Instagram account posting photos of 'Banned Grandmas' to protest Muslim ban

Using hashtag #GrandparentsNotTerrorists, its curators are highlighting the part grandparents play in our lives


News Desk July 07, 2017
Maman Saideh won't be in NYC for Asal's graduation from Columbia University. PHOTO: Instagram/@maya_1957

The US travel ban has affected several lives — from taking away educational and work opportunities to keeping people away from their loved ones.

After the US Supreme Court ruled that the travel ban could not be used against anyone from the six Muslim-majority countries who had a "bona fide relationship" with the US, the Trump administration moved quickly to define that term narrowly. Spouses are included, but not fiances; parents, but not grandparents. This means grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen remain banned.

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With widespread protests across US, social media has played its part in fighting back too. One such example is of an Iranian-American Instagram account. The account, which goes with the username bannedgrandmas, is opposing Trump’s Muslim ban with heart-warming posts highlighting the part grandparents play in our lives.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BV-cFrin0U4/?taken-by=bannedgrandmas

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWFLfqMHnOS/?taken-by=bannedgrandmas

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWKhwLMHLGy/?tagged=grandparentsnotterrorists

Holly Dagres, who appeared on the first post, spoke to TIME about giving faces to stress the impact of the Muslim ban. The 31-year-old, a curator of the Instagram handle, can be seen kissing her now-banned from entering the US grandmother.

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"Let's be real. Whose grandmother has ever committed a terrorist attack?" said the analyst based in Jerusalem. Dagres, who got married in 2016 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, says her family cannot visit to meet her husband.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BV-AK4-nrCE/?taken-by=bannedgrandmas

Elham Khatami, 30, has a similar story. The Washington DC outreach director for the National Iranian American Council, Khatami says her family could not make it to her wedding this May as the ban stalled the process for so long, it was too late for them to travel. “I feel tired of being cast aside and forced to prove my humanity at every turn,” she said, adding she has not seen her family in a decade. “We don’t recognise this country anymore, and it's a terrifying feeling.”

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A 31-year-old Democrat from Irvine, California, Kia Hamadanchy told TIME he saw the ban destroying America’s image as a "shining beacon of hope for everyone". Running to Congress in Orange Country, Hamadanchy views the grandmother project as power.

“I think it helps show who we actually are,” he said. "Donald Trump can go out there with his rhetoric, but everyone loves their grandmother and this shows who he’s actually keeping out.”

While the project was started by an Iranian-American, it will now curate posts from Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Libya too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWN7-VKHoUR/?taken-by=bannedgrandmas

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