contrary to the teachings of Islam.
[Anderson:] She questions the true faith of those who have been classified as radicalized.
[Shaiq:] The concept that people who are getting radicalized are very Islam observant, I think it is the contrary of that, because when you make connection with god five times a day and you pray, and you repent and you ask for forgiveness, you can't be radicalized, you can't hurt people.
[Anderson:] After the hour-long discussion, Shaiq spends more time greeting the people who came today. And her message is simple.
[Shaiq:] Just get to know a Muslim. If you have never met a Muslim, make an effort to get to know one.
[Anderson:] What a very busy hour for you today. Let us know what you thought of today's show. Lots going on. You can browse over to Facebook.comCNNconnect. You can get in touch with me @Beckycnn on Twitter. I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World. From the team here, it's a very good evening. We will be back at the same time on Sunday. CNN goes on right now. END