"My story starts with escaping a dictatorship and ends with finding a home in West Virginia. Everything in between is why I fight."
Ace sitting at the family table
(far right)
Born in Tyranny, Forged in Liberty
An immigrant wanting to invest in the best of what is America.
I was born into an authoritarian regime in Iran, only a few years after a pro-democracy movement failed. My Uncle Bahman was a pro-democracy student who was imprisoned at the time and when the movement he was part of failed, it paved the way for an authoritarian regime that took over, went after its opponents, launched the nation into a war, and led it into poverty. We fled that country when my older brother was about to be conscripted into its military.
I now see a similar authoritarian regime taking over in a country I’ve grown to love, endangering not only the structures that make it great, but its history and its ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice. I want to be a part of making those ideals real for more people.
Beating the Odds - Together
A person who, with help, beat the odds and wants to empower others to do so as well.
Once we immigrated, my family grew up in poverty, supported only by a job my older brother had at a grocery store and money my mother could earn sewing neighbors’ clothes and baby sitting.
I didn’t know a single word of English when I immigrated. As a smaller kid, I was picked on and bullied. I was able to overcome these circumstances –but never alone. Through hard work and support from ESL instructors in public schools, I learned English and excelled in school. Through work, coaches, and school facilities, I became a high school state weightlifting record holder. Beyond my family’s work, we were supported by neighbors and community members, at times welfare dollars, free and quality public schools, Pell grants, and other public benefits.
My first job was as an AmeriCorps member serving a low income school and the only reason I could afford to do that job and then go to grad school afterwards was because I had SNAP benefits, a small stipend for housing, and an AmeriCorps benefit that helped me pay for graduate school.
I came to see the ideal American dream–overcoming and beating the odds– not as something we do alone, but something we do together with people, neighbors, and public programs that make us all better.
Faith in Every Neighbor
A mission and values-oriented person with experience working across divides
That spirit of and belief in community stems from my faith, and my faith journey made me who I am.
I was a secular Muslim who saw kindness from neighbors who were Evangelical pastors, was introduced to Christianity by Mormon missionaries, introduced to the Sermon on the Mount which informed my political and religious ideology through a Catholic priest and a radical Methodist pastor, and deepened the sense of who I was by attending progressive and conservative bible studies, Muslim prayer groups, and other religious and spiritual activities.
My faith values and experiences lead me to treat my neighbor –whoever they are – the way they want to be treated, not the way I want to be treated, to treat all creation as if it has divine worth, and to fight for an ideal democracy because, unlike governments run by kings, dictators, or oligarchs, democracy is the only type of government that treats every life as having equal worth.
The things I believe I’ve gained from people of all faiths – and people who are atheist who embodied my faith better than regular church goers – are to treat people’s values and hopes as sincere regardless of whether they’ve had my life and faith experiences or not. And to believe that their lives are invaluable.
A Father’s Promise
A dad who joined and led in resistance
In a state that President Trump won by 70 percent, one of the ways I’ll disagree with many constituents is my views on Donald Trump. I believe West Virginians are good, and he is not. A big part of that is being a dad of a daughter.
On the night of November 2nd, 2016, I remember looking into the crib of my sleeping daughter, asking, ‘How did this happen?’ How did a man who a month before had been revealed on tape bragging about grabbing women’s genitals and doing so because he was a celebrity now the President of the country my daughter would grow up in?’ Wanting to raise her with good values of honesty, faith, service, and decency, I wondered what havoc a dishonest and mean-spirited reality TV show star politician, and born billionaire who spends all his time on social media and has never had a hard day’s work would wreak in representing us.
For the last 10 years, I have been in community resistance efforts and sparked political actions. I will ground my campaign in the resistance movements not because I will agree with everything in them, but because I believe that my daughter’s future, my future, your future, and your children and grandchildren’s future will be a product of not only policies but culture that has made politicians and the uber-wealthy into gods and the way we think about and treat each other as enemies.
