From Aryan to Enemy
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Even before substantial Iranian migration, U.S. courts racialized Iranians in ways that shaped others’ legal claims. In Halladjian v. US, Armenians were deemed white largely due to their Christian identity, which they contrasted with the "fire-worshipping" Iranians and Ottoman Muslims. Conversely, Indian Parsi claimants successfully argued their whiteness by linking themselves to their origins in Aryan Persia, the 'cradle of white civilization.'
In the Balsara case, the court accepted Parsis as white, viewing them as a “light-skinned” and “educated” group who had maintained their whiteness despite centuries in India. However, in Wadia v. US, this very continuity of Parsis in India was cited as evidence against their whiteness.
In the mid twentieth century, Iranian students entered an America where their racial identity had already been constructed for them. Although legally classified as "caucasian", attitudes towards Iranians radically shifted, both publically and institutionally, in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis. Students faced institutional discrimination, a notable example being the conditional advancement of their academic programs on the release of American hostages. This highlights that Iranians' racial ambiguity—legally white but socially brown—meant they were scapegoated during times of crisis, which reflects a broader and very American tendency to racialize migrants in ways that serve political convenience.
The public perception of Iranians as racialized “others” was further entrenched after 9/11 as broader anti-Muslim and Middle Eastern stereotypes intensified. Iranians became racialized as perpetually foreign, and forever associated with terrorism, backwardness, and everything anti-American.