September 23, 2022 - Rahil Najafabadi’s “The Wind”

I called on the wind that strokes the sea.
How did my home become so broken?
Freedom is on the other side of this tear-gassed road.
Behind every shard of protest, the red truth stains.
There is justice buried with roots of revolution.
There is life that flies from the wings of women
who had to walk the bloodstained mile to heaven.

____________________________

This Friday, I am dedicating my contribution to Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was murdered by morality police in Iran. This heartbreaking death has sparked protests across cities in Iran to overturn the law of compulsory hijab within the country. Women in Iran are fighting a battle for all women, risking their lives to march and stand up for their right to dress the way they choose. As an Iranian American, I wish to see the day women in Iran and everywhere in the world have their freedom, justice, and peace.

- Rahil Najafabadi