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Hot! When Sudanese Refugees Come To America

Posted April 6, 2011 / 26970 views / 16 Comments

An amazing exposition in cultural differences when Sudanese refugees are brought to America.

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  • Anonymous

    well it only took 4 minutes and 58 seconds to ruin the rest of my day here in america. throughout the video i was just wishing i could speak to these men and show them that we’re not all like this. At first, i was happy to see the woman in the pool speaking to them in a friendly manner. It was almost like “yes! here’s an advocate for us nice good humans here!” And then, out of nowhere, condescending ignorance. “You feel like you’ve got more freedom here don’t you!?” and so as not to seem rude, these boys hesitated (not knowing how to say “No this place is a prison of efficiency, a factory producing a watered down version of life”). And she jumped on that hesitation, answering “YEAH” FOR them. How we live is the only thing more disappointing than how we are perceived.

    • Anonymous

      Very well put, exactly what I was thinking but I couldn’t have expressed it so well

      • Anonymous

        I’m glad this is the top comment (some of the others are disgusting). You captured my feelings as a Canadian as well.

        • Anonymous

          Awesome, even Canadians agree that this place is a horrible place to be. Long live Ameri…. oh never mind…

    • Anonymous

      Im glad to know though that there are still americans that have your kind of sensitivity and perception of the society’s idiosincracy that surrounds you.
      It’s hard and not common to have that sharp kind of perception of your own social group.

    • Anonymous

      you give me hope. hope for America.

    • Joe

      Perhaps the lady in the pool was condescending, but she was friendly and her ignorance is debatable. In your rush to judgement you have missed a huge issue: these men are refugees – which means they must be running from something. It is possible that they are not political refugees, but it is far more likely that they are. The Sudanese government has been accused by many NGO’s of widespread abuses including the kidnapping, rape, enslavement, murder, and torture of thousands of people. Basically if the Sudanese government does not like someone, anything goes. Given this background, it’s pretty safe to assume that they do in fact have more freedom in America than back home. After all, why would they leave Sudan as refugees if everything was fine.

      It is also extremely condescending and naive of you to judge all of America based on just a few people. As you said yourself, “we’re not all like this.” In fact, in the same video a nice lady gives them a free donut. A donut doesn’t cost much, but it’s symbolic.

      Any immigrant or expat can tell you that there will culture shock when you move to a new country. There are some huge differences even between countries that are quite similar like America and England. For one, they drive on the wrong side of the road. And do you have any idea how many stones you weigh? If an American moved to Sudan they would say “what the hell are these strangers coming to my house all the time?” Or maybe, “I’m not lost. Why do they keep asking me if I know where I’m going?” Also, it seems like these men were from smaller villages. If they were from a large city, like Khartoum then they might have an easier time adjusting. The reason being then they would be familiar with showers, electricity, and modern technology. By the way, if you think that the old man in the grocery store was staring pretty hard – try being the only white guy in a Chinese village. People literally come up and touch you everywhere. As for Americans, not being friendly…pfff. They would change their minds in a heartbeat if they went to Germany or Egypt or many other places.

      If you look at the world through pessimistic lenses then that’s what you will find. The stores owner must be racist. They must be afraid of these Sudanese men because they are prejudiced. Well, you could say that. But really, large groups of young men of any color are intimidating – especially in light of current effects (e.g. the riots in England). Focus on the positives. This video clearly shows that no matter where people are from they have a lot in common; like our hatred for airline food or the curiosity of children. The clip also shows that – yes – there are some idiots in America. However, every country in the world has idiots, America is not special in that regard.

    • anon

      i agree very insightful and well summed-up. sad sad sad i almost cried for them. stoopeed american!

  • Kwesi mfume

    Americans being raped by sudanese “lost boys” is another joy of multiculturalism. How do these people benefit america?

    • Anonymous

      Ask the world for labour and don’t act surprised when people come. (along with their human faults). I think you are norrow-minded to say that because of a few, they are all of no benefit.

      To quickly answer your question, over 15% of GDP in the U.S.A. comes from cheap immigration labour.

    • Anonymous

      Basically everything benefits America, the only thing that doesn’t is people like you.

    • Anonymous

      Multiculturalism, one of the over indulgent malfunctions of our more modern society. To appreciate another culture means their food,music,dance ect. But to allow them to not assimilate to our constitution and accept the ways of the land they have come too is the destruction of our root culture. these men seemed to be over whelmed by our culture. Who ever brought them here should be ashamed of them self. They had the insight of those peoples culture and failed accurately describe the culture they thrust those Sudanese men into. I’m sure they told them how wonderful our country is. I’ll bet they hadn’t given them the expectation of our culture at all. In my opinion, the rudeness of our country is because of the thrusting of other culture upon us. Notice the children at the pool, their motive for interaction was strictly curiosity, discovery. Those boys from Sudan should bee ask directly if this is a culture that they can accept. If they are not sure or feel as if it is too much to deal with then send them back to where they are more comfortable. I could go on and on. Bottom line, is we don’t need any more people here that consider them selves oppressed when that isn’t the case. It leads to PC crap and more of what we got. Then nobody wants to discuss the issue face to face, they just issue another entitlement. In-turn we move another step closer to loosing our liberties in the name of equality.

      • Anonymous

        “asked if this is a culture they can accept”…

        Think about this, when North Americans travel to parts of the world for work or pleasure, they make cultural blunders as well. Also, do they really need to ‘accept’ everything about the country they are currently living in? I’ve been living in my country for decades and I still disagree with what much of the gov’t does.

    • Wow

      Rapists are everywhere. Including beautiful places like Honolulu, Hawaii and not-so beautiful places like Buffalo, New York. Someone you know is far more likely to rape you than somebody you don’t. A father is more likely to sexually abuse his daughter than a stranger. And the list goes on in ways that make it painfully obvious that you’re using rape as a means of justification for racism. If your going to be racist please do everyone a favour and just announce your intolerence instead trying to disguise it behind another problem rampant in the states.

  • Anonymous

    excellent point,
    thanks

  • Wandering

    I don’t think the point of this documentary was to make Americans feel bad, instead it should help open people’s eyes to how newcomers may view their culture or customs. Just as many people would be quick to label parts of the Sudanese culture ‘different’ or ‘weird’ the same can be done for any culture, including Americans. While an entire country cannot change overnight, enlightening people and providing these new and different views is important and not just to America either. Basically any country could benefit from seeing their culture from a foreigner’s point of view.

    Also, as a Canadian I feel it’s unfair to try and remove ourselves so entirely from the American culture (as one commentor has tried to do). Whether the States knows it or not, Canada is highly influenced by American culture through media (and interaction). In the southern Candadian provinces the culture really is not very different from those of the northern states.
    The point of that rant was to say, get off your high horse Canada, I love our country too, but that could have easily been us instead of USA in that video.

    More importantly, this documentary is a great learning opportunity for anybody.