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Interculturalism in SLC
This page invites you to reflect on our most recent discoveries about culturally diverse populations in SLC: asylum-seekers and refugees. Brent Pace of Utah Health and Human Rights have us a glimpse into the life of a person who flees her/his homeland for faraway shores and faces the trial of requesting asylum when they get there. He showed us especially that a great number of people who arrived have fled torture and threats of death. These are just some of the scars people carry that we may not see. We might also consider thinking about how many of the people we think are just like us also carry burdens cannot perceive. Consider in your reflection the lessons we got on site, the poem, and/or our discussions about human rights that led up to this visit. How does your new knowledge affect the way you think about interculturalism in SLC?
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I felt the visit to Utah Health and Human Rights brought the discussions we have been having in class much "closer to home." We have looked at human rights documents, and analyzed their language and effectiveness as well as heard the stories of some of these refugees/ asylum-seekers not only in our Global Citizenship class but our Geography class as well (maquiladoras, Israel-Palestine conflict, colonization of Africa, ect).
ReplyDeleteHearing Brent Pace from UHHR say that he works with people who have suffered abuse that is comparable or even worse than what we have been discussing in-class, forces me to realize how real these stories are. After visting UHHR, I understand that Emanuel Jal for example, is not alone. Rather, there are people all over the world that have either experienced similar traumas or are in constant fear of being persecuted, tortured or discriminated against. These people are desperate to escape the dangers of their homeland, and as Mr. Pace explained, many undertake the seemingly impossible challenge of reaching America (often illegally).
The massive amount of people that do not get approved for refugee status was humbling. Only a very small portion of asylum-seekers are granted asylum, meaning many are deported back to their homeland or at least to the neighboring countries from which they fled...
I thought that one of the most interesting things Brent told us was about the cost and effect scale that takes place when trying to help victims of violence or torture. He talked about how clinicians and psychologists are warned about the adverse effect of working with refugees or asylum-seekers. Their traumatizing stories can also affect those who listen and work with them closely, something I was completely unaware of. Although it's scary to think the effects of torture can travel nation to nation seemingly unknowingly, I also really liked what Brent talked about in terms of the strength and perseverance survivors of torture bring with them. That is just as strong as the adverse effects, and something I don't think we think of very often.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think it's easy, at least for me, to pretend or imagine that the kind of stories that Brent presented to us are just fabricated or elaborated on. Because we live so far away, in a world completely different from those coming from unsafe environments, I think we tend to forget how fortunate we are to be living in a country that is considered safe, wealthy and prosperous. I think because of this it's even more important to help people in situations where basic human rights are not given, and to help people like Brent and support UHHR in their endeavors to end the torture and violence around the world.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that our discussions on the numerous human rights documents were extremely important. It is vital that we understand our rights as well as the rights of those around us. I completely agree with our class discussion that these documents should be taught and presented to middle school and high school students. But not only should we be knowledgeable about our rights, but we should recognize other's rights as well by analyzing documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. How are we supposed to play our part as a global citizen if we are not completely familiar with every human right?
ReplyDeleteBut aside from merely studying human rights, we must study how these rights are carried out and how they are being denied. This is why I was so interested to go to the UHHR. Brent discussed how they take in asylum-seekers whose human rights were being threatened. Though I feel that I understood the human rights documents, I did not fully comprehend how severely these rights can be violated. Brent's presentation made the concept of the violation of human rights so real. The stories of the "asylees" he told were horrifying. I think it was extremely important that we went to the UHHR and gained an understanding of the severity of human rights violations and how the UHHR is doing everything in their power to protect every asylum-seekers' rights.
After gaining a deeper understanding of human rights and the work of the UHHR, I realize that it is so significant that Salt Lake is a center for refugees. So many people come here to escape threat and in hope of a better life, and so few of the residents here are aware of that. I hear people criticize Salt Lake for being very closed-minded to the rest of the world, but actually the complete opposite is true.
From the discussions about interculturalism what I found most profound was the freedom from want and from fear. I think that that ties in a lot to the idea of interculturalism especially with the refugees. This want and fear that these refugees and asylum seekers experience is sadly key to understanding their lives because it is a major part of their lives. This ties in to interculturalism because we need to understand these experiences in order to understand their current culture since this injustice is mainly because of the people's culture and social groups. But it is our duty as good members of interculturalism to stop these experiences and help people to embrace each other's cultures and social preferences. By doing this the bad experiences that people have to go through will cease to exist.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the problem of feeling PTSD-like symptoms by working as a clinician really felt close to home. I have heard some stories from my close friends, things that they have gone through, and I have felt the fear and helplessness that they felt. I never knew that this was something that happened but I feel that it is almost part of interculturalism because it makes people understand the feelings that these refugees and asylum seekers have experienced while going through their life. Sadly I feel that in order for people to understand the experiences that people go through they have to feel the same feelings, or even a small amount of the same feelings that these people had. I think that it is important to spread these stories around so that people can be more aware and be more open to people that are different than them, because you really don't know what scars they carry.
All throughout our discussions we heard and talked about so many heart wrenching stories that can be difficult to comprehend since we live in such a prosperous place. When we watched the documentary on Emmanuel Jal the stories sunk in and it suddenly became easier to see that the stories we hear are far more than just stories. These stories are real. They are stories of violated human rights and they come from real people who had to endure those horrifying events. When we hear a story we don’t always talk about the aftermath, the part where they have to live with these burdens and with the traumas for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteSomething that has stuck out to me is the strength that these real people must have in order to survive and endure. The people, for instance, that have made it to UHHR in the hopes of getting asylum or refugee status, have not only gone through terrifying experiences but are working toward improving their situation. To add on to their situation, they typically do not understand/speak the language and will have to trust the honesty and kindness of strangers. These incredibly brave people are fighting in order to escape persecution, fear and severe injustice. They are fighting for their own human rights.
I liked hearing from Brent from UHHR. He cleared all of the questions that I had about refugees and asylum seekers. I had always assumed that a refugee became an asylum seeker once they entered the country in which they wanted to live. I didn’t realize that they are two completely separate titles with different processes and applications. It was also interesting hearing the differences in journeys that asylum seekers and refugees take. Asylum seekers seem to have a dangerous and in many cases illegal journey and path they need to follow in order to get to a place in which they can seek asylum. Refugees face time-consuming processes where they have refugee status in a country but they have to wait a long time before they can travel to places they wish to live due to the limit on the number of refugees a country can take in every year.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to think that people whose lives are threatened have to go through challenging processes to escape the torture they have been enduring. I don’t think it is right for any country to send an asylum seeker back to their home country where they could be tortured again or killed just because they couldn’t pass the application process. Every person has the right to live and in many cases sending these refugees and/or asylum seekers back to their home countries means that we are sending them to their death. It is amazing that we have gotten to the point where countries legally accept refugees and asylum seekers but there are still some problems in the system that need to be fixed in order to ensure the safety of people.
Through our discussions the past few weeks on human rights I have realized a deeper meaning and appreciation for the term global citizenship. We are all global citizens who deserve the right to live therefore if someone is in danger and is seeking help from another country they should never be denied. It is their right to do everything in their power to survive and it is our job as global citizens to help people of the globe if we have the means to help.
By visiting the Utah Health and Human Rights center, Brett was able to shed an unforeseen light on interculturalism in Salt Lake City. Being born and raised in the United States, we have never had to live in fear that we would be persecuted or tortured. By exploring interculturalism in our home city, it had made me realize the rights that we have just by being born in America and how fortunate we really are.
ReplyDeleteI was most surprised about the rights that the asylum seekers did not have, even when entering the United States. Brett mentioned that one of the asylum seekers' host families simply asked why the refugees didn't/couldn't have an attorney or why they couldn't an attorney provided for them; that is when he explained that these asylum seekers did not have the right to an attorney simply because they have not been granted United States citizenship. This was definitely a shock to me because I have never thought of something as simple as having the RIGHT to have an attorney if we cannot afford one as being a luxury.
Also, from the video War Child that we watched it was shocking to me that the women have to live in constant fear that they will be raped, or killed. This ties into the documents and constitutions we have been reading and comparing and how sexist they were. I would not classify myself as a feminist but when it comes to the rights of women and the fear that a lot of women, mostly outside of the U.S. have to endure is unfair and, as a U.S. citizen, I would say unconstitutional; however and unfortunately, for most women calling these arbitrary circumstances "unconstitutional" does not carry much weight.
To be a global citizen is to understand the, mostly unwritten, constitutions and rights of others outside of the United States and use our resources to create fair and safe environments to live in.