First, please read this article: “Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl.” Below are the photos that accompany that article–one of Anne Frank, the other of a wounded Syrian child.
How incredible it is that some of the same objections we hear now about Syrian refugees were voiced by Americans about Jewish refugees. “They might be German spies!” has become, “They might be ISIS insiders!”
Just look at the numbers. Last year, many of us went into a frenzy over the “enormous” number of 10,000 Syrians that President Obama said he would allow into the United States. 10,000.
How many refugees are there who have fled the constant war in Syria? According to Amnesty International, over 4.5 million Syrians are currently living in Turkey (the main home for displaced Syrians), Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. 13.5 million Syrians still in their own country are in “urgent need of humanitarian assistance,” and over half of all Syrians are no longer able to live in their own homes.
10,000 people is not a large number. Not in the light of the millions who are in desperate straits.
Tighten security? Sure. Upgrade background checks? Of course. (For more information on how the US screens refugees, read this earlier post.)
Close the doors of our country on some of the neediest people in the world?
My response to that question is another question: What if that little girl were your daughter?
Just Beyond Home 