There is no doubt that in our country there is a fear of Middle Eastern people and Muslims. It can even be said that there is more than xenophobia; there is hate against the people from that area of the world. But, while we go to bed in our homes, safe from any nationwide catastrophe, there are millions of individuals displaced without a home. And where there should be compassion for these individuals suffering, there is hate and fear because these people just so happen to look like the enemy of America. Leaders and people of power have labeled these individuals dangerous when they are trying to seek asylum. We don't understand that these millions of people fear the same people we fear, and it makes more sense for Muslims and Middle Eastern people fear ISIS because they make up around 82-97 percent of ISIS's victims. That being said, why are we so afraid of these people?
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I heard an analogy for the Syrian Refugees. "If there are 1000 pieces of candy in a bowl and ten of them were poisonous, would you give the bowl to a child?" These are men, women and children who are sacrificing their lives to flee a country that is in the middle of a civil war. Ever since 2011, there have been Syrians fleeing this country in turmoil. There has been constant suffering for the people still in that country, and this is where I have a problem.
We know that this is happening. Arab Spring was in the news, and the Syrian Civil War was a worldwide topic, yet I have not heard of any remorse for the victims of those events. We see what is happening to the Syrians before they were refugees, yet we are still ready to label them "Islamic extremists" and threats to our country. If anyone saw what the Syrian refugees went through in Syria, then no one would call them terrorists.
Imagine your neighborhood, a nice happy place where you know everyone up and down the street. Then imagine if the entire neighborhood is bombed, with many of your friends and family dead or critically wounded. That is what Syrian refugees experienced in Syria. Why in God's name would they go back? Not only that but when they leave, they risk their lives running out of the country, going day and night by water or land. The infamous picture of Alan Kurdi facedown on a beach in Turkey. His family was fleeing Syria, and he lost his life escaping a place where he could have met the same fate.
But yet media and politicians are still willing to call these victims dangerous, because for some reason, an individual will go to great lengths to risk their life, travel the globe, reach safety, just to murder innocent civilians in our country. We are unwilling to understand that these people are escaping a country to go anywhere because anywhere is better than Syria. Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Germany, America, Canada, and the list goes on. When people do not take the time to go into detail about what these people go through, there is no empathy. Instead of understanding that these people are victims, we see them as a threat because we see what they look like and assume without actually taking the time to learn. These are not pieces of candy; these are people with no home, suffering and many are not willing to help them because of the way they look and what their beliefs are.
