On March 28th I had the unique opportunity to join nearly 60 Iranian American activists, business people and community leaders gathered at the California State Legislature in Sacramento for the passage of a bill honoring the Persian New Year of “No Ruz”. The bill was sponsored by state Assembly member Adrin Nazarian, representing the 46th District, recognizing No Ruz for the third year in a row at the Sacramento legislature. The event was a unique gathering of Iranian Jews, Christians and Muslims from across California to celebrate the secular Persian New Year at the state capital in a sign of friendship. Also on hand for the event were Iranian Jewish human rights activist Zohreh Mizrahi and Iranian American Jewish Federation president Susan Azizzadeh.
Nazarian, who is not Jewish but of Armenian background, said he wanted to shed light on the significant contributions of Iranian-Americans to the state. “By celebrating No Ruz in the Assembly, we honor the Persian community because they have been an incredible asset to the state for more than 30 years and account for a lot of our continued success,” Nazarian said. “I’m also honored, as an Iranian-American immigrant, to be able to recognize No Ruz on a state level.” Kudos to Nazarian for starting and continuing this incredible tradition of celebrating the Persian New Year at the state capital. What better way to honor nearly 1 million Iranians living in California!
The beauty of No Ruz is the fact that it is a secular holiday that brings Iranians and even other Americans of various faiths together in a spirit of brotherhood and friendship. Nowadays with some such struggle between individuals of different faiths and backgrounds, it is truly special to see Iranians in the U.S. come together with such a show of love and co-existence.
The following are some snapshots of the event I was able to capture…
(left to right; Iranian Jewish dentist Daryoush Kashani and Assembly member Nazarian, photo by Karmel Melamed)
(left to right; Iranian Jewish human rights activist Zohreh Mizrahi and Iranian American Jewish Federation president Susan Azizzadeh, photo by Karmel Melamed)
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