As of this writing, more than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country, the majority of them women, children and the elderly. Another 6.5 million have been displaced internally, forced to seek shelter in parts of Ukraine not yet under Russian attack.
When Sen. Joe Manchin spoke to The Dominion Post a few weeks ago, he proclaimed that, of course, West Virginia should welcome Ukrainian refugees. The Legislature obviously agreed, as it passed a resolution urging Gov. Jim Justice to open the state to those fleeing their war-torn country. We agree wholeheartedly (though we also agree with WVU’s Erik Herron that the social infrastructure must be laid in advance of their arrival).
Ukrainian refugees have taken a circuitous route to reach the United States. Many escape on foot to other Slavic countries, such as Poland or Romania. Some then take flights to Mexico, landing in or making their way to Tijuana, where they can get through a border crossing into San Diego.
Ukrainians entering the U.S. from the southern border have been given top priority; many are now able to cross into America in a matter of hours.
The relatively quick passage into safety is a small mercy after days of running for their lives, often walking long distances or hitchhiking, maybe lucking into a train ride after hours and hours of standing on the platform. Carrying what remains of the lives they once knew in bags and suitcases. Flinching at every loud sound, because the memory of explosions and gunfire is still too new. Longing to reach a place safe enough to rest.
It’s a familiar story along America’s southern border — one that does not just belong to the Ukrainians seeking asylum, but to the Central and South American refugees as well: To women and girls who have fled en masse to escape the brutality; to the young men who have only one future back home — to kill, as a member of the rampant crime organizations and gangs, or to be killed, as a victim of the violence; to the fathers and mothers who had no other options for keeping their loved ones safe.
Their trauma is not so different from the Ukrainians, and yet America does not welcome them.
The story is the same for the Afghan refugees who fled when the Taliban retook Afghanistan: Once free people running in terror of their lives from an oppressive regime that wished to bring them back under its iron-fisted control. And yet West Virginia was one of four states that boldly proclaimed it would take no Afghan refugees.
Why? What’s the difference among these poor souls, yearning to be safe and free?
Not much, really. Except the color of their skin.
The vast majority of Ukrainian refugees are white. The vast majority of refugees from Central and South America or Afghanistan are not.
Other than that, there aren’t too many significant differences. Ukraine’s top three religions are Christianity, Islam and Judaism, though most are Christians — but so are most Central and South Americans, though most Afghans are Muslim. There’s a slim chance that any refugee from any nation speaks English — but there’s a greater chance someone from Central America speaks English than someone from Ukraine.
All of this to say … There are thousands of traumatized individuals waiting along America’s southern border, and their stories are more alike than it may seem at first. The U.S. has opened its heart and doors to Ukrainian refugees, even as it continues to slam the door in the face of many brown immigrants and asylum seekers. There is a distinct double standard when it comes to who we welcome and who we turn away — and the difference seems to rest largely on skin color.
We wish America would greet all refugees with the same compassion it has shown to Ukrainians.
