Iranican

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Post 9/11: The Iranian Experience

• Iranican صدای • 10 Comments


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I remember it vividly.  I was 13 years old and on that particular day in September, I was getting ready for my first class of the day: eighth grade English.  Having just discovered makeup, I was attempting to put on the glitter blue eyeshadow I bought from the drugstore on my eyelids while listening to my favorite pop songs on the radio.  Then suddenly, the N’SYNC song was cut short and the radio DJ’s came back on air to say, “This just in… Oh my god…” They proceeded to talk in horror of the planes that had just flown into the twin towers in New York. On our way to school, my mother and I continued to listen to the news detailing  the horrific terrorist attacks that were happening on the other side of the country.  Then, one minor detail about the hijacker’s identities were revealed: they were Muslim.


In my English class that day, my teacher asked me to come to the front of the class and explain Islam to my fellow classmates.  I was born into a Muslim family, however, my family and I do not practice Islam nor we do we believe in the ideals.  This is something I feel is apparent since I do not pray to Mecca 3 times a day, do not wear hejab nor do I fast during Ramadan.  I remember walking up to the front of the class completely unsure of what to say.  As I stood in front of my classmates and friends, my English teacher said, “Since you are also Muslim like the hijackers, you can explain the religion to us: What would possess these Muslims to do such a thing? Are all Muslims this violent?” I remember standing there with absolutely no idea what to say.  My response?  “Well in Iran, we have to cover our hair when we are in public…”  Unfortunately, at 13 years old, I had absolutely no idea what Muslims practiced, let alone what Islam even meant.  But at that moment in my English class, everything changed.  My teacher’s ignorance instantly put a target on my back.  I was now a Muslim and I was somehow connected to the hijackers of September 11.

After that day, I was treated differently by everyone: teachers and students.  I received hate emails and notes telling me to “go back to my country.” Never mind that I was born in Wisconsin and therefore, the U.S. is technically “my country.”  With the anniversary of 9/11 just around the corner, people should take this time to remember the pain and suffering of those caused either directly or indirectly by the attacks.  More importantly, we should come together as a country despite what our political, cultural or religious backgrounds are.  Join our cohosts tonight as they discuss how 9/11 affected them, until then: Did you feel any backlash as an Iranian post 9/11?

Iranian Live Talk Show airs on RadioJavan.com every other Wed @ 7PM, every other Fri at 9AM on Radio Bamdad Sacramento, and is available for podcast on Iranican.com.

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10 comments

  1. What your teacher did was very inappropriate, but if you’re still in contact with her, you may suggest some reading material:

    http://consortiumnews.com/2011/08/23/explaining-why-they-hate-us/

    http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/30/why_they_hate_us_ii_how_many_muslims_has_the_us_killed_in_the_past_30_years

    http://www.amazon.com/Breeding-Ground-Afghanistan-Islamist-Terrorism/dp/1597975303/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

    And to calm her down a bit, have her read these:

    http://reason.com/archives/2011/09/06/how-scared-of-terrorism-should

    http://chronicle.com/article/Where-Are-All-Islamic/128443/

    http://people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/

  2. Oh, and some advice to Iranian-Americans, Islam/Muslims have no future in this country, it would be helpful if you all convert to Zoroastrianism, and name your kids non-Muslim sounding names.

    Acceptable male names: Cyrus, Ryu, Mao, etc.
    Acceptable female names: Agnus, Mildred, Blanche, etc.

    You guys get the idea.

  3. اون روز رو خوب به یاد دارم…داخل ساختمان کتابخانه دانشگاه که شدم می‌خواستم سوار آسانسور بشم که به طبقهٔ سوم برم. به طور اتفاقی‌ ۲-۳ تا از همکلاسیا رو دیدم که یه جوری به من نگاه میکردن و پرسیدند که دیدی چه اتفاقی‌ اتفاده؟ چند نفر غریبه هم تازه رسیدند جلو آسانسور و گوش می‌دادن. من جواب دادم که آره شندیم. شروع کردن به من بند کردن که آخه چرا شما مسلمونا اینطور هستین و اگه نمیتونین خوب برگردین به کشورتون. خلاصه در این میان آسانسور اومد پایین و میخواستیم سوارشیم یکی‌ از اون غریبه‌ها برگشت به من گفت اگه قول میدی که آسانسور رو نمیبری تو هوا سوار شو. اونای دیگه شروع کردن به هرع هرع کردن. جوابش رو ندادم، چون هیچ فایده نداشت. ولی‌ یه چند روزی اعصابم خورد بود.

  4. Well, I personally have been fortunate enough not to have any problems with profiling or anything like what Sam described since september 11th and I live on the east coast. None of my close friends or people who knew me at school treated me any differently. But I cant imagine what the hostage crisis must have been like for Iranians living in the US during that time.

    I do have a word of advice to those that do experience this kind of thing. If someone asks why muslims are terrorists here is a good way to answer: Islam has been around for well over 1,000 years. Why is Islamic terrorism a relatively new phenomena? Where were the muslim terrorists 60 years ago?

    Also I agree mostly with what Iman said, only I don’t think the American government is part of the “conspiracy” I think a network of big businesses and corporations throughout the world are behind it. These are the people with real power and they are the ones indirectly controling the world’s affairs. They have no country, no religion, no conscience, the only thing they care about is money and there are millions of 911s happening throughout the world every year because of them, this is not an isolated event. It’s no more tragic than the famine in Africa, drug trafficing problems in Afghanistan or Mexicans who are shot trying to cross the border to come to the US.

  6. Sara
    I am very sorry for the bad experience you had in that class. The way you were treated was completely insane and there is no excuse or explanation whatsoever for the derogatory behavior of that so called teacher. I could easily see that after so many years you are still hurt of the way he treated you and you have every right considering you were only a little innocent girl at the time who did no harm to anybody however was condemned and reprimanded for other people mistakes. What a shame. By the way don’t listen to what shahed told you as she was a complete idiot with a big mouth in this episode. She was only opposing the other person’s ideas no matter what. When talking to you she was supporting Muslims and when talking to Iman she was against them. Somebody should have stopped her when she was dominating the conversation by continuously interrupting you and Iman and was not allowing you guys to speak.

    Iman
    I agree with you on the negativity of that sentence “we never forget”. America used to be a great country because of its tolerance, forgiveness and help it provided to other nations when they needed so. Unfortunately everything changed after that incident and I can clearly see why. A country that encourages hatred, intolerance, racial profiling and worst of all “we never forget” mentality can not a great nation anymore.