"A long road ahoe...a long road ahoe"

My research must continue into the Hoover library where I located a number of pictures and documents from the C.I.A. both of Baha'i immigrants leaving Iran and of the violence Khomeini committed against them, Sunni's and pro-Western Shah supporters that could really help people visualize the terror of the Revolution for non-Shia's. Secondly, and admittedly something I failed to do, was gather the rich oral histories of the Baha'i community spread throughout the Bay Area, were it not for my initial snags in research I may have had time to organize these interviews, but ten weeks is ten weeks and I spent near three on peripheral topics. Not all is lost to the dying of the light. I have gathered a wealth of information regarding American immigration policy, Immigration statistics and Persian documents that show governmental dictates from Iran condoning religious persecution. The only problem is, until my Farsi is solid enough to guarantee the translation on my own, I refuse to use it.
I do not know if it is pathetic or motivating, that it took me until the last quarter of my third senior year to realize that the brilliance of California is that it is very difficult to wrap your head around the level of diversity. I think that is why race plays so heavily in California's past because politicians need to form constituent bases out of ethnic groups and therefore they mash together all of Central and South America to "Latino(a)s." I do not know if it shows more ignorance or racism, but through the analysis of immigration statistics and a cursory study of American immigration reform since 1882, the sheer complexity of our state was delivered to me from the "womb of my purposeless splendor." In short, California is the place to be because as an immigrant group, refugee, or naturalized citizen California provides the unique diversity that allows American acculturation along with assimilation. This creates amazing cultural enclaves of hybridization that spawns California's creativity and innovation.
Over-arching, yes, but I cannot explain the beam of light, the size of the light-bulb, nor the clear epiphany that struck me during our class discussion bashing my "Anglo-Protestant" roots that immediately made the history of our state, which has to me been as boring as can be, so relevant and interesting to my familial and cultural history that I am proud to call myself a resident of this great state. A state that internationally provides persecuted peoples with a place to come enjoy democracy (sometimes) while being allowed to maintain as much of your cultural identity as you wish to maintain.
I am sorry for missing the mark and being delayed at nearly every turn, my personal discovery during this course will far outweigh the benefits I have provided anyone, but to the future study of the Iranian Diaspora, Baha'i immigration, Middle Eastern/Western political balances and the effects of subjugation with enough brain food to stimulate the fattest of "buffs." Thank you everyone for the course, I will continue this research at the graduate level with more polish and direction, and hopefully time.

Sometimes I hate the Internet, but I will always love HISTORY!

The wealth of my project has been a disappointment, fraught with rude library attendants, unprofessional archivists and official spokespeople and an essential belief that for some reason, the world is against this project and me. As we know I began with grandiose dreams of analyzing the immigration and effects of three separate events and how they related to the Bay Area. Soon I realized I had undertaken and impossible task and through the most plentiful sources I could find on either of the three subjects, I decided to take on the issue of Baha’I immigration to the Bay Area as a result of the Iranian Revolution. This was initially hindered by an email I received from the Persian American Affairs Committee that told me that “no” Baha’is were persecuted out of Iran during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. This threw a major wrench in my spokes, until in an unrelated discussion with Professor Fozdar, who is a Baha’I himself, I learned that this was untrue, very untrue. I dove back into government archives, attempted a trip to the Hoover archives in Palo Alto and tried to set up a meeting with the Baha’is of Lafayette, a local religious organization that sponsors the upkeep of the 24-westbound freeway. However, despite being forced to miss class and wasting countless dollars of gas money, I came away only with what I could obtain from my own library (which is rather extensive) and government sources. From that I have gleaned the major information and have come to the conclusion that due to the large percentage of Baha’I immigration to California (primarily Los Angeles, and the Bay Area second) that the relative allure of “Hollywood” and the massive diversity and culture that spawns from the Bay Area that many of the more Western-minded Iranians who fled the subjugation of Islamic Law were drawn to California for its structure, society and diversity. In order to portray this in an artistic, creative, and useful manner I will begin with some short movies on the Iranian Revolution, the Baha’I faith, and statistics of immigration numbers to demonstrate the truth of this assertion.

Public History

-The Iranian Revolution began and ended in 1979 with the deposition of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
-After Ayatollah Khomeini consolidated his power, he turned to dissenters, many of whom were from other sects of Islam or other religions all together.


-This is a video that is calling for democracy in Iran and the return of the Shah, it is composed to Persian Hip-Hop, which juxtaposes ancient Iranian language with American culture, showing the connection of large segments of the societies.



-From 1981-1990 over 150,000 Iranians came to the United States, most fleeing religious or political persecution.

-Iranians primarily chose to come to California, with spikes in Immigration coming in 1979, the early 1980's, early 1990's and the early 2000's each in response to the Islamic Revolution, the Oil Embargo and Hostage Crisis, the first Gulf War and the War on "Terror." This points to California's value as a refuge for international immigrants, especially the Bahai. (Taken from the Persian Affairs Office)

-In order to show how this could be displayed interestingly I have to use words because my artistic ability seems to diminish by the year. There would be two Televisions that would splice together scenes of violence on the part of the Shah, Khomeini and Khameini, with the statistics of immigration to the United States by each conflict. To depict the overwhelming percentage of Baha'is who immigrate to California, and the Bay Area I would use two "pin-maps" that showed immigration by year and the eventual locations of Baha'i immigrants by year.