Birmingham Residents Rally to Show Support for Syrian Refugees
A about four dozen people gathered Saturday morning in Birmingham’s Railroad Park downtown to take a picture showing that some Alabamians would like to accept Syrian refugees.
Back in November, when Governor Robert Bentley stated that Alabama would not accept any refugees fleeing the war in Syria, Rebecca Kallies felt betrayed.
“He is just perpetuating the bigotry that we are so known for,” says Kallies. “Somebody’s got to say no. We are going to say something different.”
So, she started the Facebook group “Refugees Welcome in Alabama-Birmingham” and invited over a thousand people to gather in Railroad Park and show support for refugees.
A group of teenage girls from the Islamic Academy of Alabama came with their teachers. They made handmade signs that read “No to Islamophobia” and “Refugees are Human Beings!”
One of their teachers, Yasmin Nimer, said that more members of the Muslim community want to come, but were too afraid “to be in public places.”
Ashley Cleek,WBHM
Yasmin Nimer is an Islamic Studies teacher and a counselor at the Islamic Academy of Alabama.
Nimer says that the recent announcement by presidential candidate Donald Trump to bar Muslims from the U.S. has spread fear through the Muslim community.
High school senior, Dina Abdelqader, 17, came to show her support for refugees.
She shows a picture of a KKK flier on her phone that reads: “fight the spread Islam.” Abdelqader wears a bright pink headscarf. She says she hasn’t felt any increased hatred or suspicion in the past month, but that her friends tell her “to be careful.”
Gini Mohammad watches as her three children play in the park.
“We need to open our hearts and our doors. It could be us,” Mohammad says. “Kids, they are dying every single day. It could be us.”
After about an hour, those gathered stand together and hold up the letters to a hand-made sign that reads “Alabama Welcomes Refugees.”
Forget the State of the Union. What’s the state of your quiz score?
What's the state of your union, quiz-wise? Find out!
A team of midlife cheerleaders in Ukraine refuses to let war defeat them
Ukrainian women in their 50s and 60s say they've embraced cheerleading as a way to cope with the extreme stress and anxiety of four years of Russia's full-scale invasion.
As the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday, many Latinos question whether they belong
Many U.S.-born Latinos feel afraid and anxious amid the political rhetoric. Still, others wouldn't miss celebrating their country
SNL mocked her as a ‘scary mom.’ In the Senate, Katie Britt is an emerging dealmaker
Sen. Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, is a budding bipartisan dealmaker. Her latest assignment: helping negotiate changes to immigration enforcement tactics.
Nancy Guthrie case: How do families of missing people cope with the uncertainty?
When a loved one goes missing, relatives can feel guilty simply for eating, says Charlie Shunick, whose sister was kidnapped. Shunick now helps others navigate a nightmare "nobody is prepared for."
This community festival embraces the joys of a frozen lake — while it still has one
As climate change accelerates, local experts say the date Wisconsin's Lake Mendota freezes over is getting later, making safe conditions for activities that rely on snow and ice harder to predict.
