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New Orleans Welcomes Syrian Refugees
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<p>by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.</p>
<p>On a brilliantly sunny, crisp winter afternoon last month, a diverse group of more than 100 New Orleanians gathered at the Monument to the Immigrant in Woldenberg Park to show our support for Syrian refugees and celebrate what makes New Orleans and our country worth fleeing halfway across the globe to reach. The <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/12/syrian_refugee_welcome_rally_r.html">Rally and March</a> to Welcome Syrian Refugees began with remarks by Farah Alkhafaf, who reminded those gathered that, having suffered through Hurricane Katrina, we know what it’s like to seek shelter elsewhere. Then Farah, the lead organizer of the rally and a student at UNO, asked everyone to “pass the peace” by shaking hands and greeting the people around them. Thus began an event that dared to counter the relentless narrative of fear and xenophobia that opportunistic political “leaders” have promulgated since the Paris terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>Having directed the refugee resettlement program at Catholic Charities New Orleans for many years, I was then asked to speak about our city’s long history of welcoming persecuted people. Since the arrival of Acadian refugees in the mid-18th Century, to refugees from the Haitian revolution at the turn of the 19th Century-- which doubled New Orleans’ population, to those fleeing war and persecution in Latin America, Vietnam, Bosnia, and Iraq in recent years, I reminded listeners that our city and state have always been enriched and strengthened by refugees and their ancestors.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/nlq2j/baf2da6f4ce973ba2b625ddbce45d591">MORE>> </a></p>
<p>On a brilliantly sunny, crisp winter afternoon last month, a diverse group of more than 100 New Orleanians gathered at the Monument to the Immigrant in Woldenberg Park to show our support for Syrian refugees and celebrate what makes New Orleans and our country worth fleeing halfway across the globe to reach. The <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/12/syrian_refugee_welcome_rally_r.html">Rally and March</a> to Welcome Syrian Refugees began with remarks by Farah Alkhafaf, who reminded those gathered that, having suffered through Hurricane Katrina, we know what it’s like to seek shelter elsewhere. Then Farah, the lead organizer of the rally and a student at UNO, asked everyone to “pass the peace” by shaking hands and greeting the people around them. Thus began an event that dared to counter the relentless narrative of fear and xenophobia that opportunistic political “leaders” have promulgated since the Paris terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>Having directed the refugee resettlement program at Catholic Charities New Orleans for many years, I was then asked to speak about our city’s long history of welcoming persecuted people. Since the arrival of Acadian refugees in the mid-18th Century, to refugees from the Haitian revolution at the turn of the 19th Century-- which doubled New Orleans’ population, to those fleeing war and persecution in Latin America, Vietnam, Bosnia, and Iraq in recent years, I reminded listeners that our city and state have always been enriched and strengthened by refugees and their ancestors.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/nlq2j/baf2da6f4ce973ba2b625ddbce45d591">MORE>> </a></p>