Iranian Immigrants in San Diego Complain of Insensitivity, Bias

When radio talk show host Stacy Taylor suggested to listeners here that they attach bumper stickers to their cars saying, “Islam Is Lame,” it was just another instance of what many Iranians living in the area say is gross insensitivity and prejudice toward them.

Taylor, who works for station KSDO, said in an interview that he has no apologies for broadcasting the remark recently, saying he felt “some smart entrepreneur” could make a million dollars on the idea.

But Reza Ahmadi, a civil engineer who immigrated from Iran 10 years ago, complained bitterly that nothing would happen to vehicles carrying such bumper stickers, while an automobile carrying a bumper sticker extolling the virtues of Islam would soon be vandalized.

“How come a Mexican-American can have a bumper sticker saying something nice about his people or his religion, but an Iranian they will vandalize?” Ahmadi asked.

Celebrate New Year

The engineer was interviewed as hundreds of Iranian immigrants gathered on the beach at La Jolla one evening this week to celebrate the forthcoming Iranian New Year with a fire-jumping ceremony that goes back 2,500 years to pre-Islamic, Zoroastrian times.

This year, there was a somber aspect to the festivities. It is not an easy time to be an Iranian in the United States, some in the crowd said, and, they added, with tensions between the United States and Iran threatening to escalate, it may grow worse.

“We’re trying to earn a living, but we don’t know what we will be doing tomorrow,” said Mehdi Moen, a teacher’s aide in a local school. “I’m not politically active and I don’t intend to be, but I can’t ignore the feelings against us.”

Moen said he feels that the Iranian community in San Diego is “lacking strong leadership, some speaker for our society.”

“But I don’t know if he would be listened to,” he said. “I see lots of prejudice. Still, we ought to say we’re strongly against these radical movements, and the proof is that we’re here because we wanted a free life, and we’re against any fanaticism.”

Mohammed Khavarinejad chimed in: “It is bad, at least as far as living here now. One fact they (Americans) have to realize is that this group is opposed to (the Ayatollah Ruholla) Khomeini.”

The next night, in another part of San Diego, an Iranian businessman, who asked that his name not be used, said: “The biggest problem we have in America is that there is always a general conclusion from a simple observation. They’re saying now that Iranians are bad.

“I’m not a nationalist, but I can say we’re one of the most peaceful and educated communities to ever come to America,” the businessman said. “Those general conclusions make me sick.”

He said he understands why the American news media would give a great deal of attention to incidents such as occurred last week when a van belonging to the wife of the captain of the missile cruiser Vincennes was bombed, possibly by terrorists.

“But as an Iranian what I cannot understand is that it pays so little attention to the 12,000 executions that have taken place in Iran since last summer,” he said. “They included three of my cousins.”

Perceived Unfairness

Often, the perceived unfairness transcends current developments and is much more general.

“Islam has 1 billion followers,” said Reza Rezai of the Iranian Educational, Cultural and Social Center here. “Hollywood has portrayed Moses and Jesus repeatedly, but no one has had the information or the courage to make a movie about the Prophet (Mohammed).”

Sometimes, it seemed from interviews here this week, ordinary difficulties facing many Americans can be misinterpreted by Iranians as instances of prejudice directed at them. One person complained that, simply because he was seen as Iranian, he had been unable to establish a satisfactory relationship of confidence with an automobile dealer, or get a special, religious meal on an airliner.

There was an undercurrent among many of the Iranians interviewed, however, of real fear that prejudice could turn to violence against them in the future, although some acknowledged that anti-Iranian feeling had been worse a decade ago, during the first days of the American hostage crisis of 1979-80.

One member of a small faction of pro-Khomeini Iranians interviewed separately said, “I see a trend. Something is going to happen. Today, there is no other religious minority you can so freely savage and brutalize as you can the Muslims.” He asked that his name not be used.

Said Ahmadi, the engineer: “When Iran or Khomeini are by any means related to any violent events, it immediately gets tremendous (news) coverage, I would say basically creating negative publicity for Iranians. I wish we could get these issues looked at individually, and not have everything attributed to all of us.”