Like many of my contemporaries, I consider myself a person with many different layers. There are different aspects of myself and my personality that make me who I am. I am a daughter, I am a sister, and I am a student. On a fundamental level, I am human. It is through this lens that I look at one of the biggest political issues our country currently grapples with: the refugee crisis.
America has a long history of providing aid to people that have been persecuted. Most of the Europeans who first settled in America were seeking freedom from religious persecution themselves. As one of the world’s superpowers, America has often offered help and refuge to people in crisis. Unfortunately, our nation has also refused refugees before. In 1939, the United States denied over 900 Jewish refugees who had fled Germany, and they were forced to return to Europe. According to the United States Holocaust Museum, nearly 28 percent of those Jewish refugees were killed in the Holocaust.
Now we are in the midst of another refugee crisis, and 31 of our nation’s states have proclaimed that the Syrian refugees are not welcome within their borders. The world is still reeling from the events of Nov. 14; the attacks in Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad. The world is hurting, and in this time of crisis, leaders are tasked with impossible choices, painful options, and conflicting cries for war and peace. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to be a leader in this time, from a local representative to the president of a nation. I cannot know all the political ramifications these governors must have considered when they decided to refuse asylum to these refugees.
However, the fundamental issue of the refugees is not a political question, but rather a human one. For many of these people, the attacks that took place on Nov. 14 have been their living reality. Terrorism has no religion, no race, no nationality, and no borders. Terrorism does not harm only the Western bastions of freedom and democracy, it razes everything in its path, destroys families, and creates a community of terror.
Now people have come to us in seek of aid and refuge, but 31 of this nation's governors - over a majority of the country - would refuse these people aid. As a human being, it is inconceivable to me to deny someone seeking safety while fleeing from dangers pervading their home. The dangers that have driven these people to leave everything behind are terrifying, beyond what I can even truly comprehend. How can we, as Americans, as humans, deny people the help they have risked everything for?
Growing up, my parents always told me that despite its faults - which should be acknowledged and addressed - America was the greatest country in the world. I still believe that. However, I believe it is time that we, as a nation, take a step back from focusing on the greatness and reflect upon what it means to be good.
