To the brave people of Iran, this letter is for you.

It is for the mother who sends her only child into the streets knowing he may not come home. 

It is for the valiant father who struggled to obtain his Ph.D. and now sells pistachios in the local bazaar to bring food home for his family. 

It is for the young woman who has had to turn to prostitution to sustain her life, and for the battered woman who has stayed with her abusive husband because Islamic courts will not grant her a divorce. 

This is a letter for all the students at Iranian universities whose hopes and dreams are not much different than ours, yet at the same time live half a world away. 

We dedicate this to you, who have courageously filled the streets of Iran fighting for freedom. This is a letter from all of us, your countrymen who live outside Iran yet yearn to be one with you today.

We know that the last 47 years have been a long nightmare. You gave your children, your futures, your personal choices. You hid your social preferences and silenced your political convictions for fear of being called “un‑Islamic” or an enemy of the regime. The Bahai, Jew, and Christian among you practiced in secrecy, always fearing retribution. You picked up the phone anticipating an eavesdropper, sent emails knowing there would be an audience, and always left home in fear. 

Human rights were lofty dreams far from reach.

We may live or have been born in the West, but our story has always been entangled with yours. 

Although it is seldom talked about, we have also tasted the bitterness of this regime. We may have escaped the torment but never escaped the weight of what was done to our people. We live with another kind of........

© New York Post