[In my annual
end-of-year series, I’ll AmericanStudy some big stories from the year about
which I didn’t get to write in this space. I’d love to hear your thoughts on
these and any other 2015 stories!]
Three ways to
make the case for resettling Syrian refugees in the United States.
1)
The Past, Part One: As I wrote in this
piece for Talking Points Memo, Muslim American communities—and specifically
communities of Muslim American refugees—are as old as America itself, quite
literally. Any conversation about 21st century such communities that
proceeds without that historical awareness is starting with a very significant
gap—and while the past isn’t necessarily an argument for particular policies or
positions in the present, such a gap inevitably distorts and weakens those
present ideas.
2)
The Past, Part Deux: Those Muslim American histories
aren’t the only ones relevant to this contemporary issue, however. Many
historians and public scholars linked arguments for refusing to accept Syrian
refugees to one specific and shameful historical moment: when the U.S.
turned away Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Imagining how our present
actions might look to a future generation can be a difficult or uncertain thing
to do—but when we have such a strong parallel past to which to look, and such a
clear sense of how wrong we were then, it’d be crazy not to try to learn from
it.
3)
The People: Yet it shouldn’t take such salient
pasts to convince us to do the right thing by this contemporary refugee
community. And I’m convinced that it wouldn’t if all Americans had the chance
to work with the students and families in Albemarle
County’s Bright Stars program. My Mom
(whose birthday it is today!) worked with that program for years, and
because the county is home to a sizeable refugee resettlement community, many
of the kids and families with whom she worked were refugees. They were, without
exception, precisely as human as the rest of us—and, having experienced far
worse than what 99.9% of us will ever experience, deserve our empathy and
compassion as much as any fellow human can. Welcoming these refugees would
represent the best of our past, reject the worst, and make us better in the
present and future.
Next 2015 story
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other 2015 stories you’d AmericanStudy?
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