New neighbors

Southern hospitality in demand

While some folks from Louisiana and Mississippi who fled Hurricane Ida might be staying in the southern part of this state temporarily, refugees from even further away will soon arrive at a new home in northwest Arkansas.

“An as-yet unknown number of evacuated Afghans will arrive in northwest Arkansas with as little as 48 hours notice after having escaped, in some cases, with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the papers say. “All the refugees will need a friendly, welcoming face— someone who can show them ‘where to shop for groceries or a park their kids can play in,’” said Joanna Krause, executive director of Canopy NWA.

These folks, new to the area and the hemisphere, are some of the lucky ones who were able to escape Afghanistan before the Taliban officially took hold of every nook and cranny of the infamous graveyard of empires. For some, the escape was so down to the wire that what they have is what you see—clothes on their backs and a pair of lungs to breathe free.

Now that they’re here in America, they’ll likely receive a small federal stipend normally available for refugees. But it won’t be enough to truly live. And we’re not talking about the money.

For many people, maybe most, to live—to be happy, to thrive—means having welcoming neighbors. Loving thy neighbor, a highly regarded instruction by a noted Book, may be in the national interest, given that most of these new neighbors probably helped the United States in a war that we waged after 9/11.

From what we’ve read, the process of evacuating Afghanistan was so uncoordinated that we left perhaps hundreds of Americans behind. A general told the papers that “most” of the Afghans who helped the Americans during the 20-year war in central Asia were left behind as well. So the ones who made it here are not only lucky, but almost guaranteed to have their papers in order.

You’ve heard about southern hospitality on these shores. But you might be surprised to learn that the phrase goes all the way back to 1835 when author Jacob Abbott wrote, “[T]he hospitality of southerners is so profuse that taverns are but poorly supported. A traveler, with the garb and the manners of a gentleman, finds a welcome at every door.

“Conversation flows cheeringly, for the southern gentleman has a particular tact in making a guest happy. After dinner you are urged to pass the afternoon and night, and if you are a gentleman in manners and information, your host will be in reality highly gratified by your so doing. Such is the character of southern hospitality.”

Kind words for our region, especially given that Mr. Abbott was born and died in Maine. Not that there’s anything wrong with Maine. It produces great editors. But it’s the farthest northeastern American place from these latitudes. So you know Mr. Abbott was an impartial judge of character.

The hospitality he wrote of more than a century ago is exactly what these newly-arriving refugees are looking for.

Yet it may be that these refugees might face a bully or two in the form of misguided types who can’t tell the difference between Taliban, ISIS, and refugees. Just a few years back, a mosque in Fort Smith was vandalized with swastikas and messages like “Go home.” Go home to where? Could it be that people of other religions might could be born here?

We remember after Sept. 11, 2001, a neighborhood shop owned by a Muslim family from overseas was threatened by some nut. And it so warmed our hearts when the community turned out in spades, ordering take-out and going out of their way to show the shop owners how much they were appreciated as part of the community. That was southern hospitality, and the American spirit, all wrapped up in one.

Remember the words of President George W. Bush: “Here in the United States our Muslim citizens are making many contributions in business, science and law, medicine and education, and in other fields. Muslim members of our armed forces and of my administration are serving their fellow Americans with distinction, upholding our nation’s ideals of liberty and justice in a world at peace.”

These refugees arriving in northwest Arkansas are looking for their chance to do all those same things. To contribute to business, science, law, education and more. So remember to wave. Mama would be proud.

One day, they might even learn to call the hogs on Saturdays.