John,
Today we celebrate our maman and baba bozorgs who made exceptional sacrifices to help us be where we are now.
There’s nothing like the warm love and sage wisdom we receive from our grandparents. Here at NIAC, we’ve been reminiscing about our favorite memories and they all center around spending quality time together. Many of us are second-generation Iranian Americans, whose grandparents immigrated here from Iran. Some of us have grandparents still in Iran today. Today also may be hard for folks whose grandparents are unable to travel to the United States, and we hold them in our hearts as we continue to fight against sanctions and discriminatory immigration and visa policies.
Those impactful memories make it hard to be separated from our loved ones on a day like today. We are resolved to ensure Iranian Amerians and their families can see each other in-person and communicate via mail. That’s why we need equitable immigration and travel policies, and mail policies that don’t discriminate against us based on heritage.
We won’t take up more of your time. Just know that we are honored to celebrate and honor our grandparents, their sacrifices and experiences. Now, go celebrate with your loved ones! And feel free to reply to this email with photos and stories — we'd love to read them!
Sincerely,
Team NIAC