Refugees

After the Vietnam War, the U.S.admitted more than a million refugees from Southeast Asia.  Many of them settled in the San Jose area.  I well remember the opposition.  At the time many of them arrived I was working for a state senator.  Constituents wrote in complaining about “those people” who didn’t understand American ways.

Some thought that Communist spies would be infiltrating.  The refugees didn’t speak our language.  They were different.  They ate dogs and cats.

I think almost everyone now would agree that the Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodian refugees have enriched the United States.  Like other desperate and poor people before them who came to this country yearning to breathe free, they have made us stronger and better.  

Now we hear similar arguments from the bigots who oppose bringing in Syrian refugees.  The refugees are Muslim.  They will be terrorists.  They don’t speak English.  

If you hear this kind of nonsense, speak out.  Talk about moral duty.  We need to be doing more.  Four million refugees are out there.  We can’t let poor states like Jordan and Greece and Croatia bear the entire burden.  This is an international problem.