"My mother is Italian, and my father is Iranian. I was in second grade in 1980, at the height of the Iranian hostage crisis, when two classmates bullied me, claiming I was the granddaughter of the Ayatollah Khomeini. My vehement denials landed all three of us in the principal’s office. “Camel jockey” and “mud duck” were commonly hurled in my direction as I grew up. I am not Muslim, but I am of Middle Eastern heritage. And that made me a recipient of impolite comments about “where I belong”—i.e., not in the U.S.

I bought into the lies. At age 7, I soaked in all the hatred toward Muslims and Iranians. I rejected my father, his religion, and his culture. My father was hurt. He stopped trying to teach me Farsi. He didn’t drag me to Persian New Year celebrations in Irvine. But he understood. " - Larissa Chiari-Keith