Culture complex
By Yasmin Assemi
March 15, 2001
The Iranian
There's a face peering out of the mirror at me
A face that shifts with the changing tides
One that can assemble
Adapt
Our kind belong in 2 worlds
One Iranian
One "farangi"
They call me sefid
Which I am
But I am also Persian
My heart is torn between two worlds
Each claiming me a member of their society
But what am I?
The Census doesn't have a box for me
And "Other" is NOT a category
Am I a girl with one foot in each culture
Or two people in one body?
I cannot simply mark white
Regardless of what the historians tell me
My identity changes with the culture
As each group of people see a different half
With the rapid changing of our times
As globalization takes its toll
A new Iranian is born out of the emigrants of our beloved Iran
We are all half
This new generation of Iranians living in America
Be it by blood or mentality
Taking the best of both worlds
Close to our hearts
And offering society our ever-widening minds
A salad of racial genes we all are
Whether we have one Iranian parent or two
The phrase "full Persian" is inaccurate and becoming extinct
As we step onto the shores of Multiculturalism
Those of you scouring the crowds
Searching for fellow countrymen
Just might miss
The Inverse Coconuts
The unseen minorities of America
Whom you cannot identify by appearance alone
Peering out at you from behind the curtains.
