From kitchen to classroom: A Kurdish immigrant’s difficult but inspiring journey
With a furrowed brow and vintage spectacles perched near the tip of his nose, Kirmanj Gundi stood in front of the projector screen, one hand in the pocket of his gray suit and the other holding a remote.
He clicked through slides. Numbers flowed in rows and columns down the display. He stopped occasionally to ask the class if they were following along.
Gundi, 56, teaches statistical analysis to doctoral students at his alma mater, Tennessee State University, where he works in the Department of Educational Leadership.
"America made a very different Kirmanj," he said in a quiet room behind the small classroom after giving his students an assignment. They sat beneath fluorescent lights in front of large computer screens, typing away in the background.
If Gundi had stayed in Iraq instead of coming to the United States in the summer of 1977, he would have none of what he has now. His Kurdish ethnicity would have precluded any plans to go to university there under a discriminatory government at the time.
"There were many more talented than I who were left behind," he said.
He was among the first waves of Kurdish immigrants to move to Nashville and remains a much revered figure for the community. There aren't many who fail to recognize his name in conversation.
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After the collapse of Kurdish independence efforts forced Gundi and his family to seek refuge in Iran, he traveled to America at the age of 16, alone but for his brother. He came here to learn, knowing that no one would deny him an education based on his ethnicity or religion.
Gundi remembers those first two years as the most difficult in his life — speaking zero English and having almost no knowledge of American culture when he landed in Nashville. Nonetheless, he began working in a T.G.I. Friday's kitchen as a prep cook the day after he arrived.
"(Coming here) was the riskiest decision I've ever made," he said. "This country gave me everything."
It is hard to imagine Gundi, now the picture of scholarly wisdom, toiling in a kitchen.
He has three degrees, all from TSU, and has authored essays on such topics as global peace through education, educational psychology, and leadership. He's written books about Kurdish history and even co-produced a documentary called "More than the Mountains," which was screened at the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival and the Belcourt Theatre.
After four decades in Middle Tennessee, Gundi has seen the number of Nashville Kurds grow.
He was here when a wave of refugees escaping the genocidal regime of Saddam Hussein arrived. He watched as second-generation Kurds, born in America, grew up at times struggling, caught between two cultures. He's been here to welcome the latest influx of refugee translators and U.S. government contractors, often forced to leave by threats made on their lives.
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Shortly after President Donald Trump's election, Gundi lamented both the spread of the Islamic State and the apparent rise in hatred toward Muslim people. Then-candidate Trump had called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" and voiced support for creating a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries.
"There is a negative mentality against Islam," Gundi said. "I am a Muslim, and I love this country. And there are millions more like me."
He warned that the problem of terrorism was not religious, but economic, and would not be solved by stereotyping or marginalizing Muslims, especially the more vulnerable youth. With economic growth and better access to education, he said, groups like ISIS would fail.
"Everywhere in the world, we love the same way. We cry the same way. We all want a better life for our children," Gundi said. "(Muslims) are part of the world. We cannot live in harmony unless we have a better worldview by knowing different cultures."