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Jenna Doyle
9 Honors Lit and Comp
Ms. Smit
January 10, 2016
Refugees in Crisis
An analysis of prejudice and nationality in Warren St. Johns Outcast United
Being in a country where things are so bad that you have to leave everything behind in
hopes for a new life is unimaginable to most. It is life for refugees. Outcast United is a true
story about a soccer team for refugees in Clarkston, Georgia. Luma, the main character and an
immigrant herself, starts and coaches this team. When boys are on her team, she treats them like
they are her own children. She makes them work hard not only on the field, but in school and she
helps out their families with some of the struggles of integrating into America. Even though over
time, the team becomes like one big family, they still face prejudice and discrimination from the
towns people and even among the team members at the beginning. Through the use of the
residents of Clarkston, Georgia and its resettled refugees, Warren St. John investigates the social
issues of prejudice and nationality.
The refugees or Fugees as the call themselves faced a lot of prejudice within their new
resettled community. The refugees are not a homogeneous group, but come from several
different countries. Luma tries to focus the boys on seeing their similarities instead of their
differences. Early on, she learns this will be a challenge, And each group, she learned, had its
own prejudices towards others. The Afghan and Iraqi kids would look down at the African kids,
Luma said. And kids from northern Africa would look down at kids from other parts of Africa.
There was a lot of underlying racism and a lot of baggage they brought with them, (St. John

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60). This quote shows the Fugees initially do not even respect each other. If they cannot get
along with each other, it will be very difficult for them to get along with American citizens
because the refugees all share the common thread of being strangers in a new country. The soccer
team becomes a way for Luma to bring the refugee boys together instead of fighting each other.
The team becomes a safe place and a second family for the boys.
Even finding land to play soccer on is an issue for the Fugees. Within Clarkston there are
only three main fields to play on, the field at the community center, the elementary school field
and the fields at Milan Park. They cannot practice at the community center due to the tension
between the community center and the YMCA, which funds their program. The elementary
school field, which they had played on before, is worn down and in a bad area with shootings in
the evenings. That leaves only the fields at Milan Park, which the mayor does not want them
using. In fact, they are granted the field to play on for 6 months, but three months in Luma gets a
letter saying they will need to kick the Fugees off the fields so they can start using the fields
again for their youth programs. When Luma confronts Mayor Swaney about it, it is said he,
would change his story entirely. It wasnt the reactivation of the youth sports program that had
caused him to kick the Fugees off the field, he would say. Rather, he explained, he had seen some
adult refugees playing soccer in the park and had assumed they were affiliated with the Fugees,
(St. John 289). This will have gone against the agreements with the city as it said later in the
book but the Mayor knows the Fugees are not affiliated with anyone older than 17. Mayor
Swaney is so cautious about letting the Fugees play in the park in the first place, when she gets
the letter, Luma knows he takes the field away because he wants to make a statement that he
does not want any more refugees in Clarkston, most likely because they are foreign and have a
different nationality.

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Prejudice does not end there. Some of the citizens resented this new group of people in
their town, They very clearly said they didnt like all these newcomers here, Hansen recalled.
There was this clear other sentiment saying, This is the old Clarkston High School. This is a
Clarkston building. This belongs to the old Clarkston the real Clarkston. Not these
newcomers, (St. John 55). Many of the people of Clarkston clearly do not want the refugees in
their home town. This is because of their nationality. The citizens buff up around them and act
better than them because they feel they are higher than the refugees, who have to flee their home
country in a time of crisis. Also, the citizens think the refugees do not pull their weight in the
community and they are impatient with them.
In the book Outcast United, refugees in Clarkston illustrate some of the challenges and
prejudice that refugees have to face in America. These same challenges continue for refugees
today, especially with the worldwide Syrian refugee crisis. Millions of Syrians have to flee their
country because of the civil war going on within the country. The refugee camps in bordering
countries are maxed out and there is a world-wide focus on resettling refuges in other countries.
This challenge to resettle refugees has become more difficult after the ISIS terrorist attacks in
Paris in November, 2015. Investigators believe that the attackers snuck into France with fake
identities claiming they were resettling refugees. This has made the refugees prejudice worse and
a much slower process of getting relocated. Refugees now add a fear of being perceived as
potential terrorist to the prejudices they endure.
In the United States, the power of letting refugees in to the country lies within the federal
powers, but the states can make it a difficult experience if they keep refusing refugees. Most of
the Governors refusing to admit refugees are worried about the safety of the people in their state.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder shared these opinions and stated, Michigan is a welcoming

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state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration. But our first priority is protecting the
safety of our residents, (Fantz and Brumfield 5). The states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Wisconsin, Wyoming, are all against letting Syrian refugees into their state. Those 31 states are
worried that if they let in refugees, the safety of their states and citizens may be compromised.
Syrian refugees are facing the worse prejudice, since the Paris bomber had fake Syrian refugee
papers.
Although most states do not want refugees in the country, some are okay with letting in
refugees under certain conditions. Most of the states that will allow refugees demand extensive
screening and background checks for the safety of the people that live there. Governor Jack
Markell of Delaware believes that, It is unfortunate that anyone would use the tragic events in
Paris to send a message that we do not understand the plight of these refugees, ignoring the fact
that the people we are talking about are fleeing the perpetrators of the terror, (Fantz and
Brumfield 4). He believes that the innocent refugees should not have to be punished for
something they did not take part in but just were from the same geographic area. The people are
fleeing their homeland for humanitarian reasons and seven of the states believe that we should be
more selfless and help get people out of the terrifying situation they are in.
Close to home, Michigan recently became home to a new refugee family. Hamo and his
family moved to Troy, Michigan in December 2015 after living through an attack on their home
where seven of the familys other family members were killed. Hamo mentioned that, If they
will only call me a refugee and they will treat me only as a refugee, I dont want to be here. Id

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rather go back, (Stafford 2). This is very important because the other quotes show what the
Americans think of refugees, but this quote shows how the prejudice towards refugees affects
them. It is a very strong statement to say that you would rather go back to war-torn country
where family members have been killed than face the prejudice of the other citizens. People do
not realize how much it affects the refugees emotional transition when they are not welcomed.
Hamo wants this move to Michigan to be a positive experience for his family and not one that
cause more stress than it is worth. If the move takes and emotional toll on everyone in his family
because of prejudice, then he would question whether it was the right move for his family.
The refugee crisis and how to accept refugees into the United States is complicated.
There is no easy solution. Each person will have their own idea on how to resolve this issue.
Many Americans currently believe that for their own safety, it would be better to close our
borders and accept no refugees. From a refugee standpoint, they want and need to get out of their
current location because it is war-torn and while they are there, they are putting themselves in
harms way. It is scary to bring refugees into the United States and risk another incident like in
Paris. However, the United States also is founded on its principles of helping those in need and
most citizens have ancestors who were once immigrants. The best solution for both the American
citizens and the refugees would be to accept them into the United States, but before they arrive
they need to have an extensive screening and background check of every family member. This
way the Americans feel safer and the refugee is escaping the troubled country they lived in. This
may also help decrease the amount of prejudice the refugee will face because everyone will feel
less threatened and more comfortable around the refugee.
Overall, refugees have faced a lot of prejudice, whether it is in Clarkston or anywhere
else in the United States. In Clarkston, they faced prejudice both from refugees coming from

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different countries and from the citizens in the area. They were greatly looked down upon and
were judged because of their nationality. Today in the U.S., fear of possible terrorist association
further alienates refugees and even citizens of certain ethnicities. Governors throughout the
United States have differing opinions on whether to play it safe to protect the safety of the people
or to be more humanitarian and help these people get out of an unstable and unsafe country
where they are put in harms way every day. The United States is a melting pot, full of diversity
but unfortunately also full of a history of prejudices and social injustices against many classes of
people. Refugees are often poor, do not speak English, uneducated and isolated from their
families. Stories like Outcast United, remind us to strive to see similarities to unite people
instead of focusing on differences which alienate.

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Works Cited
Fantz, Ashley, and Ben Brumfield. "More than Half the Nation's Governors Say Syrian Refugees
Not Welcome." CNN. N.p., 19 Nov. 2015. Web. 6 Jan. 2016.
"Frequently Asked Questions." Ascentria Care Alliance. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Jan. 2016.
St. John, Warren. Outcast United: A Refugee Team, An American Town. New York: Spiegel &
Grau, 2009. Print.
Stafford, Katrease. "Scientist Who Fled Syria Arrives 'home' in Michigan." Detroit Free Press.
N.p., 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 6 Jan. 201