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"Do Not Forget Us!"

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2018

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Extract

One of America's senior black leaders, Bayard Rustin was organizer of Martin Luther King, Jr. 's 1963 March on Washington. His article on the Indochinese refugees and ‘ ‘boat people'’ appeared in black newspapers in the U.S.

A new “invisible man” has been born within our midst—the Southeast Asian refugee. Shunted from country to country, over 150,000 -of these “invisible people” cling to a precarious existence in scores of refugee camps that dot non- Communist Asia. They have a simple and solitary message for the international community: “Do not forget us!“

Some well-meaning people have said to me: “The black community suffers from record high unemployment. Why should blacks be concerned about Southeast Asian refugees? They'll only take jobs and housing that black people desperately need.” Such an attitude is understandable, but allow me to describe the enormity and urgency of the refugee problem.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 1978

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