Among the many attractions and lectures at Moorpark College’s 2014 Multicultural day, members of the Bahai religion, including mathematics teacher Maya Rahnamail, screened a 30-minute documentary entitled “Education Under Fire.”

The film, produced by the human rights NGO Amnesty International, details the persecution of the Bahai religious minority in Iran, specifically the denial of higher education to its members.

The Bahai faith first appeared in Iran in the 1800s, and was started by a figure named Bahá’u’lláh. The Bahai faith has been persecuted by the Islamic majority in Iran ever since, largely because they are seen as heretical. This persecution intensified after the “Islamic Revolution” in the late seventies.

Among the various human rights violations that were shown in the film, one stands out as eerily familiar to anyone who has studied the civil right’s struggle in America: Bahá’ís being forced to use different water fountains than their Muslim counterparts.

“It was just the rule of the land, we never thought otherwise,” said Rahnamail, recounting her experiences growing up in Iran.

Rahnamail says that if she could say one thing towards the regime in Iran, it would be “Practice tolerance.”