It’s hard to escape the images of stricken, suffering Syrian families awaiting safe passage to…well, anywhere, really. (12.2 million Syrians- 5.6 million of whom are children. Million.) And I get it: there are so many people facing so much awful right now, you might be having trouble processing who (or where) gets top billing in the brain game called grief/rage/anxiety/rinse/repeat. And that’s okay. That’s legit.
What’s not legit, however, is sitting quietly by while innocent victims are denied basic human rights (and entry) in our land of plenty. And it is plenty. For the majority of folks scrolling through Facebook memes, “money being tight” means zero Target runs, Starbucks refills, or takeout orders. Again- legit, but on an entirely different sliding scale of poverty. (And for those who question the “innocence” of Syrian refugees- because I read Facebook memes, too- I could bore you with data and laws concerning how fiercely immigrants are vetted, but I’ll just ask a general question of the cosmos: Off the top of your head, could you hazard the gender and ethnic background of our nation’s most violent, most mass-shootingly kind of criminals? Unless we’re planning to deny passage to future white males coming over on boats, get a frickin’ grip.)
It would be easy to dismiss this as the ranting of a privileged, Midwestern mother as she frets over the sleeping heads of her privileged, Midwestern children (which would be cold, but glossily easy enough to do), except that it isn’t that. Or it isn’t just that.
I am the granddaughter of refugees.
I owe my America to a safe passage.
But for the grace of Ellis Island, my grandfather and his family wouldn’t have escaped the Armenian genocide (another one of those war-torn, Middle Eastern countries all up in there) and been granted citizenship, granted freedom, granted a future.
Fun fact: Along the way, he was granted Syrian citizenship in Damascus, making him an actual, honest-to-God Syrian refugee, too. As P.J. said, without the ability for Syrians to peacefully come to this country (or allow others to enter Syria, for that matter), he wouldn’t have his family. His eventual wife. His three, beautiful, quarter-Armenian children.
(For the record, none of us are terrorists.)
(Also for the record, the other half of my lineage came over on a boat during a time when the Irish had that whole IRA thing going down. Oh, what’s that? They still do, in full force? Carry on, white people.)
The fact that this issue is coming to a head around Thanksgiving doesn’t fail to spark some irony, either. (Pilgrims were old school refugees, FYI. Religious freedom? It don’t get more “safe passage” than that.) And even though the religious cliché-o-meter goes into the stratosphere for this one, Jesus was a Middle Eastern kid in need of a gentle place to sleep, too.
IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN, YOU NEED TO ADMIT THAT (AT LEAST A SMALL PART OF) YOUR RELIGION ENTAILS BELIEVING THAT JESUS WOULD NOT WANT YOU TO BE CRAPPY TOWARDS SMALL, MIDDLE EASTERN CHILDREN.
Closer to home: Unless Chicagoans are 100% descended from the Powtatomi, Miami, or Illinois tribes, a few big ol’ Thank You For Your Hospitality cards are owed. Start from there and think of your own state, your own country. You are from somewhere else. I am from somewhere else. We are all of us people who want good lives for ourselves and our families. (And for those who are not- I hope they die slowly, horribly, and commemorated by not even one single hashtag.)
So, is this the part where I end on a quirky-yet-hopeful sentence about prayer and community and positivity towards this potentially “lost generation” of Syrians?
Not yet:
The Migrant Offshore Aid Station is an organization that patrols the Mediterranean searching to rescue migrants lost at sea. Donate to them.
Hand in Hand For Syria is one of the few, on-the-ground organizations offering medical attention, winter supplies, and help for those staying in their Syrian communities. They accept volunteers and it would be awfully easy to donate.
Refugees Welcome is a German charity set up like an Airbnb for refugees. Because everyone has a little extra room. Everyone. Don’t live in Germany? No worries: you can still donate to them.
Save the Children– in particular the Child Refugee Crisis in Syria- provides not only nutritious food but also education support in the refugee camps. (Because can you even frickin’ imagine those conditions right now?) Go ahead and donate.
If you live in America, your governors probably shot down refugee relocation efforts. Until the day that they remove their heads fully from their asses, you can help families in Canada sponsor entire families through LifelineSyria. It’d probably feel good to donate here.
CARE is a top humanitarian organization that, aside from fighting global poverty and delivering emergency aid to refugees, also focuses on empowering women. You like women, right? Donate to these good folks.
Watanili is a Turkish grassroots organization that brings art therapy and education to traumatized refugee children. You know it’d be good for your heart to donate.
The White Helmets are the ones rushing in after the bombs detonate. To date, they’ve rescued over 30,000 civilians. Sometimes, they get really, really injured. Donate here and help them back to a job I’m physically incapable of doing.
Come on, guys. Literally- come on. Join up. We can do better.
We can at least try.
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