The Iranian Americans

Martha Teichner: THEIR STORY BEGINS

MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA AGO,

IN THE MIDDLE EAST, IN A LAND

THAT WOULD COME TO BE CALLED "PERSIA."

BEGINNING AS A GROUP OF NOMADS,

IN TIME, UNIFIED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE,

THE PEOPLE OF PERSIA, LED BY SUCH GREAT KINGS

AS CYRUS AND DARIUS,

WOULD BUILD AN EMPIRE THAT, AT ITS PEAK,

STRETCHED FROM NORTH AFRICA TO INDIA,

FROM THE CASPIAN TO THE RED SEA.

A PEOPLE OF DIVERSE ETHNICITIES AND FAITHS,

THEY DEVELOPED RICH TRADITIONS

THAT HAVE ENDURED CENTURIES

OF MIGRATIONS AND CONQUESTS.

IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY,

THEIR NATION, NOW KNOWN AS IRAN,

WAS RACKED BY POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS UPHEAVAL

AND, ULTIMATELY, REVOLUTION.

FROM THIS,

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IRANIANS

LEFT THEIR HOMELAND FOR THE UNITED STATES,

A COUNTRY THEY WOULD COME TO CALL

HOME.

WAS PROVIDED BY...

DEDICATED TO CELEBRATING AND PROMOTING

IRANIAN ART AND CULTURE

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE.

A COMPLETE LIST IS AVAILABLE FROM PBS.

EINSTEIN.

YOU KNOW, NAMES, PLACES,

THAT I COULD NEVER IMAGINE

BEING THERE.

[ "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL" PLAYS ]

Pirnazar-Oberman: OH, MY GOD,

THE PICTURES FROM SEARS ROEBUCK.

IT WAS LIKE GOING TO THE MOON.

ALL THE LADIES WOULD LOOK AT THAT

AND FOLLOW THE FASHIONS FROM THERE.

THAT'S HOW I REMEMBER MY MOM AND MY SISTER.

THEY WOULD LOOK AT THIS, OKAY, THEY'D TELL THE DRESSMAKER,

"LET'S MAKE THIS, LET'S MAKE THAT."

I WAS RAISED IN TEHRAN

WITH ALL KINDS OF NEIGHBORS AROUND US,

FROM ALL NATIONALITIES.

WE HAD SOME RUSSIAN NEIGHBORS RIGHT NEXT TO US

AND LOTS OF ARMENIANS, LOTS OF JEWS.

WE HAD A NEIGHBOR WHO WAS AN AMERICAN EXPAT

LIVING IN IRAN AND, WHEN THEY LEFT,

THEY WANTED TO SELL SOME OF THEIR STUFF

AND MY MOM BOUGHT ME THE FIRST BARBIE

AND THE BARBIE HOUSE.

BARBIE'S DREAM HOUSE.

EVERYBODY WANTED TO COME THERE AND PLAY WITH THIS BARBIE

AND IT WAS JUST, YOU KNOW, I HAD DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.

I GREW UP ON TARZAN, WATCHING TARZAN MOVIES.

MY FATHER LOVED TARZAN AND WE WATCHED EVERY

OF HIS MOVIES, OR SOME OTHER MOVIES.

AMERICAN MOVIES WERE VERY FAMOUS.

Interviewer: CAN YOU DO THE TARZAN "YAAH!"?

I CANNOT, BUT --

AAAAH!

Ameri: THE AMERICAN ARMED FORCES

HAD A TV STATION IN IRAN, AT THE TIME.

WE USED TO WATCH ALL THESE GREAT SHOWS, LIKE "LASSIE."

WE WERE ALL ENAMORED BY "LASSIE."

Jobrani: I LOVED COMIC BOOKS,

SO I HAD, LIKE, "SPIDER-MAN" AND "SUPERMAN" AND "BATMAN"

AND MY COUSIN AND I WOULD LOOK AT THESE

AND THEN WE'D RUN AROUND THE HOUSE, ACTING IT OUT.

I'M A BIG FILM FANATIC.

EVERY WEEK, I WANTED TO WATCH FILMS

AND, OF COURSE, THE EPITOME OF FILMS IS

HOLLYWOOD AND AMERICAN FILMS.

Teichner: RELATIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND THE U.S.

HAD BEEN FLOURISHING FOR MUCH OF THE 20th CENTURY,

BEGINNING, IN PART, WHEN REZA PAHLAVI,

A HIGH-RANKING ARMY OFFICER, TOOK CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY,

BECOMING THE SHAH OF IRAN IN 1925.

IN 1941, HIS SON MAMD REZA TOOK OVER AS SHAH.

A WEAKER LEADER THAN HIS FATHER,

HE ALL BUT LOST POWER IN THE 1950s

TO AN ELECTED GOVERNMENT THAT MARGINALIZED HIM.

THE BRITISH AND AMERICANS, HOWEVER,

FEARFUL THEY'D LOSE INFLUENCE

OVER IRAN AND ITS OIL,

OVERTHREW THE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER,

GIVING MOHAMMAD REZA SHAH

VIRTUALLY UNCHALLENGED AUTHORITY.

WE HAVE NO OTHER NATION ON EARTH

WHO IS CLOSER TO US

AND THERE IS NO LEADER WITH WHOM I HAVE

A DEEPER SENSE OF PERSONAL GRATITUDE

AND PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP.

Teichner: UNDER THE SHAH'S RULE,

IRAN AND THE U.S. GREW INCREASINGLY CLOSE.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS STRENGTHENED

AND TRADE GREW EXPONENTIALLY.

MANY AMERICANS ALSO WENT TO LIVE AND WORK IN IRAN.

Rahimieh: THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL

OF RAPID WESTERNIZATION.

THE TRANSFORMATIONS WERE VISIBLE.

YOUNG IRANIANS, TEENAGERS, THEY HAD THIS IMAGE

OF THIS GLAMOROUS COUNTRY THAT YOU WOULD GO TO AND SEE,

IF NOT NECESSARILY IN TERMS OF "THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY,"

BUT ALL SORTS OF NOVEL, NEW THINGS.

Teichner: WHILE SMALL NUMBERS OF IRANIANS

HAD BEEN MOVING TO THE U.S. FOR DECADES,

BY THE 1970s, THEY WERE COMING IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS,

SOME FOR WORK, BUT MANY MORE FORDU ETION.

Biglari: GOING TO THE UNITED STATES FOR EDUCATION

WAS SOMETHING I LOOKED FORWARD TO.

SO DID MANY OF MY CONTEMPORARIES.

WHEN I ULTIMATELY CAME TO THE STATES,

JUST BEFORE THE REVOLUTION,

THERE WERE ABOUT 50,000 IRANIAN STUDENTS

IN THIS COUNTRY, OR ABOUT 20%

OF THE TOTAL FOREIGN-STUDENT POPULATION IN THE COUNTRY.

Ameri: IN MY FAMILY, MY DAD,

HE ALWAYS WANTED TO SEND HIS KIDS TO THE STATES

BECAUSE HE THOUGHT, YOU KNOW,

THIS IS WHERE THINGS WERE HAPPENING.

SO BEFORE ME, MY TWO OLDER BROTHERS

HAD COME HERE AND THEN,

BY THE TIME IT WAS MY TURN, THE PATH WAS VERY CLEAR.

Pirnazar-Oberman: I GRADUATED IN IRAN IN 1975.

I GOT MY MASTER'S IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

AND I WAS OFFERED A SCHOLARSHIP

TO COME TO GET MY PhD IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE EXPECTATION THAT WE HAD WHEN WE CAME HERE

WAS THAT WE WOULD GET OUR EDUCATION HERE

AND THEN GO BACK TO IRAN.

THAT'S WHAT MOST PEOPLE

WHO CAME AND STUDIED IN THE UNITED STATES DID.

AS IT TURNED OUT,

THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION INTERFERED WITH THOSE PLANS.

THE POLITICAL CONVULSIONS IN IRAN CONTINUE

AND THE GOVERNMENT APPOINTED BY THE SHAH

APPARENTLY HAS BEEN TOPPLED.

Teichner: 1979 MARKED A CHANGE FOR IRAN.

THE LARGELY SECULAR GOVERNMENT LED BY THE SHAH CAME TO END

AS HE AND HIS FAMILY FLED

AND THE COUNTRY UNDERWENT A REVOLUTION.

WHILE MANY IRANIANS HAD PROSPERED

UNDER THE SHAH'S RULE, OTHERS WERE ENRAGED

BY THE GROWING DISPARITY BETWEEN CLASSES.

MANY ALSO CONSIDERED HIM CORRUPT;

A MERE TOOL OF THE U.S.; AND OPPRESSIVE,

OFTEN VIOLENTLY, TO HIS OPPOSITION.

Pourjafar: IN IRAN IN 1979,

I WAS ONLY EIGHT, EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS OLD,

SO I WAS MOSTLY IN SCHOOL.

A LOT OF THINGS WERE HAPPENING EVERYWHERE.

WE WERE SCARED BECAUSE THERE WAS

A LOT OF BLOODSHED,

THERE WERE A LOT OF DEMONSTRATIONS,

THERE WAS A LOT OF... ANGER.

Teichner: THE SOLUTION FOR THE REVOLUTIONARIES WAS

TO USHER IN A NEW LEADER.

THEIR CHOICE WAS THE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI.

EXILED FROM IRAN FOR YEARS, HE PROMISED A NEW IRAN,

A CLASSLESS SOCIETY, ROOTED IN ISLAMIC BELIEF,

WITH NO CORRUPTION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL,

A NATION THAT WOULD BE BASED ON INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM.

THESE WERE HIS PROMISES, BUT, AS THE WORLD SOON LEARNED,

THEY WERE SHORT-LIVED.

Naderi: IT TURNED VERY QUICKLY,

YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF

ALL THE PROMISES THAT KHOMEINI HAD MADE

ABOUT SECULAR DEMOCRACY AND ALL OF THAT.

IT WAS VERY CLEAR, WITHIN THE FIRST FEW MONTHS,

THAT NONE OF THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

Teichner: THE AYATOLLAH FORMED A NEW REPUBLIC OF IRAN,

WHERE ISLAMIC LAW RULED

AND DISSENT WAS NOT TOLERATED.

MANY OF THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHAH

OR THOSE POLITICALLY OPPOSED TO THE NEW REGIME

FACED IMPRISONMENT OR EXECUTION.

THOSE WHO COULD AFFORD TO LEAVE -- IN LARGE PART,

PEOPLE WHO'D BENEFITED FROM THE SHAH'S POLICIES --

DID SO, FLEEING THE COUNTRY WITH THEIR FAMILIES.

IN MOST CASES, THESE WERE PEOPLE WITH MEANS --

PRIMARILY, SECULAR MUSLIMS

AND RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES.

Pourjafar: A LOT OF A FAMILIES LEFT.

THEY LEFT, THEY LEFT.

ONE AFTER ANOTHER, THEY LEFT THE COUNTRY.

THEY JUST LEFT THEIR HOUSES, EVERYTHING.

THEY PACKED THEIR CLOTHES, THEY BOUGHT A TICKET, AND THEY LEFT.

I LEFT.

ALL MY BOOKS IN MY OFFICE, MY APARTMENT,

THE CAR PARKED IN THE FRONT --

EVERYTHING THAT WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE PERCEPTION

THAT I'M LEAVING FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AND COMING BACK.

AND I LEFT AND THAT WAS THE END OF THAT.

Man: THE MOST POPULAR PLACE IN TEHRAN,

AT THE MOMENT, IS THE AIRPORT.

IRANIANS AND FOREIGNERS ARE TRYING TO LEAVE.

Teichner: IN THE YEARS SURROUNDING THE REVOLUTION,

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IRANIANS