Melissa speaks on welcoming the stranger
Melissa was invited to speak at a local faith group about culture and refugees.
Thank you to Dayspring UMC for welcoming me to speak on this timely topic. As I look out on our community, I see people who are worried - worried about how we can come together, worried about how we can protect our own values and live up to our principles in a time of fractious politics, and also worried about how we can cross cultural divides and help welcome and integrate newcomers who may not understand American life.
Having an open heart and mind are beneficial, as it’s hard to make any progress together when our hearts and minds are closed. But beyond this, what kinds of capacities, skills, and behaviors would make a difference?
In my presentation, I explained several points, and I’ll share them here.
We need to understand how the refugee system actually works. This is foundational both for supporting refugees as they navigate the system put in place to support them, as well as in explaining this system to other Americans.
Rather than tell people how they should feel about refugees, we can share our own reasons for supporting them. We can acknowledge people’s reservations and fears with empathy, without dampening our own compassion for displaced people. In other words, we can be role models, rather than scolds.
We can articulate how helping refugees is not in conflict with our values, but is an expression of them. This may be something that faith groups such as Dayspring are particularly well-suited to do, as they have a common theological framework and set of stories to illustrate these values.
We can collaborate with others in the community who come from different faiths and no faiths, to share resources, coordinate on projects, identify opportunities, and build community. One example here is the Syrian Sweets project, which has both raised money and helped foster ties.
We can build our own cultural competence, so that we are better equipped to help others beyond slogans of goodwill. This means learning about refugees’ cultures, but also recognizing our own. The better able we understand our own culture, the more clearly we will see what it is that refugees are trying to adapt to.
We can also participate in civil society and calls to action with government leaders, letting them know that we support refugees and why.
There is no easy or clear-cut path forward, whether we are talking about federal policy or an individual person’s adaptation process. But if we learn together and work together, we can make a difference.