Serving the Victims of Backlash

Rick Mockler
Executive Director
Catholic Charities of California

November, 2001
For Catholic Diocesan Newspapers (reprinted with permission)

Since September 11, Catholic Charities across the country have been consumed with the response to victims and their families. In addition to attacks from abroad, however, millions of innocent immigrants living in this country are now becoming scapegoats: victims of violence, intimidation and isolation.

Rooted in the Scriptural mandate to welcome the stranger, Catholic Charities' work represents the local arm of the Church's ministry to refugees across the globe. When Sr. RayMonda DuVall, the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of San Diego, recently spoke to members of a local San Diego mosque, for example, she assured worshippers that after helping refugees to escape persecution abroad, the Catholic Church was not about to abandon them now.

Catholic Charities has resettled tens of thousands of refugees over the past 25 years in California, of which approximately 10% are from the Mid-East or South Asia. The U.S. Government has deemed these refugees to be suffering persecution in their home countries, which include Iraq, Kurdistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

Charities staff are confronting the temptation of target groups to isolate themselves. "In some cultures, if you are attacked you keep it to yourself," explains Reza Odabaee, who works with refugees at Catholic Charities in San Jose. Immigrants fear that they will appear vulnerable and are often not sure whom they can trust. A memory of persecution in their home country further intensifies this fear.

In Fresno, Catholic Charities recently created a fund for the family of Abdo Ali Ahmed, who was recently killed, evidently as a hate crime. Ahmed was a U.S. citizen originally from Yemen, who had lived in this country for 35 years, first as a farm worker and then a convenience store operator. Previously, he had received a written threat and just ignored it.

Charities staff are encouraging those who experience attacks or threats to contact law enforcement. Odabaee said that the backlash is not limited to any obvious group, and includes Asians, Africans and many Christians.

The most common form of backlash has not been physical violence, however. For example, in San Bernardino, Catholic Charities is counseling an Afghani family where the father was fired from his job after September 11. The family had come here to escape violence—the thirteen-year-old daughter had been ordered to marry the local warlord and the father refused. The family was forced to flee when warned that a group of men was coming to kill the family and take the young girl. An employer's decision to now fire the father illustrates the nature of the current backlash.

Civility is a hallmark of healthy societies and in America it is under siege. Muslim pastors—imams—describe children excluded from games on the playground, of insults that make mothers fearful of grocery shopping, and of men with turbans whom no one will look in the eye. Their plea is for Americans, and especially for people of faith, to reach out. Frightened and isolated, they are looking for someone to whom they can turn.

Catholic Charities is also seeking to improve relations among immigrant groups. In Orange County, for example, Catholic Charities has for the past 18 months been convening groups—some of whom were at war with each other in their home countries—to create a Multi-Cultural Resource Center. After September 11, Charities quickly launched the Center.

Last year, the U.S. Bishops approved a resource for parishes entitled Welcoming the Stranger Among Us, which assists parishes in receiving newcomers. Highlighting the Pope's recent plea on behalf of refugees, the Bishops' Office of Migration and Refugee Services emphasizes that being a stranger in a new land is difficult enough, without also becoming a target for misdirected rage.

As American Catholics, we should appreciate the experience of Muslim immigrants today. When Catholics first came to the United States in sizable numbers in the 1800s, we represented a minority religion and suffered many of the indignities of having our culture, values and allegiance called into question. Recalling that experience, we have an opportunity to reach out—to neighbors, co-workers and strangers—and to let them know that they are welcome.

Rick Mockler is Executive Director for Catholic Charities of California.  Visit the Catholic Charities of California web site for more information.  Rick Mockler’s e-mail address is rmockler@cacatholic.org.