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Al-Monitor – An Iranian official is calling out the United States for racism after a report on Black employees leaving the White House.
What happened: The US news outlet Politico reported on May 31 that at least 21 Black staffers have left the White House since late 2021 or are planning to leave. The employees noted a lack of support from their superiors and insufficient opportunities for promotion in the US President Joe Biden administration. Some White House staffers refer to the exodus as “Blaxit,” referring to a “black exit.”
The head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi commented on the report today, saying it demonstrates racism in American society.
“The exodus of African American staffers from the White House #Blaxit is emblematic of the systematic racial discrimination against non-White ethnic minorities,” said Gharibabadi, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Why it matters: This is not the first time Gharibabadi has spoken out on racial issues in the US. In December, he pledged to sanction unspecified American individuals and entities due to issues regarding police treatment of Black people in the country.
Al-Monitor could not find evidence the Islamic Republic followed through with the sanctions. Many American politicians, defense contractors and others are already sanctioned by Iran, including former President Donald Trump, per the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Iran has extensive issues of its own with racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. Kurds in Iran are disproportionately executed and underrepresented in top government positions, according to the United Nations. Members of the Baha’i religious group are regularly smeared in state media and lack official recognition by the government, according to the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. Arabs in the southwest Khuzestan province have for years accused the government of failing to provide them with clean drinking water, and this has led to protests.
Some of Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East also espouse hatred toward Jews. The Houthi rebels in Yemen regularly use the slogan “damn the Jews” in their propaganda, for example. Interestingly, Iran is home to the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel. Though only around 8,000 Jews remain in Iran, compared to more than 200,000 Iranian Jews worldwide, most of them in Israel and the United States.
Know more: The majority of Iran’s population is Persian, though the country is ethnically diverse with additional populations of Armenians, Azeris, Gilaks and others.
