Iranian Americans
Iranian Americans are individuals of Iranian descent living in the United States, with a population estimated between 1.2 million and 2 million. The community has been significantly impacted by historical events, notably the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the subsequent Iran Hostage Crisis, which shaped American perceptions of Iranians and often associated them with anti-American sentiments and terrorism. In the aftermath, many Iranian Americans, primarily secular and educated individuals from middle and upper-class backgrounds, faced challenges in dispelling negative stereotypes while striving to maintain their cultural heritage.
The Iranian American community is concentrated in suburban areas, with notable populations in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York's Long Island. Many Iranian Americans have integrated into the broader American society, often forming friendships with individuals from diverse backgrounds instead of limiting their social circles to fellow Iranian Americans. Efforts to improve the community’s image include official recognitions, such as the declaration of March 21 as the Day of Iranian Americans in several states, which aims to celebrate their contributions to American society.
In recent years, Iranian Americans have engaged in social and political activism, particularly in response to issues affecting their home country, such as women's rights, highlighted by protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The community continues to navigate the complexities of identity, cultural representation, and ongoing connections with family and societal issues in Iran.
Iranian Americans
- SIGNIFICANCE: Since November 4, 1979, when Iranian student militants seized the US embassy in Tehran and held sixty-six Americans hostage while demanding the return of the Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi from his exile in the United States, many Americans held extremely unfavorable opinions of Iranian Americans. Iranian Americans faced a constant struggle to convince other groups in the United States that they personally were not terrorists and did not support the Islamist government in Iran.
The trauma of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent terror and economic deterioration, combined with the long war with Iraq, resulted in widespread dispersions of Iranians outside their homeland. It is estimated that between 1.2 million and 2 million Iranian Americans currently live in the United States. The majority of Iranian immigrants live in suburban areas such as Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York's Long Island, and hold middle-class jobs.
Since the Iranian Revolution and the taking of the US embassy, images of Iranians as unpredictable and wild anti-American fanatics and terrorists have dominated the minds of the American public, according to sociologist Ali Akbar Mahdi of Ohio Wesleyan University in a 1997 issue of The Iranian. For example, when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed on April 19, 1995, at first many Americans believed that Middle Eastern terrorists were responsible. Living in such a negative environment is a difficult but conscious choice for most first-generation Iranian immigrants. Second-generation Iranians also suffered from the negative images associated with the national origins of their parents.
Mahdi wrote that the presence of many Iranian immigrants in Western countries waspartially due to the conversion of Iran into an Islamic theocracy after the revolution. Most Iranian immigrants are secular people who do not want to mix religion with politics and education. He said that most Iranian immigrants in the United States consist of middle- and upper-class people who are highly educated and have a better-than-average standard of living. Many of those who came from more modest backgrounds have secured middle-class positions for themselves through education, dedication, and hard work.
Relations with Other Groups
Iranians who came to the United States before the hostage crisis received a generally positive reception. However, after that crisis and the ongoing rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, the American perception of Iran changed from a country of peace to a country of turmoil and unpredictability. The US State Department labeled the Iranian government a “rogue state.” The unfavorable portrayal of Iranians in the US media helps breed prejudice and discrimination, placing a strain on Iranian Americans. Some researchers accuse American political, religious, and cultural leaders of using xenophobia and unfounded fears to gain popularity. They said that while the United States prides itself on its sociocultural diversity, it simultaneously denounces cultures it cannot understand.
A survey of 157 Iranian Americans conducted by Laleh Khalili, a graduate student at Columbia University (The Iranian Times, April, 1998), showed that although 37 percent of respondents selected mostly other Iranian Americans as friends, 63 percent do not. Khalili found that those who prefered friends who were not Iranian Americans associated with members of other transnational communities rather than typical white Americans. The most frequently mentioned areas of origin are Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. “A shared knowledge of what crossing borders entails and a similarity in sociopolitical backgrounds provide a context in which the Iranian in the United States can operate comfortably,” Khalili said.
Image Improvement
In an effort to focus on the achievements of Iranian Americans and not dwell on the faults of the Iranian government, some US governors in states such as New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Florida officially declared March 21, the date of the Iranian celebration of the new year, as the Day of Iranian Americans. In 1997, Governor Lawton Chiles of Florida said, “Individuals of Iranian heritage have earned an esteemed place in the cultural, economic, and social structure of Florida and have proved themselves an asset to the community, with many of them holding positions in the fields of medicine, research, education, law, business, the arts, and public services.” He called for continued mutual understanding and friendship between established residents and those of Iranian descent. Manucher Shahidi of Long Island, New York, one of the organizers of the movement to make March 21 a special day in the United States, said that the celebration involves being recognized as an official ethnic minority group in the United States. “This gives us lobbying power in Congress, gives us the right to institute our culture and history into that of America, and most importantly, it guarantees that the United States government will protect our cultural and historical integrity,” he said.
Iranian American writer Michael C. Walker said in the February 26, 1998, issue of The Iranian, “We must proactively teach antidiscrimination in our schools and our communities. It must explore the world’s diverse cultures, religions, and ethnicities. Such education should especially concentrate on nations like Iran where America’s hatred and misunderstanding is prismed and clearly focused.”
Iranian Americans in the Twenty First Century
The population of native-born Iranians in the United States continued to expand into the twenty-first century. A decade after the Iranian revolution, the population stood at 204,000 in 1990. In the next decade, the number increased to 290,000 by the year 2000. By 2020, this community grew to 357,000. In the mid-2020s approximately 400,000 Iranian-born people lived in the United States with about 130,000 in Los Angeles. Among the Iranian population, L.A. acquired the nickname "Tehrangeles."
The Iranian American community in the United States maintained close familial connections with extended family in Iran. Many Iranian societal issues continued to resonate with community members in America. An idea often expressed among those in the US was the hope for a regime change in Iran without outsider meddling.
In 2022, the cause of women in Iran spurred great outpourings in America. This issue surfaced after the arrest, beating, and death of twenty-two year-old Mahsa Amini, who was killed after being arrested by the Iranian religious police. Her alleged crime was improperly wearing a head covering. In California, thousands of Iranian Americans rallied for Amini is cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.
Bibliography
Ansari, Maboud. The Making of the Iranian Community in America. Pardis, 1992.
Karlamangla, Soumya. "Why So Many Iranian Immigrants Live in California ." New York Times, 6 Oct. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/iranian-immigrants-california.html Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
Khakpour, Porochista. "Opinion: What’s It like to Grow Up Iranian American in L.A. When You Don’t Fit the ‘Shahs of Sunset’ Stereotype?" Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2004, www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-05-28/iranian-american-la-tehrangeles-persian-food-shahs-of-sunset. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
Mahdi, Ali Akbar. “The Second Generation Iranians: Questions and Concerns.” Iranian, Mar. 1997, https://dokumen.pub/iranian-and-minority-languages-at-home-and-in-diaspora-3110694131-9783110694130.html. Accessed 4 June 2015.
"Mapping the Iranian Diaspora in America." UCLA, 15 Feb. 2023, newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/mapping-the-iranian-diaspora-in-america. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.