Author: Javid

Author Published on

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In light of recent Executive Orders threatening Refugee resettlement in the US, we have resources to offer you to make your voice heard on behalf of refugees. Wondering what you can do to advocate for refugee resettlement? Our friends at Refugee Services of Texas compiled a great list of things that you and your congregations can do to make America welcoming again.

1. Share these petitions with your networks using the hashtags #WithRefugees and #RefugeesWelcome

2. Post these messages on your Twitter account:

3. Post this message to your Facebook account:

"President Trump, We are hearing that you will stop refugee resettlement based on someone's nationality or religion. We are STRONGLY opposed to any policy change that would deny access to refugees based on their religion or nationality. Please reject such ideas, as a religious litmus test for safety is an affront to religious liberty."

4. Send the Whitehouse a Facebook message AND submit an electronic message on the White House webpage.

Samples (please personalize for your group):

President Trump, We are hearing that you will stop refugee resettlement based on someone's nationality or religion. We are STRONGLY opposed to any policy change that would deny access to refugees based on their religion or nationality. Please reject such ideas, as a religious litmus test for safety is an affront to religious liberty. 

Faith groups:

As faith groups that work with thousands of members of our communities in churches and synagogues across the country to welcome refugees every day, we oppose any plan to reduce refugee admissions and to prevent Muslim refugees from being resettled in the United States. We urge you to allow the U.S. refugee program to continue to resettle refugees that need our protection regardless of where they come from or how they pray.  Thank you for your leadership in ensuring the U.S. remains a beacon of hope for all those who are persecuted that seek peace, safety and freedom. bit.ly/FaithLeaders4ALLRefugees

  1. Call your representatives and use this script to demand legislation to welcome refugees

  2. Visit your representatives offices and make your voice hear in person. Find out your representatives' office locations, contact information, and schedule here.
  3. Send letters using this template to the new administration about increasing the number of refugees the U.S. will settle or how you support refugee resettlement
  4. Get involved with refugee resettlement in your area, visit us at www.rstx.org/volunteer for how you can welcome refugees to your community
  5. Donate and ensure there is no gap for funding for arriving refugees

INFORMATIONAL RESOURCES

Author Published on

Home, by Warsan Shire (British-Somali poet)

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.

you only run for the border
when you see the whole city
running as well.

your neighbours running faster
than you, the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind
the old tin factory is
holding a gun bigger than his body,
you only leave home
when home won't let you stay.

no one would leave home unless home
chased you, fire under feet,
hot blood in your belly.

it's not something you ever thought about
doing, and so when you did -
you carried the anthem under your breath,
waiting until the airport toilet
to tear up the passport and swallow,
each mouthful of paper making it clear that
you would not be going back.

you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.

who would choose to spend days
and nights in the stomach of a truck
unless the miles travelled
meant something more than journey.

no one would choose to crawl under fences,
be beaten until your shadow leaves you,
raped, then drowned, forced to the bottom of
the boat because you are darker, be sold,
starved, shot at the border like a sick animal,
be pitied, lose your name, lose your family,
make a refugee camp a home for a year or two or ten,
stripped and searched, find prison everywhere
and if you survive and you are greeted on the other side
with go home blacks, refugees
dirty immigrants, asylum seekers
sucking our country dry of milk,
dark, with their hands out
smell strange, savage -
look what they've done to their own countries,
what will they do to ours?

the dirty looks in the street
softer than a limb torn off,
the indignity of everyday life
more tender than fourteen men who
look like your father, between
your legs, insults easier to swallow
than rubble, than your child's body
in pieces - for now, forget about pride
your survival is more important.

i want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home tells you to
leave what you could not behind,
even if it was human.

no one leaves home until home
is a damp voice in your ear saying
leave, run now, i don't know what
i've become.

Author Published on

World Refugee Day Celebration

Save the date: Austin’s World Refugee Day Celebration is scheduled for June 20, 2015, from 11 am to 3 pm at the Bullock Texas History Museum.

About the event: The day will feature free activities and entertainment for the family; food, information about refugees in Austin and free entry to the museum exhibits.

A naturalization ceremony held by the United States Citizenship and Immigration services will swear in as new Americans a group of people from different parts of the world who have come to the US as refugees.

Please join us and meet your newest neighbors