A Bigger Challenge for Iranians to be Considered as a Minority in the Pandemic
Parichehr Mofazi, 87-years-old from Reseda, Calif., threw the census form in the trash like all other letters from the government “ I don’t trust them anyways,”. They were forced to leave their homes, they packed up their memories and rebuilt their home somewhere new. The United States has become the second home of many Iranians. They swear allegiance to the American flag and have since become one of the most successful immigrants living in the United States. The largest Iranian population outside of Iran is in Sought California. However, the true number has not been officially recorded. Even on the census map, the part “search for tracts” Iranian ethnicity is not mentioned.
Iranian stand-up comedian Maz Jobrani and pop singer Framarz Aslani were scheduled to participate in a big event to talk about the importance of taking the census seriously, which was canceled. They could have made people aware of how to fill out the census correctly.
Persuading Iranians to participate in the census in previous decades has been a big challenge, but this year the challenge has been magnified by the coronavirus. The census kickoff event, which was to be held on March 12 in Skirball Cultural Center also was canceled. Although the programmers were able to transfer the event to Kirn 670 am Radio Iran, it did not have the desired effect.
The presenter of the event was Bitta Milanian Senior V.P of Global marketing at Genband, Executive Director for Farhang foundation, and social media influencer and blogger who dedicated herself to encouraging the Iranian community to participate in census 2020. She cited the importance of categorizing as minorities with a story of his own experience as an immigrant. She added that the issue is about fair allocation of $75 billion. Roudy Bakhtiar, former CNN Headline News Tonight, explained that in Census 2000 the Iranian population was reported to be 300,000. “Despite my efforts and a large number of Iranian celebrities, this number has been reduced to 280,000 in the 2010 Census.” Said Bakhtiar. There are more than one million Iranian in the US, but because of the lack of proper training, the people didn’t know how to fill out the census form, in the section on race, Iranians chose “white” but they left the section of ethnicity blank. She said,” Iranian have a significant impact on community development.” She explained the importance of vital Iranian posts such as Firouz Naderi, manager of NASA’s Mars exploration program, Ferial Govashiri, Personal Secretary to U.S.
President Barack Obama and currently Chief of Staff to the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, Sahar Norooz Zadeh in the White House, and many other places like Google, YouTube, and Twitter. She said, “Why should we not be involved in U.S. Politics to be a part of the decision-maker, to help Iran and make Iran’s voice to be heard?… We are over one million and we have to reach this number in the 2020 census to count as minorities to take advantage of being a minority, like the others in this country.”
Due to the pandemic, census agents are not able to go door to door and talk to the people in person and explain to them that the fear and their mistrust are unreasonable. In that case, maybe it was possible to convince Parichehr and many others who think the same way that participating in the census for the sake of her children, grandchildren, and even herself is beneficial and is a citizen’s duty.
Rasoul Fadavi, Census Bureau’s Partnership specialist, noted that Census data directly affect how the federal government allocates more than $675 Billion each year for the next ten years. The Bureau has added a code for “Iranian” in its coding system. He reported that, as of April 7, Los Angeles, with a 36.5% self-response rate, is lagging behind the national with 46.2% and the state with 46.1%. We don’t have a response-rate breakdown for various races/ethnicities.
Despite the relentless efforts of many Iranian celebrities and awareness programs on Persian-language broadcast, encouraging participation in the census, a large number of older Iranians do not participate in the Census and they drop out the forms. “This practice is rooted in Iranian culture, which does not believe in any government programs,” said Iranian sociologist Dr. Mehdi Agha Zamani.
The other group that participates in the census, but does not care about their ethnicity, are the younger generation born in the United States, or those that one of the parents are non-Iranian. This group does not consider themselves as Iranian. These kids may understand a few Farsi words, but they don’t speak the language. There, being Iranian is limited to enjoying Persian foods, celebrating Iranian New Year, or meeting grandparents in rare situations, but not the benefits that would help the Iranian community.
Due to the pandemic, census agents are not able to go door to door and talk to the people in person to explain, the fear and their mistrust are unreasonable. In that case, maybe it was possible to convince Parichehr and many others who think the same way, participating in the census is for the sake of their children, grandchildren, and even themselves. It is beneficial to everyone in the community and it is a citizen’s duty.
rasoul.fadavi@2020census.gove . (818) 9633950
