Iranian of the Day

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I don't think there is any racism with Haji Firooz 's face colour...If we think that way ...per example we should judge any Venise or Rio carnaval with all sort of make up...and a circus clown should be an insult to japonese Geisha ....come on now !! Yek grime hast nothing to do with any race !

But we can have a Green Haji firooz to please everybody :D

باشو، غریبه کوچک

نژاد پرستی ؟!

رنگ سیا ه  حاجی فیروز ، از خا کستر و ا تش زمستا نی است و نشانه شاد مانی و تشویق زمین برای بها ر و گرما 

Dear Rahmanian, Yes, some people are blatantly racist

But some are subtle. I am reminded of some Americans who upon me answering:"where are you from?" with "Iran", they would say:"interesting". Many of these people or at least some did not care for Iran and Iranians but they would just say interesting.

soosan khanoom

i agree we what you say. thanks for the comment oh and Persian is a culture and language. not an ethnicity at least not anymore.

...

ای وای... نمیشه که نمیشه !

Dear Anahid:

I have lived among xenophobic people for almost three decades and it is not the most pleasant experience in the world. Although, in general, they try not to show their emotions, when it comes to most foreigners many people here are hardly unprejudiced. Indeed, there are people who are blatantly racist.

he would still smile

even after thumps up thingy  ......  he lives in his own delusional world after all : )

Soosan Khanoom, come to think of it,

may be a foreign reporter should do this to AN in middle of an interview and then claim that he/she had no idea what it meant in Iran.

Anahid  

WOW ....... thumps up in Iran ........  can't beat that one   : )

Dear G. Rahmanian, I am not talking about

This video. I am writing about the gatherings in US where I go and see that they have black faced Haji Firooz and I cringe. Should we just talk about this video?

In The US?

Is this in the US? I can't see the video. I was talking about Iran.

Black facing Haji Firooz in middle of USA

has to be considered as part of the environment we are in. How do we feel if an American walked in streets of Tehran and started giving thumbs up. Even after people explained to. Him the meaning of it, if he kept doing it in Iran, we would conclude that he is clueless and insensitive.

No Racist Implications!

As a kid I thought the person was trying to be funny and, at the same time, hide his identity by blackening his face. I didn't know about racism, therefore I did not see it as such. As Red Wine mentioned this was talked about before. I also remember commenting about Black Minstrel, then. I don't think most Iranians see it as racist, otherwise it would have been less popular by now.

Thanks Ramin and G. Rahmanian for great comments

Some Iranians are racist, and any one who ignores this, is ingoring the truth. May be doing the black facing in Iran for Haji Firooz is OK but doing it in US or other countries while we might be in a place that blacks see it, is an example of how clueless and self-absorbed some Iranians can be.

African Americans!

African Americans also used Minstrel shows in late 19th century and early 20th century in the form of protests against the status quo.

Check Wikipedia!

Check Wikipedia under "Blackface" and "Minstrel" and you'll find the answer to your problem. This is not of Iranian origin, at all!

Wrong References!

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used inminstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and propagated American racist stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon." In 1848, blackface minstrel shows were the national art of the time, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right, until it ended in the United States with the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Source: Wikipedia

Dear Comment

I think we should not let the boundaries that separate the countries separate us as well ... especially if we live in the west and are surrounded by  all these beautiful diversities .........

let me share you a nice poem written by Korosh Khalili 

Next to me
At this cafe in Toronto
Are my friends, each different
One Chinese, with a warm smile
One Indian, with infinite patience
One Arab, with a lively persona
We all grew differently, in different places, with
different tongues
Here we are sharing life, sipping tea, talking about
chai

Emigres we were
Citizens we've become
Citizens of the world
We don't need roots

Roots anchor the body
Roots fix the view
Roots anchor the mind

I am Iranian
I belong to the world,
The world belongs to me.
Beauty is beauty, not confined by borders
Friends are friends, not defined by cultures

How myths were shattered by this "uprootedness!!"
How Isfahan was humbled by the majesty of Istanbul
How Persopolis shrank when I saw Egypt
How Kavir cowered in the vastness of the Sahara

I found "Honar" amongst non-Iranians
I found Plato, as did Ibn Sina
I found Kafka, as did Hedayat
I found Life everywhere

Let me tell you about life:
Evolve
Or Suffer
Don't belong to this or that
Belong to everything
And everything will belong to you

SK jan: I had no idea of acting!

No, I didn't play.  I have no idea why my mother drove me hours and hours in that age (6 years old) to play that role.  Nobody invited us and I had (still have) no idea about acting.  When I ask her now she replies that one of her friends told her to do that because I was overweight and sabzeh of course :) 

Let's back to the divesity.  Still, I have no idea of diversity compared to my friends in here because I grew up in Iran.  I only learned to be nice with people.  That's all.

comment jan

I have not seen this movie ....    although it sounds too familiar to me may be I have seen it but I have forgotten all about it .....  

 but did you finally get to play a role in it or not ?  

Iranmarzban

 I have one question ...... are not we all one race still ?

although i do not get it that you separate some as persian here and the rest well lor , turk , kurd and etc  .....

you mentioned " we have lots of diffrent cultures in iran persians, lors, kurds, turks, arabs, baluchis, qashqais, assyrians, armenians and etc... iran IS a multicultural society ........

who then exactly the Persians are  which part of Iran they live ?

but they do not look much different from the rest ...... are they?

I am so bad with those things when it comes to Iran ...... my bad 

but what I am saying is that if you bring in a Chinese or an African to live in Iran then you see how unwelcome he or she feels  ..... I know Iranian are kind and very hospital..... please do not get me wrong ..... but those who live inside Iran really have not been very familiar with diversity and race ........ 

 as ramintork mentioned we see this problem in Some European countries as well ...........  

I hope I am clear ....... 

Memory refresher for all and dear SK :)

This is the moive that I was talking about.  My mother took me there to play the role of Amiroo, but the director even didn't want to talk with my mother.  Any way, after that all my sisters' friends wanted me to dance like Amiroo.  They all singing "choopooni choopooni beraghs beraghs chooppooni..".  This is the movie. I am sure all you have seen and this will be good memory refresher.

Harmonica (1974)
Saz Dahani (original title)  "Set on the sun-drenched southern coast of Iran, from which director Amir Naderi hails, "Harmonica" begins as a young boy receives a musical present from abroad. Fascinated and envious, his friends make him the leader of the pack, as they compete for the privilege of holding the harmonica or even blowing a few notes. No one is more obsessed than Amiroo, gentle and heavy-set, who seems willing to do anything to get close to the harmonica and its owner." //www.imdb.com/title/tt0072117/ 

CC jan

" It's humour which embraces, kaka, meaning 'brother'  , ultimately, something "alien" "  

we see the color of skin as an alien then  ?

not quite get it .......  could you please explain more? 

DM: sorry one more comment!

Frankly, don’t you have a different perception when you are back from a trip?  We go nowhere if we keep bragging that we are/were in an advanced country.  Yes, most of us had a loving family and friends, but that doesn’t make us comfortable with diversity.  Iranian men/women even can’t speak comfortably with their opposite genders because of the public bus/school... limitations.

Of course, we learn diversity in here as long as we want to.  My boss is a respectful black person and all my surroundings are from different colors.  Fortunately/unfortunately we don’t have any Iranians around except a few good friends of mine.  For example, if one lives in LA and in Iranian community it will be really difficult to have an idea of the life different that the one he/she could have had in Iran.

DM

We have learned as Iranians in Iran to concentrate on our imaginations rather than visualization.  The reason was that we were/are poor in financial management and proper distribution of money. 

The schools didn’t have even money for heat in cold winters.  Did we expect to have funding for international trips?  We were thought to play the role of a blind.  Sometimes you have to touch, visualize and get connected.  People brag by using sophisticated vocabulary, listening to Classic music and artistic movies.  I think we have to take "objective observations 101" then think of being sophisticated.

I am surprise that even you are questioning having such a disgusting government (decision makers) now or before.  They make us this way and we can't deny it. 

SK and Comments

How could you two be absolutely sure of the fact that iran is not a multicultural society? Are you making that claim based on an assumption made in the movie bashoo? In that case, Neither is USA a multicultural country, How many times have you run into an AMish boy or a girl in your daily and routine commute?
You have to go out of your way, more specifically To Pensilvania in order to see one. Right?

Also, It is wrong to assume that kids do not get to see and experience racial/ethnic diversity in iran. Sure they do. Just the fact that they do not make the trip to those areas and see one with their own eyes and upclose, does not mean that thay do not know it exists. The same goes for their educators as well.

Vassalam o alaykum va rahmatollah.

Dameshoon Guarm!

Dameshoon Guarm!

Not offensive at all

Haji Firooz is the traditional symbol of the Norooz season.

Haji Firooz has always been well received and loved by the people. If it was something like a killer Clown, it would have been offensive or maybe racist.

Not the full story!

The origin of Haji Firooz goes back to Mesepotamian Sumerian dieties such as Dumuzi. The red dress is the dress of Zoroastian Fire keepers.

But in more recent times, in fact up to the time of Reza Shah it wasn't uncommon for Iranians who went for Haj to buy a slave from Mecca, and they would then rename the slave. So what had started as a healthy festival figure of fun with beautiful symbolism of rebirth during the Zoroastian age ended with an ugly face of slave trade that went on till 1920s in our time, and made popular by Roo Hozee plays.

As far as racism is concerned the Dutch have similar issues with the black faced helpers of father Christmas. The black Minsterals had a similar issue and became obsolete.

I can imagine that in a hundred years time Haji Firooz would be an Akhoond who gets jokingly beaten up by kids wearing green!