Sunday, October 5, 2008

An American in Boston...

Hi all, we are here in Boston for a week, hubby has some work meetings & such so I tagged along for some fun & to meet one of my long time glass bead clients & maybe do some shopping...

Last night when we came in to Logan airport, while going through passport control, I was treated very badly by the immigration officer. We both walked up together & she took my passport first. As you may know when you are an American Citizen that was born in another country, your passport states your country of origin, so as soon as she opened my passport, she said, "where are you coming from & what are you bringing in to the US?", I had a Borders bag with books in it, and about $110.00 cash, so I said, "I got some books & $110.00 cash"...she said "have you been to Iran on this trip?", I said, "no". She looked at me & held my passport up a bit, with a nasty half smile & said, "why not? you are Iranian aren't you?"

I looked at her with wide open eyes & said "I am an American. I have not been in Iran for 30 years"...I said "I cannot even travel to Iran on my American Passport." She held up my passport again & said, "yeah well not on this passport", implying that I had an Iranian one, I explained with a sting of tears in my eyes, "years ago I tried to go to Iran to see my grandmother before she died, but could not." The contempt & the distaste that she had for me was so easy to feel, see & hear. Hubby was shocked after he saw the shock on my face. We both did not want to tangle with Immigration officers on racism or other attitude issues. So we just stood there while she drilled me some more, about where had I exactly been before I came to Boston, I explained we have been living in England for 5 months, I pointed to the English Visa glued inside of my American Passport & again said, "I have not been to Iran on this or any other trip for 30 years"...she gave me another disgusted look, asked where we were staying in America? Why we were here? How long we were staying?

Do all Americans have to answer this question when they return back to America from another country, is this how it works...? I cried all the way to baggage claim & beyond.

As many of you know I am a very patriotic American, I love this country, I love what it has done for my family, As much as I appreciate America, I am disgusted with Iran's new government of the last 30 years, its views, all of its hate mongering & all of its human rights violations. But I guess you can not walk around with sign around your neck that says, "I may have been born in Iran, love my Iran that is no longer there, love my family in Iran, but am an American through & through..."

Off to see Boston, the bed of so much of what is American History...

Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jelveh,

I hope the rest of your trip is happier and more welcoming. Boston is a great town.

jelveh Designs said...

oh it was, it is, Boston is awesome, I fell in love with the city today...we just spent the day walking the Freedom Trail, and had the best lunch at the Union Oyster House...you can read and see about it in my next blog entry...
Peace
Jelveh

ginny said...

Oh, Jelveh, what an awful experience! I feel so bad for you! Don't cry anymore. Hold up your head and be proud of who you are! Let the ill-mannered people of the world create their own bad karma!
Ginny

jelveh Designs said...

hey ginny, I stopped crying by the time we got to the car...but we talked about it for a bit...there are so many ways to go about anything in life, but I hope I always get to choose the nicer way...we had an awesome time today in Boston, wow what a great City...loves it...
Jelveh
Peace

Anonymous said...

jelveh, i am sick about what you went through. you are much nicer than i am. i'm afraid that if i would have been with you, we might be in jail! i'm horrified by that person's behavior. they should be ashamed of themselves. i agree with the above post, they are creating their own karma. they have to live with themselves. i'm glad you have someone who you can talk it through with and who loves you. i'm so sorry....love, lisa d., portland, oregon.

jelveh Designs said...

Hey Lisa, yeah Martin and I just looked at each other and stayed calm, I know what can happen if you cross the person or make them feel like the idiot they are being when they have so much power and so little brains, so we just said nothing, answered the questions and moved on...to some degree I could see her point of view, with all that is said in the news & all that is going on in the world...but still, I am American coming home, so that was all too strange for me...
thanks for the love girl
Jelveh
Peace