DIVERSITY! Never underestimate the importance
So I have been saying for over a year now that I want to start a blog and get some of these thoughts out of my head and into the universe, so what better time to start than after I lose my job? Yes, its ironic. On 9/11, no less, and the one owner of the company where I was working that is super christian, lacks social skills, has a Duck Dynasty calendar and has made jokes about gay and trans people (the list goes on) decides to give me - a Middle Eastern woman - the boot. No, I'm not going to go all emo on this blog, I just have the ability to see some sort of irony and humor in it all.
See, from the start, the whole CONCEPT of me and who I am can be confusing. To most people anyways. My name is Crystal Johnson, but nobody else in my family had this last name. My mom is native Hawaiian and Italian, and my dad is Iranian. Kind of a unique mix, right? So how did I get a name like Johnson? Well... where do I even start with that one....
I guess I'll start with how my mom and dad met. My mom was in her early 20s when she had made friends with a Persian lady she met at the local laundromat. Her friend's husband was in the Shah's military, and since the Shah was considered basically a puppet ally of the US, I guess in the 70s Iran's military quite often had troops here in San Diego and other parts of the US to receive special military training. So one day my mom went over to her friend's house for dinner, and her friend's husband had one of his military buddies with him - my father. They hit it off and things got serious pretty quickly, but at the same time, tensions were at a high back in Iran. My mom got pregnant with me and my parents planned to marry, but before they could, my dad was sent for different training on the east coast and wasn't able to be here when I was born.
So.... I don't know if it was my grandmother's influence or if my mom had the foresight to think of this all on her own at the ripe age of 23, but since my dad was away, they put the family name "Johnson" on my birth certificate. I was told different reasons growing up - Johnson was super American so I would have less worry of prejudice with an Iranian name; Johnson is different from anyone else in my family so if my father or his family tried to claim me and take me away it would be more difficult to find me. I guess my mom's family was aware of some of the Islamic style laws stating that a man always gets custody of children.
My dad hitchhiked across the US to come back to San Diego after I was born, but his leave was limited because the Revolution broke out in Iran soon after I was born. All the troops were called back home shortly after, and of course my grandmother stood her ground and forbade her daughter to marry my dad and take me to join him in Iran. After awhile, contact was cut off. Some of it was my grandma's interference (blocking phone calls and letters from Iran) and a lot of it was just that it was difficult to have communication between the US & Iran anyways, especially after the hostage situation. And then the whole Iran-Iraq war..... my mom waited for a good 5 years but eventually lost hope. My dad was a very stubborn supporter of the Shah after all, so she pretty much accepted that he had been executed.
So I grew up in a Hawaiian-Italian family, raised by my mom & grandma, in a 4 bedroom home that also included my mom's Schizophrenic younger brother and at any given time a multitude of other aunts, uncles, and cousins. The area I grew up in was a hodge-podge of many different races - Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indian, and of course your usual variety of white, black, and Mexican thrown in here and there. So if anything, I never had a lack of diversity in my life and my mom made sure to help me embrace and appreciate all of that. I've grown to look at life differently and appreciate people with disabilities or differences. We all have our ways of making the world go around, so I have little tolerance for people who are narrow minded and can't embrace change or be open to something that is different.
So yeah, I can see how my LinkedIn profile could have been confusing to the company owner who hired me. I mean, after all, my picture at the time was when I had blond highlights in my hair and my last name is Johnson. To him I looked like one of the all-American blond chicks that seemed to be trending in that office. But one of the other managers questioned me about my racial background and other things, like my age, marital status, and plans to start a family. So although they decided to hire me, I could never get over that look of suspicion in that one owner's eyes soon after that.
So that's just a little bit about me to get started. I want to use this blog to talk more about some of the experiences I've had relating to culture and being different. I'll also talk about my upcoming wedding to my equally diverse fiance Stephen who is also mixed race, some of my experiences dealing with Fibromyalgia, the search for my family in Iran, and also fun things like food. Yeah, as a couple, Stephen & I are total foodies, and we both can cook and love experimenting with new things, so I'll post recipes and restaurant reviews sometimes too.
Thanks for reading!
#multiculture, #mixedrace, #family, #food, #persian, #iran, #diversity, #work
I guess I'll start with how my mom and dad met. My mom was in her early 20s when she had made friends with a Persian lady she met at the local laundromat. Her friend's husband was in the Shah's military, and since the Shah was considered basically a puppet ally of the US, I guess in the 70s Iran's military quite often had troops here in San Diego and other parts of the US to receive special military training. So one day my mom went over to her friend's house for dinner, and her friend's husband had one of his military buddies with him - my father. They hit it off and things got serious pretty quickly, but at the same time, tensions were at a high back in Iran. My mom got pregnant with me and my parents planned to marry, but before they could, my dad was sent for different training on the east coast and wasn't able to be here when I was born.
 |
| My mom & dad - she was preggers with me here |
So.... I don't know if it was my grandmother's influence or if my mom had the foresight to think of this all on her own at the ripe age of 23, but since my dad was away, they put the family name "Johnson" on my birth certificate. I was told different reasons growing up - Johnson was super American so I would have less worry of prejudice with an Iranian name; Johnson is different from anyone else in my family so if my father or his family tried to claim me and take me away it would be more difficult to find me. I guess my mom's family was aware of some of the Islamic style laws stating that a man always gets custody of children.
My dad hitchhiked across the US to come back to San Diego after I was born, but his leave was limited because the Revolution broke out in Iran soon after I was born. All the troops were called back home shortly after, and of course my grandmother stood her ground and forbade her daughter to marry my dad and take me to join him in Iran. After awhile, contact was cut off. Some of it was my grandma's interference (blocking phone calls and letters from Iran) and a lot of it was just that it was difficult to have communication between the US & Iran anyways, especially after the hostage situation. And then the whole Iran-Iraq war..... my mom waited for a good 5 years but eventually lost hope. My dad was a very stubborn supporter of the Shah after all, so she pretty much accepted that he had been executed.
 |
| One of the only photos I have together with my dad |
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| My dad in his Persian Navy uniform, when he was on the east coast |
So I grew up in a Hawaiian-Italian family, raised by my mom & grandma, in a 4 bedroom home that also included my mom's Schizophrenic younger brother and at any given time a multitude of other aunts, uncles, and cousins. The area I grew up in was a hodge-podge of many different races - Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indian, and of course your usual variety of white, black, and Mexican thrown in here and there. So if anything, I never had a lack of diversity in my life and my mom made sure to help me embrace and appreciate all of that. I've grown to look at life differently and appreciate people with disabilities or differences. We all have our ways of making the world go around, so I have little tolerance for people who are narrow minded and can't embrace change or be open to something that is different.
 |
| My maternal grandma - I was her living doll |
So yeah, I can see how my LinkedIn profile could have been confusing to the company owner who hired me. I mean, after all, my picture at the time was when I had blond highlights in my hair and my last name is Johnson. To him I looked like one of the all-American blond chicks that seemed to be trending in that office. But one of the other managers questioned me about my racial background and other things, like my age, marital status, and plans to start a family. So although they decided to hire me, I could never get over that look of suspicion in that one owner's eyes soon after that.
So that's just a little bit about me to get started. I want to use this blog to talk more about some of the experiences I've had relating to culture and being different. I'll also talk about my upcoming wedding to my equally diverse fiance Stephen who is also mixed race, some of my experiences dealing with Fibromyalgia, the search for my family in Iran, and also fun things like food. Yeah, as a couple, Stephen & I are total foodies, and we both can cook and love experimenting with new things, so I'll post recipes and restaurant reviews sometimes too.
Thanks for reading!
#multiculture, #mixedrace, #family, #food, #persian, #iran, #diversity, #work
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