The ongoing conflict, turmoil and social unrest in Syria has created arguably one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in this modern era.
What began as a unified protest against the Syrian government has turned into one of the worst atrocities the world has witnessed. The dissension between political powers and civilians is seemingly getting worse.
For a little over a decade, more than 1.5 million Syrians have migrated due to a number of reasons – scarce resources, various uprisings, tyrannical acts by politicians, and several others – all of which has only exacerbated poverty and social unrest and has intensified Syria’s civil war.
According to an April 14 report by well-known broadcaster Al Jazeera, More than 465,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, more than a million injured, and more than 12 million – half the country’s prewar population – have been displaced, largely due to religious persecution and conflict.
Virtually, Syria’s conflict began shortly after the successful Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, when pro-democracy activists began protesting in hopes of overthrowing the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad, a leader that many perceive to be dictatorial and ruthless, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more.
Reportedly, most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, but Syria’s security establishment has long been dominated by members of the Alawi sect, of which Assad is a member. The religious tension between Syrian belief systems has intensified over recent years and has likely contributed to the worsening situation in the country. There are a number of military units and rebel groups fighting in Syria, says an Al Jazeera report titled “Syria’s civil war explained from the beginning.”
ISIL (or ISIS) emerged in northern and eastern Syria in 2013 after overrunning large portions of Iraq. The group quickly gained international notoriety for its brutal, gruesome executions and its energetic use of social media to globally recruit fighters.
According to the Al Jazeera report, as of February 2018, the United Nations refugee agency had registered more than 5.5 million refugees from Syria and estimated that there more than 6.5 million internally displaced persons within Syria’s borders.
The war in Syria is causing profound effects beyond the country’s borders, as many Syrians had to leave their homes to seek safety elsewhere in Syria and beyond.
As aforementioned, the Syrian catastrophes should be addressed and have been addressed on large scales. It’s almost guaranteed that an American news consumer will read, watch or hear something about the Syrian crisis nearly every day of the week.
But perhaps, once again, this is another case where the deplorable state of Black America is ignored while an international conflict has garnered more media attention and support.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been murdered and imprisoned, but the same has happened (and continues to happen) to Black Americans.
Numerous Syrians have been displaced, but economic oppression, housing discrimination and gentrification has led to the displacement of countless underprivileged Black people in the U.S. – this isn’t to diminish the magnitude of the Syrian conflict, but to perhaps accentuate the U.S. government’s willingness to provide relief for foreign nations while neglecting domestic Black citizens.
Al Jazeera’s recent report also highlights the following as it pertains to American involvement in Syria:
- S. government officials have repeatedly expressed opposition to the Assad government backed by Russia, but the nation reportedly has not involved itself as deeply as other bordering countries to Syria.
- In 2013, the CIA began a covert program to arm, fund and train rebel groups opposing Assad, but the program was later shut down after it was revealed that the CIA had spent $500m but only trained 60 fighters.
- In April 2017, the US carried its first direct military action against Assad’s forces, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base from which US officials believe a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun had been launched. And most recently, on April 14 — despite Russian warnings — the US coalesced with France and the UK to launch an attack at “chemical weapon sites.”
Political journalist Sarah Kendzior wrote a 2015 article in Quartz, a news website, entitled “Why does St. Louis care more about Syrian refugees than its Black population?” in which she highlighted how the local government and community of St. Louis was more enthusiastic about resettling and housing Syrian refugees than offering aid to the city’s struggling Black population.
According to Kendzior’s research, former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay expressed his commitment to resettling the refugees, and the International Institute, a refugee resettlement center, vowed to help Syrians in the same way it helped St. Louis’s considerable Bosnian and Vietnamese refugee communities in the past.
But in St. Louis, a town with a storied Black history, has a noticeable crisis of its own.
The underprivileged, predominately Black section of the city suffers from stark poverty, joblessness and homelessness. The desperate conditions of Black St. Louisans are abundantly evident and has demanded much attention, but received very little over the years.
“As St. Louis citizens vow to help Syrian refugees, many of their own neighbors remain without shelter and struggle to survive,” Kendzior mused.
Political figures of St. Louis, as with most other American cities with decent-sized Black populations, have knowingly overlooked the striking disparity in the quality of life between the region’s impoverished Blacks and affluent Whites.
“The recent outpouring of support for Syrian refugees is a beautiful thing. It stands in stark contrast to the complacency toward Syrian suffering that dominated the four-year conflict until the conscience of the world was awakened by the arrival of refugees on European shores. St. Louis is seizing the opportunity to do something right. But it also must do right by its existing population—impoverished Black St. Louisans who have struggled for years for the same opportunities and support. St. Louis has shown its generous spirit—the question is only to whom and how far it will extend,” Kendzior concluded.
As aforesaid, the Syrian crisis is beyond deplorable; some may even compare the Middle Eastern conflict to the Holocaust, particularly because of the religious persecution connected to the murders and inhumane treatment. But does a foreign issue – regardless of the severity – give the American government an excuse to ignore the many problems that persist at home?
As Black Americans, we should not expect a governmental system rooted in white supremacy to ‘save’ us, but we ought to hold policymakers accountable of upholding Constitutional principles of justice and fairness to all citizens – regardless of race, socioeconomic status or religious background.
I have no objections to U.S. entities and establishments working toward the betterment of Syrian refugees and otherwise, but it wouldn’t hurt to devote more attention, effort and time to repair the lamentable social state of underprivileged Americans.
Demetrius Dillard is a North Carolina-based freelance writer.
