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He did not immigrate to the U.S.
because of the height of skyscrapers or might of its military, but for the
ideas summed up in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, protecting
individuals' rights to free speech and separation of church and state.
Having experienced deprivation of his most basic civil liberties for most
of his life, he deeply loves America as a beacon of freedom,
and believes that that freedom should never be taken for granted.
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He
went to high school in Chicago
and received his bachelors in Economics and Political Science with
concentration in Public Policy from Kalamazoo College
in June of 2006. During his time at that venerable school, he organized the
First Kalamazoo College Democratic Convention before the 2004 presidential
election, hosting a number of candidates running for office and the
key-note speaker, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. [link]
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Senator Stabenow speaking at the First Kalamazoo
College Democratic Convention, 2004 (Sam in the middle)
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Sam (right) along
with Chrissy Gephardt, gay-rights activist and daughter of former House
Minority leader, Dick Gephardt.
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During his time at Kalamazoo College, Sam was also
elected President of the Kalamazoo College Democrats for the 2005-2006
school year, founded and was the editor-in-chief of the Lux Esto Law Review [link], was invited by the
board of Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to represent
Kalamazoo College in a stimulated debate on affirmative action along with
two other team members in the Kalamazoo District Courthouse [link]
and
graduated with honors.
In the beginning of his junior year in the fall of
2004, he proposed a plan to establish a college fund to raise Kalamazoo student
workers’ wages on campus with the help of alumni contributions since all
student workers at the time made the minimum wage of $5.15/hour. Kalamazoo College, however, did not welcome
and pursue the proposal despite genuine interest from a number of K alumni
board members. [link]
Following graduation, Sam moved to Chicago where he was elected the leader
of the Economic Equity Team of the Chicago
chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW).He moved to Washington DC
this year to begin working as a Legislative Correspondent for a bipartisan
lobbying firm, and recently joined Nonviolence International as Iran
Director.
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Sam
revisited Iran during a five-week trip that expanded from two weeks before
the 2005 Persian presidential elections until three weeks after the event
to do a clandestine research on social issues that related to the growth of
the Persian Democracy Movement, a topic that has been getting no media
attention in Iran (due to the lack of freedom of speech) or in the West
despite the current nuclear standoff between the two countries. The
research covered major reasons for the 1979 revolution as well as issues
relating to human and women's rights, economy, youth, press and future of
the republic under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. [link]
Sam
is planning on traveling to Iran again to expand his research. He also
writes blogs for the Huffington Post on American domestic, foreign,
political and economic policy twice a week.
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Sam in Paris, France, where he began composing his
research findings from Tehran.
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