Shoes Off

“The immigration crisis.” 😱

Oooooooo big scary words! Uh-oh! Better be careful what I say! 😅

Here we go.

So what do you do when millions of strangers come knocking on your door? The answer is anything but obvious. And let’s stop pretending it is. Welcoming all refugees with a hug and a goodie bag isn’t a long term solution. Building walls to keep them all out isn’t a long term solution. But in a political climate where people consistently choose to ignore the existence of nuance, those two options seem like the only ones on the table. And why is that? It all comes down to the same underlying issue over and over again— open and honest conversation.

The migration crises of America and of Europe have been on my mind for a long time. All over the internet and news media the most prevalent positions seem either too extreme or too naive. Not to mention how even the words “illegal immigration” can get people heated! But of course I keep my eyes and ears open as wide as I can. Since I’ve never spent much time near America’s southern border, I can only speak accurately to what I’ve recently seen and heard in the European Union.

Since 2015, millions of people from the Middle East and Africa have fled their home countries for the promise of stability and peace in the EU. Interestingly— but not at all coincidentally— a similar situation has been happening in parallel across the Atlantic with Central Americans fleeing to the US. In either case, the crisis is very real and there’s no more avoiding the subject.

About a month ago I had the chance to get to know a refugee from Gambia who was living and working in Spain. He originally migrated to South Germany in 2015 where he said the native population discriminated against outsiders like him. Obviously, it’s terrible that he was mistreated by anybody. But I also spoke to a lot of European citizens who opposed the mass acceptance of refugees in a non-hostile way. And it would be seriously unfair to write off all their viewpoints as bigoted. As with a lot of things, the people with the worst intentions are often the most vocal. But they don’t represent the views of reasonable people. For the most part, their concerns had nothing to do with race or religion.

Last spring, I was lucky enough to take a course in international current affairs with people from countries all over Europe including France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Italy and more. All of these classmates of mine had their lives impacted by the migration crisis. And they all had concerns. But almost none of them ever mentioned race or religion. Their worries were primarily that their national culture would cease to exist. Gone, forever. I remember saying how that sounded overly dramatic. To which a Spanish friend of mine replied “what do you Americans know about culture anyway?”

Ouch.

In any case, a common response to this concern is that “cultures change all the time”— whether we like it or not. Whether it’s because of immigration or not. And that’s definitely true. I mean lock 5 people into a room for a couple hours and see how often the vibe changes if you need any further proof. But there’s two things different about this cultural shift in particular. First of all, it’s very tangible. I mean people can see it happening right in front of them. Second, most people avoid talking about it.

That silence has to stop. Because the changes are happening. And things won’t just fall into place on their own.

Let me give an analogy and see if you catch my drift.

In my family’s house, it wasn’t mandatory to take off your shoes at the door. A lot of my friends did have that rule at their houses though. And when I would go over, they would tell me to take off my shoes. So I would. No problem— just doing my part in keeping the house clean. But some of my friends wouldn’t tell me when I was supposed to take off my shoes and so I would just walk right in. And if their parents saw shoe-prints in the house later on, they probably wouldn’t like me very much anymore. All because nobody told me when I got there.

This much is simple fact: when cultures clash, they clash. Different languages, different customs, different etiquette, different values. It’s just not fair to assume that such a historic turning point could just flow smoothly with no communication? Let’s stop making immigration a taboo subject. There’s enormous potential in the mixing of cultures. And in order to take the best aspects of each, we have to be able to openly communicate what we do and don’t want to see in our neighborhoods. Maybe as humans we like to think we’re all smart enough to silently agree on some things. But we’re not.

Here’s the point. Do you want newcomers to assimilate to your culture? Okay, fine. Then define what it is. Because if your country is split down the middle on virtually every issue and people can’t even agree on basic rights and living standards and most people just keep their mouths shut anyway, then how exactly is a new immigrant supposed to interpret your “culture”? How is your guest supposed to know if they should take off their shoes?

Filip, again.