Refugees

One of the things that has captured my attention in Russia's unwarranted and illegal invasion of Ukraine (a sovereign nation) is the plight of the Ukrainian refugees.

Or, perhaps more precisely, how those war-ravaged civilians are desperately trying to escape the horrors of death, destruction and apparent mass murder.

And, perhaps more to my point, how neighboring Poland has selflessly accepted nearly three million Ukrainian refugees in the past nine weeks, people who are seeking nothing more than a place to take their next breath of air without the fear of being blown to bits.

It's a wondrous thing to behold: three million people is somewhere between the populations of Los Angeles and Chicago. Imagine the entire population of Chicago suddenly packing up and moving to Poland in the span of two months. Imagine being Poland when this happens.

This is a hard concept for me to wrap my mind around, especially when you consider the stress such a number of refugees puts on a country's social system. And, yet, Poland has opened its arms.

Because of this, I can't help but draw a parallel to the United States, and the difficulty it's having in its own hemisphere with asylum seekers. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, we're still building border walls and finding loopholes to immigration policies to keep people out.

I don't get it. The concept of aiding refugees and asylum seekers clearly follows the tenants of Christianity, and both Poland and the United States are avowed Christian nations. Why does it seem Poland is doing so much more to aid refugees?

There might be at least one reason for this: those seeking asylum at the southern border are primarily people of color, trying to gain entry to a country that hasn't come close to resolving its history of racism and bigotry (it's also a country where white people can chant "Jews will not replace us," but that's a different issue). I wonder if three million Caucasian Ukrainian refugees – who are both mostly white and mostly Christian – showed up at the southern border if the difficulty of entry would be as it is now?

Maybe. Three million whites might put a temporary dent in the current demographic indicating a decline in the white population of this country. Apparently, that bothers some people.

The United States has turned back refugees before. In 1939, just prior to the start of World War II, the MS St. Louis with 937 passengers – mostly Jews seeking asylum from Nazi Germany – was denied entry into Cuba, the United States and Canada before returning to Europe. Not a shining moment.

The United States is taking a leadership role in providing arms and financial assistance to the beleaguered Ukrainians as they fight for their existence.

I wonder if there's room to do even more?