Ā鶹¹ŁĶų senior, Rumi Natanzi, has a rare passion for social justice and human rights. An Iranian-American student and native of Ā鶹¹ŁĶų, she was initially unsure of what major to choose when she first arrived as a transfer student. An advisor pointed her to the Leadership and Community Engagement Major led by Roudy Hildreth. āMy activist work grew out of the courses I took and the mentors Iāve had within CU Engage,ā she stated.ā āMy first semester at CU I took Sabrina Siderisās course, Intersectionality Theory, and that class really changed my life and the way I think about things, my disposition, and my goals.ā Professor Sideris in reflecting on Rumiās contributions to her class stated, āI found her to be radiant, curious, intelligent and artful in the way she brings her ideas and perspectives into sentences. She contributed frequently and elevated the conversation, adding insight and wisdom,ā Rumi points to her experiences in Siderisās course as foundational to the development of the leadership skills and activist work sheās now involved in, specifically the grassroots organization, Bouder4Iran (B4I).
The death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, in Tehran became, for Rumi, an urgent call to action. āThatās the person I am and thatās how I feel all the time,ā she stated. āItās hard for me to understand how people donāt feel that way.ā Described by Farnaz Fassihi of The New York Times as āan innocent and ordinary young woman,ā the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini ignited a passionate wave of protests worldwide, resulting in 22,000 people detained and 500 killed in violent clashes. Amini was arrested in Tehran for opposing the mandatory hijab and subsequently died while in the custody of the morality police. Her death sparked what became known as, the āMahsa movement,ā the most recent serious challenge to the legitimacy of Iranās ruling clerics since they took power in 1979.
For Rumi, the year 1979 has a different meaning.Ģż It is the year her father immigrated to the U.S, to study chemical engineering in Missouri. Little did he know that he would arrive just months before the Islamic Revolution, making the U.S. his permanent home, something he had never envisioned. Rumi started attending protests and at a young age and was always aware that her identity as an Iranian-American was political. He was very outspoken when the Iranian Republic was established Natanzi told me. āHe raised me to be a very critical thinker and to always consider non-Western perspectives when approaching an issue. I would go to protests for Free Palestine or stop the war in Iraq,ā she added.
For the past year, Rumi has worked tirelessly to organize and amplify the voice of Iran. āIt started as a womanās revolution but itās really about the people of Iran,ā she stated. RumiĀ was a major inspiration behind the establishment and persistent work of B4I. āItās an activist network of people coming together and trying to leverage our privilege in whatever way we can to bring attention to this issue,ā Rumi stated. Since its inception Rumi has attended weekly meetings, organized a campus panel on the Woman-Life-Freedom movement which was followed by a . Natanzi who still has family in Iran told me it was difficult to hear about everything that was happening after Aminiās death and how the economic conditions had gotten worse.Ģż
Dr. Roudbari, who works alongside Rumi promoting and organizing for Ā鶹¹ŁĶų4Iran, spoke to Rumiās deep understanding of the underlying complexities and passion for a well-informed and culturally sensitive approach to social justice. āRumiās commitments to housing equity, gender rights, and struggles for human rights are deeply inspirational! Importantly, her passion is not limited to the pursuit of knowledgeāshe is also generating and sharing knowledge and engagement,ā he stated. āShe is brave and willing to try things that are scary -- including organizing in the community with activists and professors who are much older than her, having meetings with US senators and members of the US Congress, engaging in public engaged scholarship on the radio about complex geopolitics and even interviewingĀ a Nobel Peace Prize winner in Farsi, a language in which she is familiar but not fluent,ā stated Professor Sideris.
āOne of the downfalls of my generation is we have access to so much, resources, the Internet but we have become so insular in our understandings about the rest of the world and weāre desensitizedĀ to so much,ā Rumi stated. āWe care but we donāt feel compelled to do anything.ā Rumi is definitely an outlier of her generation, deeply committed to the work of social justice. She recently attended a march in Washington, D.C. for the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini. āIt was such a sad day but it also felt happy in a sense, seeing friends and community come together.ā The experience had a profound impact on her. āIt solidified that right now social activism is something I want to pursue further. I feel like I have a duty given my privilege and positionality to continue to do whatever I can with my resources and education to help the fight,ā Rumi stated,Ā āMy whole life itās always been say youāre Persian,ā she stated. āIt was like hide your identity in order to protect yourself from hatred, danger or violence. This march was a reclamation in a way.Ģż I felt empowered and proud to be Iranian.ā
Written by Nandi Pointer