[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” min_height=”2438.6px” custom_padding=”22px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
In the wake of the November 2015 Paris terror attacks, a wave of anti-refugee sentiment crossed the Atlantic, with more than half of U.S. governors calling for the exclusion of Syrian refugees from their states. Poet Jason Defo Fotso, then eighteen years old and a public policy undergraduate at Duke University, believed their posturing undermined America\u2019s longstanding commitment to hosting refugees and contradicted the sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: \u201cGive me your tired, your poor, \/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, \/ The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. \/ Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, \/ I lift my lamp beside the golden door!\u201d Fotso sought to revive the welcoming spirit with a dual-perspective piece, one that would transform the very words of enmity into empathy. <\/span>Readers on mobile, rotate to landscape mode before proceeding.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n children.<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the wake of the November 2015 Paris terror attacks, a wave of anti-refugee sentiment crossed the Atlantic, with more than half of U.S. governors calling for the exclusion of Syrian refugees from their states. Poet Jason Defo Fotso, then eighteen years old and a public policy undergraduate at Duke University, believed their posturing undermined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"In the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks, a wave of anti-refugee sentiment crossed the Atlantic, with over half of U.S. governors declaring that they would bar Syrian refugees from settling in their states. Poet Jason Defo Fotso, then eighteen years old and a public policy undergraduate at Duke University, believed that these statements contradicted America\u2019s long history of accepting refugees and, more symbolically, the sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. Fotso sought to revive the welcoming spirit with a dual-perspective piece, one that would transform the very words of enmity into empathy.<\/i>\n\n\u201cRefuge\u201d by Jason Fotso<\/b>\n\nRefuse these refugees.\nToo great a cost awaits if we\n\nopen\nour homes and hearts\nfor all those displaced\n\nchildren.\nClose our doors on\ndesperate men.\nOnly\n\nthe ignorant play host to hatred.\n\nRemaining oblivious puts us in the wrong\n\nhands.\nMay we pay heed as they bleed into our\n\nnation.\nThey indeed share the blood of our\n\nenemy.\nOur own\nare endangered by\ntoo\nmany\nof those seeking entry.\n\nWe have forgotten\nthe promise\nLady Liberty casts light on.\nIn this darkest hour\n\nterror\nreigns victorious over\nthe people\nof\npower.\nThe\n\nfear itself\nconquers\nthe home of the brave.\n\n(Read from the bottom up, pausing only at the spaces between stanzas.)<\/i>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[536,537,189,123,538],"class_list":["post-4557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-narratives","tag-welcomerefugees","tag-open-door-policy","tag-poem","tag-refugee-narratives","tag-united-states"],"acf":{"author":"Lauren Parater","authors_title":"Innovation Community and Content Manager \u00b7 "},"yoast_head":"\n
<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Refuse these refugees.<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>Too great a cost awaits if we<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>open<\/span>
<\/span>our arms and homes<\/span>
<\/span>to all those displaced<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>Close the door on<\/span>
<\/span>feral men.<\/span>
<\/span>Only<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>the ignorant give free rein to barbarism.<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Remaining oblivious leaves us in the wrong<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>hands.<\/span>
<\/span>A crisis once distant now bleeds upon our<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>homeland.<\/span>
<\/span>These migrants share the blood of our<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>enemies.<\/span>
<\/span>Our own<\/span>
<\/span>are endangered by<\/span>
<\/span>many of those seeking entry…<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>We have lost sight of<\/span>
<\/span>the promise<\/span>
<\/span>Lady Liberty casts light on.<\/span>
<\/span>In this darkest hour<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>terror<\/span>
<\/span>overcomes<\/span>
<\/span>the people<\/span>
<\/span>of<\/span>
<\/span>power.<\/span>
<\/span>The<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>fear itself<\/span>
<\/span>conquers<\/span>
<\/span>the home of the brave.<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>Read from the bottom up, pausing only between stanzas.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n