Recently, on one of my blogs, a contributor left a long, racist comment about how the Iranian men in the US during the late Shah’s time were dating white women, but after the Islamic Revolution we were left with only dating black women! Or something like that which forced me to delete the racist and inappropriate comment.

From my own experience and those of my Iranian friends, I can state unequivocally that our dating habits then and now were more a function of supply and demand and not influenced by the name recognition of the late Shah, or lack thereof. In other words, although he paved the way for thousands of us to come to the US and get educated, by no means he delivered white, blond American girls to our dormitories!

We dated white women then because the universities were overwhelmingly white. Later in the 80’s there was an influx of Asians, so we modified our habits. Then came the Iranian women and the Latinas and the Filipinas, so we modified again. And by the time we figured things out, we dated whomever we liked, and many ended up marrying Iranian women.

So, call the late Shah whatever you want, but don’t call him a pimp.

 The obsession of the third-world male with the white women reminds me of French-African philosopher Frantz Fanon who wrote in Black Skin, White Masks:

Out of the blackest part of my soul, across the zebra striping of my mind, surges this desire to be suddenly white. I wish to be acknowledged not as black but as white. Now—and this is a form of recognition that Hegel had not envisaged—who but a white woman can do this for me? By loving me she proves that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man.

I am a white man.

Her love takes me onto the noble road that leads to total realization. . . .I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness.

When my restless hands caress those white breasts, they grasp white civilization and dignity and make them mine.

فانون, روحت شاد