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February 13, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 9 News Iranian-Americans Nurture New Generations After Revolution Today, there are nearly a half-million people in the U.S. with Iranian ancestry, more than 40 percent living in California “ In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, photo, Melorin Issarezal 8, plays with a scarf during Persian story time at Irvine public library in Irvine, Calif. It’s been four decades since the Iranian revolution overthrew the ruling shah, prompting tens of thousands of Iranian exiles and refugees to make their lives in the United States. Years later, they have set down roots here and are finding ways to pass their love of Iranian culture to their American children and grandchildren. ent volunteer read the Farsi-language version of the storybook about “Elmer” the patchwork elephant. One girl per- formed a Persian dance for the group, and the For younger kids to see kids their age coming to the li- brary and speak Farsi, it’s a good feeling for them and it makes me happy. For us coming from another coun- try, (a) sense of belonging to the group is very important and others from her gen- eration seek to build a connection to their Irani- an heritage and culture among their American children and grandchil- dren. Now 67, Sharifan oversees the Persian col- lection and program- ming for a library in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, that hosts a weekly story time for Iranian-American chil- dren that she began six years ago. At a recent gathering, a dozen young children sat cross-legged on the floor, listening to a par- children twirled scarves and sang in Farsi. “For younger kids to see kids their age coming to the library and speak Farsi, it’s a good feeling for them and it makes me happy,” Sharifan said. “For us coming from an- other country, (a) sense of belonging to the group is very important.” The 1979 Islamic Revo- lution in Iran overthrew the shah, a close U.S. ally, and installed Shiite cler- ics in power and a gov- ernment headed by the anti-American Ayatol- lah Ruhollah Khomeini. Tens of thousands of Ira- nians fled to the United States. Today, there are nearly a half-million people in the U.S. with Iranian an- cestry. More than 40 per- cent live in California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The biggest community is in Los An- geles, which has led some to adopt the nickname “Tehrangeles.” Beyond Southern California, other significant popu- lations live in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas, and in Florida and Texas. Many who came to the United States after the revolution thought they AP PHOTO/CHRIS CARLSON IRVINE, Calif. — Mi- noo Sharifan came to the United States from Iran in the 1970s for graduate school, and like many others, wound up set- tling in America, starting a career and raising her family while a revolution upended her homeland and fractured relations with the U.S. The two countries re- main bitter adversaries. In his State of the Union address last week, Pres- ident Donald Trump said Iran does “bad, bad things” and “threatens genocide against the Jew- ish people”; Iran’s for- eign minister countered that the U.S. has backed “dictators, butchers and extremists.” It’s against that tense backdrop that Sharifan AP PHOTO/CHRIS CARLSON By Amy Taxin Associated Press In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 photo, children dance during Persian story time at Irvine public library in Irvine, Calif. It’s been four decades since the Iranian revolution overthrew the ruling shah, prompting tens of thousands of Iranian exiles and refugees to make their lives in the United States. Years later, they have set down roots here and are finding ways to pass their love of Iranian culture to their American children and grandchildren. would someday return to Iran but decided to stay amid icy relations between the countries. Many were upper-class and highly educated in Iran and pursued careers as doctors, entrepre- neurs and professionals in America. In recent years, Irani- an-Americans also have taken on a more visible role in politics, winning seats for state office in California, Florida and elsewhere. In Beverly Hills, which has a sizable Iranian-American com- munity, Iran-born engi- neer and entrepreneur Jimmy Delshad served as mayor. That doesn’t mean the road has been easy. Many Iranian immigrants re- call being taunted as chil- dren after Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Teh- ran were taken hostage and held for 444 days. Today, many are separat- ed from their relatives overseas by the Trump administration’s trav- el ban, which has made some Americans of Ira- nian heritage feel their standing is in question despite their citizenship status and longstanding ties to the U.S. “In economic terms, it has been a pretty suc- cessful community, however, we have been dogged by 40 years of bad relations between the United States and Iran,” said Persis Karim, chair of San Francisco State University’s Cen- ter for Iranian Diaspora Studies. “People feel like their place in the U.S. has kind of continuously been under question, or not completely at ease, because of this bigger re- lationship between these two countries.” See IRANIAN on page 11
