So this summer I made my Broadway debut with the stage production of The Kite Runner. As a Cultural Advisor and Script Consultant, the Kite Runner Broadway speaks to me on a personal level. My family immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan after the Russian invasion in 1979. Like Baba in the Kite Runner, my parents lost everything – wealth, status, family, friends – when they became nameless refugees in Northern California. Like Amir, the protagonist, I learned to straddle two cultures and balance the tightrope of cultural expectations between my family’s Afghan values and the lure of living an ‘American’ life.
Read MoreBACHA BAZI (DANCING BOYS OF AFGHANISTAN) IS CHILD TRAFFICKING AND PEDOPHELIA, IT SHOULD NOT BE ROMANTICIZED
The Afghan diaspora won't stand for character assassination anymore. After living on the margins of US society for 40 years and inspired by people of color demanding their true stories be heard, we're speaking out and combating the belittling and marginalization of the Afghan story in the media, plays, television, and movies. Creators beware.