"You Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee"

Published on September 7, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

Last Friday, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, it was announced that 750 refugees would be sent to Amarillo, Texas.

A local family took it upon themselves to call and discuss what we could do within our own tiny community, not too far away from Amarillo. They were told that housing was needed for the refugees. After asking around, enough housing was immediately volunteered to house 15 refugees.

On Sunday, when the first batch of 150 refugees were flown into Amarillo, we were told they had to be processed and that we could pick up the families in the next day or so. The second, and subsequent flights to Amarillo were cancelled as the refugees were shuttled elsewhere. Meanwhile, Governor Rick Perry told the national media that Texas was unable to house more refugees...while families in the Texas Panhandle were waiting to give them homes.

Amarillo, meanwhile, saw the financial benefits of their influx of 150, and immediately enrolled them in the local schools, while they remained (and remain to this day) calling cots in the Amarillo Civic Center "home" for possibly a year or longer...all while residents sit and wait to welcome them into homes where they will be able to begin the process of rebuilding their lives.

I fear that many of the communities that are housing refugees are seeing the same dollar signs. They realize that bringing in the refugees means more money for their communities, and they can't wait to grab as many as they can. Sadly, this is far worse than the looters EVER did.

The thing is (and I can only speak for myself here), we don't want ANY money for taking in these refugees. We're not planning on charging rent (the families need the money FAR worse than we do), we have a vehicle they can use to get around, and we could put them up in comfortable, if not necessarily spacious, accomodations (though FAR more spacious than a cot at the Houston Astrodome or Amarillo Civic Center). In short, we have a lot to offer refugees who are working to rebuild their lives.

And the government response is "Thanks, but no thanks".

Comments

InfoGeek

on Sep 07, 2005

I saw stories on Netscape about people opening thier hoes and charging a dollar. It was an odd sum to me. I was wondering if there was some legal reason to charge a dollar, some sort of Tax thing?

IG

shadesofgrey

on Sep 07, 2005

Gid:

Check out this link http://www.openyourhome.com/

I heard about it on the news last night. Apparently Curt Schilling (Red Sox pitcher) and his wife now have a family of 9 living with them that they were connected with through this website.

Hope this works out for you.

dharmagrl

on Sep 07, 2005

Gid: The Rev Jackson says we're not supposed to call them refugees because it's a racist term and makes them into second-class citizens.

I'm sickened that some cities and towns may be viewing these poor folks as revenue....keeping them in civic centers on cots when people have homes available for them is despicable.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 07, 2005

Gid:

Check out this link Link

I heard about it on the news last night. Apparently Curt Schilling (Red Sox pitcher) and his wife now have a family of 9 living with them that they were connected with through this website.

Hope this works out for you.

shades,

Yeah, Tex told me about that site. But if it's run through the Red Cross, I'm not sure if I want much to do with it. Just more bureaucracy, and more money going to the wrong people (I will defintely check it out, though, thanks).

And we cannot have anything to do with federal funds. To access federal funds requires action from the city council, and we have ZERO official support from the community.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 07, 2005

Gid: The Rev Jackson says we're not supposed to call them refugees because it's a racist term and makes them into second-class citizens.

The Reverend Jackson can shove it up his posterior. To call the term "refugee" racist is in itself racist because it assumes that all refugees are minorities.

shadesofgrey

on Sep 07, 2005

Check out Craigslist then--I think that is simply families finding families--no organizations involved.

I was watching CNN this morning and they needed housing for an extended family of 21 (I believe)...maybe email CNN and let them know that you want to help.

I'll keep thinking of other ideas for you.

dharmagrl

on Sep 07, 2005

The Reverend Jackson can shove it up his posterior. To call the term "refugee" racist is in itself racist because it assumes that all refugees are minorities.

That's what I thought too.....

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 07, 2005

shades,

I did register with openyourhome.com and mentioned in the comments section that we DON'T want federal funds. That way, at least, they know what we're looking for. Thanks for the link, and I'll take any other suggestions people have to offer (although I still want answers...this whole thing just isn't right, if you ask me!)

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