{"id":34,"date":"2016-06-23T16:46:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T20:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/?p=34"},"modified":"2016-06-25T17:23:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T21:23:55","slug":"world-refugee-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/06\/world-refugee-day\/","title":{"rendered":"World Refugee Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On Monday\u2019s World Refugee Day 37 refugees became citizens at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.\u00a0 They fled to this country from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Liberia, Mauritania, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Vietnam.\u00a0 There, in our nation\u2019s capital, at\u00a0the Holocaust Museum, they stood and pledged their allegiance to the US.<\/p>\n

It was a remarkable testimony to what it means to be a nation of immigrants.\u00a0 It was especially fitting that the ceremony took place at the Holocaust Museum.\u00a0 We know too well that the nations of the world, including the US, were silent in the face of the Nazi genocide and by and large turned their back on fleeing Jewish refugees.<\/p>\n

These new citizens were embraced and welcomed by Holocaust survivors.\u00a0 Their words of what it means to be a US citizen, and most especially what citizenship meant when fleeing the ravages of World War II, can be watched online.\u00a0 I urge you to take a few moments to watch this brief video.\u00a0 Remind yourself about what is so remarkable about our country.<\/p>\n