Summary Of Exile Off Main Street By Anna Husarska

The book begins by discussing the historical context of the war and time period in which refugees emerge into the scene. According to Tang, “the United States publicly positioned itself as the champion of displaced Cambodians, passing the 1980 Refugee Act and casting it as a global freedom project and Cambodian refugees as needing rescue by U.S. liberalism” (15). Throughout the book, Tang discusses how the United States contributes to the constant state of captivity that refugees experience from the minute they leave home to the moment they arrive in America. The United States’ participation in the Vietnam War gave rise to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge; these conditions caused a lot of unrest and forced many people like Ra to flee or remain trapped in captivity under the Khmer Rouge. The United States’ perspective on their actions during the war do not acknowledge their contributions to the national refugee crisis. Refugees are viewed as a solution to the war in the American perspective; thus, Eric Tang introduces the concept of refugee exceptionalism: “the ideologies and discursive practices that figure refugees as necessarily in the hyperghetto but never of it” (14). Tang effectively outlines the subsequent chapters where they each address a certain way in which captivity is maintained for Ra and other refugees. In Chapter 3 that mentions the Welfare Resistance, Ra is shown to be

During the 2015 Canadian Federal election, I volunteered for Anita Vandenbeld, the Liberal candidate in my riding. I spent after-school hours over three months making phone calls and going out door-to-door canvassing, which gave me the opportunity to talk with my community members, many of whom were first-generation immigrants and refugees. I listened to their stories about their struggles in their former countries, hearing personal testimonies of global challenges today. Many were Vietnamese and Somalian refugees, having fled conflict in their home countries. Their tales of success in the face of hardship inspired me deepen my understanding of our world issues and, as co-head of Lisgar Collegiate Institute’s Model United Nations Club, incorporate the discussion on immigration and refugees in my club. If it were not for the education many

In the battle of refugee resettlement, America is its own worst enemy. By abandoning and victimizing harmless refugees, America robs them of their chance at the American Dream. After spending two years interviewing refugees, Anna Husarska was able to support her argument that America is outrageously unfair to foreign refugees (90). In Husarska’s journal, “Exile Off Main Street: Refugees and America’s Ingratitude,” Husarska emphasizes how widespread and commonplace America’s refugee abandonment is, as well as how seldom America attempts to reconcile for it, and how poor it is at doing so.

For the podcast, I interviewed Lina Abdulnoor, with the intention of exploring the intricacies of refugeehood by analyzing Lina’s refugee experience. Lina lived in Iraq with her family until they began receiving death threats due to their religious beliefs. Convinced that they needed to flee the country to survive, they left Iraq as refugees. After leaving Iraq, they settled in Jordan, where they waited two years until the U.N. to approve their request to move to the U.S. in 2012. Lina and her family initially settled in Virginia, where she experienced culture shock as she adapted to American culture and the English language. However, Lina did not feel accepted in Virginia; her experiences in the state led her to think that Americans treated her according to negative stereotypes of Iraqis. After living in Virginia for several months, Lina and her family chose to resettle in San Diego, California, which harbored a larger Iraqi population than Virginia did. Supported by San Diego’s Iraqi community and various refugee organizations, Lina flourished, and she currently studies at UCSD while holding a stable job.

Because of America’s great wealth and success, other countries expect us to open our boarders and gladly invite refugees into our towns and cities. Charles Wheelan does a fantastic job of encouraging Americans to do just that. However, he fails to think of the risks and errors that come with allowing hundreds of thousands of suffering people (Wheelan) into our country. People all across the globe think that rich Americans should help these people even though they have not personally asked our government officials to help them. Wheelan views this as a matter of bravery, responsibility, and fear of terrorists in his article Courage in Crises.

What might it mean then, to be a refugee not from another country, but in one’s very homeland?” (45).

As a first generation U.S citizen, I understand what America means to refugees. I I see it in my mother’s look of hopefulness for us, even after her long shifts at work, that leave her fingers cracked and bloody. It’s my grandmother’s late night calls, urging me to do well, and to succeed. It’s my uncle’s reminders to be grateful, for I have the education and opportunities he did not have. For many, America symbolizes hope and opportunity.

In Ann Petry’s 1946 novel The Street, the author establishes Lutie Johnson’s distant, discouraging, distracted, and finally dominant demeanor to the urban setting mostly through the use of personification.

America has admitted 2,152 Syrian Refugees out of the estimated 4 million refugees that have left their home country, Syria. This caused conflict with Americans citizens. Some Americans do not think any Syrian refugees should be let in, some think only certain refugees should, and some think all refugees should. In the attempted-pursuasive text “Rejecting Syrian Refugees goes against American ideals,” author Gayle Lemmon uses guilt, shaming, and patriotism to try to sway the reader towards her opinion on this subject. This is not a well written pursuasive article.

This book, and the lessons Mrs. Song taught through it, were some of the most eye-opening experiences of my academic career. Mrs. Song was immensely fond of multi-faceted ways of teaching. She took us on a field trip to the refugee offices in Nashville, TN where I learned that most people do not understand how difficult it is to integrate into American culture, and also how important it is to adjust wholly. These experiences have fueled my desire to learn more about refugees in my community and how to serve them. Following this Nashville visit, Mrs. Song introduced us to her friend who was a refugee from Liberia. She currently owns a local sewing shop, and she invited us to her shop to discuss her life and journey as a refugee. My eyes were opened to the hardship, courage, and perseverance required of immigrants. Learning of their hardships encouraged me to persevere through difficult situations.

A country in the build that opens its arms to immigrants and refuges in the world but still aims to become a ‘nation’ must naturally adopt a strategy; America adopted that of ‘assimilation’. In the context of

Over the years, America has taken in many refugees; however we are currently in state of political unrest and the political future of America’s refuge program looks unclear.

Although the federal government and volunteer agencies tried to do their best in accommodating the masses of people entering the country, in retrospect the support of the public could have played a huge role in the efficiency of the resettlement programs. In fact, a welcoming public could go out of their ways to treat the refugees like their friends and help them on top of the assistance the refugees were receiving from volunteer organizations. On the other hand, a hostile public could counter the efforts of volunteer organizations thus making the resettlement experience vastly different for refugees depending on what race and what situation they were in when they immigrated. In this way, the racism of the public can be translated into systemic racism where the racism or lack thereof of racism experienced by the refugees changes their resettlement experience, whether that is making it easier or making it more difficult to adjust to this

“A winter storm hit the camp the week before we arrived, flooding and collapsing all of the tents. Refugees were literally left homeless (or more accurately, tent-less). What little clothing and food supplies they had, were destroyed. Our trip was an emergency relief trip to provide winter jackets, food aid, portable heating units and medical supplies.” This is something that really happened to a woman named Suzanne Kawmieh, a journalist who got to experience what being a refugee is like. Being a refugee is difficult, as they are forced to flee their home countries to foreign countries due to several factors, with almost nothing but humanitarian aid and a sense of dread. Meanwhile, immigrants are not forced to leave their countries. It is a choice for them, and they seek a new home for

The INGO (International Non-Governmental Organization) helps refugees move to the country. The INGO needs to understand why there seems to be substantial public resistance to refugees in the United States at the moment. For the purpose of these questions, refuges are discussed in general with no particular group identified.