I am Iranian-American.

Standing in that truth has always been a point of tension for me. Like many Iranians, to be more approachable, I’ve hidden behind the word Persian, changed my last name from Mazkoori to Kovack, and hidden parts of myself from many who know me best for fear of how they’ll receive my background.

As an Iranian-American, the last three weeks have been the hardest and most inspiring I have ever bore witness to. The death of Mahsa Jina Amini has sparked a global movement and I no longer want to hide. It’s time for me to speak up.

The Background:

• The US and Iran have a deeply complex and difficult history. I won’t even begin to pretend to be an expert on this topic. You can dive deeper into some of the history here.
• Until 1979, Iran experienced freedom, economic growth, modernization, and westernization.
• Beginning in 1979, post-Iranian Revolution, the current regime began forcing women to wear hijab (hair and body covering). Men and women of the opposite sex could no longer hold hands in public. Women are no longer allowed to sing in public, dance in public, get divorced, or obtain a passport or leave the country without their husband or father’s permission.
• Millions of Iranians are now living outside Iran, and those still in Iran have been directly oppressed for 43 years. The regime and government have created unimaginable living conditions, poverty, and a community who lives in fear of the morality police on a daily basis. Despite the odds against them, women make up 60% of college graduates in Iran. They are one of the most educated groups in the world.
• On September 13, 2022, Mahsa Jina Amini, was taken by Iran’s morality police and beaten for not wearing her hijab properly. She had complied with the law, was wearing hijab, but it was not up to the standard of the officer she came across that day. The injuries she suffered while she was under the eye of the morality police led to her death. Within days, the women of Iran began a global uprising and revolution.

My Own Story:

• My parents, Hamid and Lila Mazkoori, are both Iranian. They were married in 1977 and moved to Oxford, England where my dad pursued his education. As he graduated, the revolutionary war had broken out in Iran, making it unsafe for them to return home.
• They came to the US to travel, sightsee, and wait out the turmoil back home. They never imagined they’d never go home again. In fact, my mom wasn’t able to see her sisters for the next fourteen years. Over the years, family and friends who vocally opposed the regime began disappearing. We all knew this meant they were being murdered by Islamic leaders.
• I was born in Southern Indiana in 1986. I grew up in a community that wasn’t open to folks like me. I became guarded and selectively shared about my Iranian background. 9–11 was a pivotal moment for me and my family. Iran was put on the map as part of the Axis of Evil and I started getting bullied at school. My mother received anonymous threats and she needed security to walk her to her car every day.
• It wasn’t a childhood most parents want for their kids, but there was always one underlying guilt that we all lived with which was “we aren’t dealing with what those ‘back home’ are dealing with”. The pain we experienced was nothing in comparison to the oppression our friends and family in Iran were surviving on a daily basis.
• When we went to apply for our Iranian passports, at the Iranian embassy in DC, we were told our names were not Iranian enough. What the Iranian government representative actually meant was our names were not Islamic enough. One form of oppression is the way the government changes your name. I went from Nina to Mina in an instant. My sister changed from Anita to Anahita. Simply to play by the government’s rules. Mahsa Amini’s given name is Jina Amini. Mahsa is the name the Islamic Republic forced on her too.
• In college, I took a trip to Iran with my sister and mother. We spent three weeks under my grandfather and aunt’s careful watch, sightseeing and visiting with family. We saw the incredible hospitality of the Iranian people firsthand. We enjoyed the gorgeous views of the mountains and beaches. We ate the most magnificent food on the planet. All while being scared we would be stopped at any moment by the morality police.
• Throughout our stay, multiple times our family would be quick to remind us to cover up, stay silent, or put on a serious face. Smiling too much, wearing makeup, or appearing to be enjoying life could be reasons to be stopped. We made it to the end of the three weeks without issue until we reached the airport for our departing flight.
• At the airport, men and women were separated to go through security. Upon entering the room, one of the members of the morality police took one look at my hijab and pointed it out. She questioned why I wasn’t in a hijab and started questioning me. My natural reaction was to fight back. I wanted to scream “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? I’M COVERED FROM HEAD TO TOE!” That potential outburst could have put me in jail or had me killed. With one quick look from my mother I pulled myself together and as my mother threw some additional coverings my way, I realized in that moment that had I been born in Iran, my loud mouth would have likely already been killed.

Today:

• There have been 26 days of protests in Iran and counting. Men and women have flooded the streets. They are fighting for their freedom. They are willing to risk their lives for it. The fight is not Islamophobic. It is for freedom to choose one’s religion. It is for freedom to wear or not wear hijab as a Muslim. The fight is for equality, women’s rights, and LGTBQIA+ rights. The goal is to end this regime.
• Young school girls are fighting and pushing their oppressive principals out of their schools. Oil workers are on strike. Women are cutting their hair as a sign of freedom and against the oppressive Islamic rules.
• Missiles are raining down in a beautiful city, Sanandaj. Police and military are walking the streets in dozens of Iranian cities and launching bullets in every direction, at every person in their path, protesting or not. Hundreds of women (and men) have been murdered and the death counts are inconclusive.
• Coverage of the protests in Iran are not getting the same mainstream media coverage in the US as counterparts in other countries. A recent scroll of both CNN and Fox News didn’t show any coverage of Iran on their homepages. Looking at BBC’s homepage, the second article was about Iran’s protests.
• Most US coverage has been groundswell and through social media. Iranians are facing nationwide internet blocks to prevent them from mobilizing, so some folks inside the country are leaking videos to friends and family outside the country, begging us to be their voice.
• Being their voice means putting ourselves at risk. With every post I share on social media, and this very text you’re reading, I’m risking never going back to Iran again. That my three beautiful children will never even see the home they never lived in. We will be their voice. I will be their voice. I’m asking you to join me in being their voice.

How you can help:

• Post on social media. Use the hashtag #mahsaamini. The more this hashtag circulates, the more hits it receives, the more pressure is put on world leaders to act.
• If you’re not sure what to post, check out @iamnazaninnour, @elicalebon, or @iamtehran on Instagram for inspiration.
• Sign this petition: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-the-protest-bloodshed-in-iran/
• Join a protest. There are hundreds happening every weekend, in almost every big city.
• Call your representatives. Call every day if you can. Asking them to help the women of Iran and to end the current regime.

And if you’re interested in learning more about Iran’s history, here are some resources:

• US and Britain formed the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909
• CBS News Opinion article after the BP oil spill
• The Shah’s regime, known as The White Revolution from 1963–1979
• Jimmy Carter had extensive contact with Ayatollah Khomeini before the revolution in Iran
• Article from The Guardian that follows the trail
• The Iranian Revolution in 1979

Photo credit — AP News