The Matchstick Heroines
Iranian Women Living in America Carrying the Flame Towards Freedom
BY SHERMIN KRUSE
PHOTGRAPHY BY JAMES GUSTIN
he thing
about a
matchstick
is that it’s thin, relatively weak, and easily broken with a short lifespan. Yet, if it’s ignited at the right moment in time, fanned properly and surrounded by kindlin, it can burn down a country.
On September 16, a young life was brought to end by the brutal regime of her country. Her name was Mahsa Amini. The place was Tehran, the capital of Iran. Her crime: not covering her hair properly. She was arrested and beaten to death by Iran’s so-called “morality police.” In crushing her body, they acted as an oppressor would towards a thin little piece of stick, not realizing that she was a matchstick and unaware their act of murder would be the very spark that would ignite an unprecedented revolution and burn the ground beneath them.
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