A Tribute to Mahsa Amini
As I stared at my plate of kabob and rice, I could pretend to understand the Farsi that was being spoken around me at the table. I’d smile at my long distant relatives over the small WhatsApp screen, and blush as my Papa’s cousins tell me how beautiful and big I’ve gotten. When someone meets you just once as a newborn, you shouldn’t be surprised to have that effect on them.
As a third generation “azizam” or “dear” of the family, the Iran I know is preciously stored within my familial memories. I take note of the way their faces light up and tones lighten when I hear about Papa’s home. Although I’ve never had the privilege of seeing Iran, 0.25% of my DNA derives from it. Despite my nonexistent physical relationship with it, Iran is a part of me. So when I heard about the recent tragedy of Mahsa Amini’s life being stolen from her, I knew I couldn’t look away because it didn’t happen in America or just because I have Iranian heritage. I couldn’t look away from this horror because I am a woman, and what happened to Amini will—and is—affecting all of us, whether we believe it or not.
The story of this twenty-two-year-old girl should completely demolish our trusts of tyrants in power, and what constitutes them to regulate what we do with our bodies. As we in America fight over our bodily autonomy—specifically reproductive rights—the same reasons for a waging war are brewing just as hungrily in Iran.
As Mahsa Amini was fresh out of adolescence and living out her budding years of early adulthood, her path was laid out right in front of her. After all, they do always say your life really begins by finishing college and entering adulthood, where freedom reigns, and choices are simply a privilege you have the luxury to decide for yourself.
But Amini wasn’t gifted with such things like so many of us are.
On the streets of Tehran on September 16th, Mahsa was arrested by Iran’s stringent morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly, in accordance with the government standards. She was then taken into a police car by the law enforcement who proceeded to brutally beat her, violently and relentlessly. At the hands of these cruel men, she became a victim of bestial police brutality, which resulted in her cruel and evil murder.
Other women who were on the street that day with her reported—and confirmed—that she was beaten to death on the streets. In opposition to this awful reality, many others insist that she fell into a coma and merely died from a stroke, due to the intense shock of the event, but it is evident what truly happened to Amini.
Since her passing, Iranian women have literally set the world on fire. From cutting their hair on the streets of Tehran to protesting in the streets, Amini’s killing has catapulted a movement for Iranian women to fight, and fight hard, for their freedom. The courage that these women and Iranian citizens in general have is beyond remarkable and extremely brave. In response, their government has repeatedly shut down all internet connection, leaving thousands without media access, news sources, and simply contact with the outside world, and still they protest.
Perhaps this is your first time hearing her story or thinking of it as something that impacts you, across the globe. Let’s live for Mahsa Amini and remember that this is an attack on all women. We as women are aware of how society is designed for us to be in submission, and it’s certainly not a problem exclusive to America.
In remembrance:
Mahsa Amini, whose life was stolen from her hands
I promise you’ll never fade away
We’ll make them understand
Our tears fall for you, us, the world
But because of you
Justice will come, and may it be so well deserved.
In the name of so many striking Iranian women, may we echo their demands:
Women. Life. Freedom.
Strike Out,
Written by: Madison Meadows
Edited by: Sarah Singleton
Graphic by: Gus Gaston
