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Iranian Americans

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Iranian-Americans (sometimes called Persian-Americans) are Americans of Iranian descent, including those who are expatriates in exile or permanent immigrants. Many Iranians who are born in the United States identify with the status of Iranian-American.[3] Although Iranians have lived in the US in relatively small numbers since the 1930s, an overwhelming majority of Iranian-Americans are immigrants that have lived in the US since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. [citation needed]

History

Iranian immigration to the United States has been continuous since the 1980s. Today, the United States contains the highest number of Iranians in the world outside Iran. The Iranian-American community has produced a sizable number of individuals notable in many fields, including medicine, engineering, and business. The community expanded predominantly in the early 1980s in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the former regime. Because the majority of Iranian refugees are upper-middle class and others are wealthy[citation needed], held more liberal political opinions and westernized lifestyles to indicate they were educated to become familiar with American culture, Iranian-Americans tend to exhibit less traditional and moderates form of Islam in variation and practice (some were forced to asylum or exile for disagreements in Islam with the country's Islamic fundamentalist regime).

Demography

The 2000 US Census estimated that 338,000 Iranian-Americans reside in the United States. In 2004, the Iranian-American population was estimated at 691,000 by a group of Iranian Ph.D. candidates enrolled at MIT, working to compile statistics at the request of Persian associations and community leaders in the United States. [1] Others estimate over one million Iranian-Americans by demographers to indicate the size and importance of the Iranian and American Muslim communities. Large concentrations of Iranian Americans live in the state of California, more than 500,000 of them live in Southern California particularly around Los Angeles, Orange County, La Jolla (San Diego), and San José. Other Iranian-American communities in California include the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley. For this reason, the L.A area with its Iranian American residents is sometimes referred to as "Tehrangeles" among Iranian Americans, in allusion to the Iranian capital of Tehran.[2] There are also large concentrations in Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, Phoenix, Washington DC, and around Dallas and Houston, Texas, and a sizable Iranian American community developed in Oklahoma since the 1970's and 1980's (mostly in the cities of Tulsa and Oklahoma City) [citation needed]. An NPR report recently put the Iranian population of Beverly Hills as high as 20% of the total population. Beverly Hills elected its first Iranian-born Mayor in 2007.[3][4] Iranian communities in the US also have varying religious populations among each city. Los Angeles' Iranian population — the nation's highest concentration Persian American community — is representative of all of Iran's religious groups. Noticeably, the majority of Jewish Iranians in the world, after Israel, reside in Los Angeles. Persian Jews or Mizrahi Jews make up a large perentage, of Persians in Los Angeles. They maintain a presence in many upscale neighborhoods. The famous Beverly Hills has a clear Jewish majority among its Persian community, and is the location of a large Farsi-speaking synagogue (Nessah Synagogue). The L.A.-adjacent Orange County is home to predominantly Muslim Persians. Glendale, California's Iranian American population is mostly Armenian Christian. There is a considerable population of Persian American Bahá'ís in several states too. Almost all other Iranian Americans communities in other US cities are mostly Muslim or of secular backgrounds. Many Iranian Americans are also of Azeri, Armenian, Gilak, Kurdish, Mazandarani, Chaldean, Arab, Assyrian or another ethnic group in Iran, reflecting the diversity of the community. Iranian-Americans discuss their experience living in Los Angeles and urban areas across the US as rather pleasant after they adjusted to the American culture, including in the turbulent period of anti-Islamic hatred after 9/11, 2001 didn't damage ethnic relations between Iranian-Americans and others in the Los Angeles area. [citation needed]

Little Persia on Westwood Boulevard, is the location of a variety of Iranian-owned businesses (mostly Muslim-owned). Jewish Iranians have joined their Jewish comrade on the streets of Pico Boulevard and Fairfax, many of them owning kosher Persian restaurants and supermarkets which have become popular also among the non-Persian Jewish community (especially the religious observant), the Iranian American are said to enjoy a greater relationship between the American Jewish, Armenian American, Turkish American and Christian Arab communities. Iranian Americans are known to socially and culturally intermingle with other Muslim Americans and ethnic groups (Latinos, Asian Americans and White Americans), but some racial tension developed between Iranians and African Americans in the 1990's and early 2000s, because many Iranian Americans own convienence stores, gas stations and "mini marts" in major cities are accused of "cheating" or "swindling" the mostly low-income black clientele. Leaders in the African-American community work hard to relieve misunderstandings and form an united coalition with Iranian-American and other immigrant communities known to own or operate stores or shops in mostly black sections, such as South-Central Los Angeles. [citation needed]

Iranian-American Census

A study was launched by the Iranian Studies Group at MIT, to publish the socio-economic characteristics of the Iranian-American population. 338,266 US residents claim to be of Iranian (Persian) ancestry, though many Iranians claim this number to be largely understated. The largest populations of Persian-Americans can be found in the states of California, New York, Texas, and Washington. According to the study, 26.2% of Iranian-Americans attain a masters degree or higher, the highest percentage of the 67 ancestry groups. 56.2% attain a bachelor's degree or higher (2nd), and 90.8% receive a high school diploma or higher (2nd). The median family income is $42,000 (20% higher than the national average).

Iranian-Americans have founded and/or participated in senior leadership positions of many major US companies, including many Fortune 500 companies such as GE, Intel, Verizon, Motorola, and AT&T.

The founder/CEO of Ebay (Pierre Omidyar) is of Persian descent, MIT Iranian-American Study, as well as the founder of Bratz (Isaac Larian).

In September of 2006, Anousheh Ansari, co-founder of the Ansari X Prize became the first female tourist in space. Ansari is also the co-founder and former CEO of Prodea Systems Inc. and Telecom Technologies, Inc.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour serves as Chief International Correspondent for that news service. Other well-known Americans of Iranian descent include Firouz Naderi, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Andre Agassi, Ali Javan, Sina Tamaddon, Omid Kordestani , Rudi Bakhtiar, and Bahar Soomekh.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.iranian.com/Diaspora/2004/January/USA/index.html
  2. ^ "Iranians at odds over talks with 'the Great Satan'". The Sunday Telegraph. 04-06-2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
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