REFUGEES IN AMERICA
Stories of courage, hope, & resilience in their own words.
Written by Lee T. Bycel
Foreward by Ishmael Beah
Photos by Dona Kopol Bonick
ORDER NOW AT AMAZON , BARNES & NOBLE , INDIEBOUND OR RUTGERS PRESS
Proceeds of the sale of the book are going to two outstanding refugee resettlement organizations: HIAS hias.org and International Rescue Committee rescue.org.
"It is not an easy road — but hope is the oxygen of my life."
These insightful words of Meron Semedar, a refugee from Eritrea, reflect the feelings of the eleven men and women featured in this book. These refugees share their extraordinary experiences of fleeing oppression, violence and war in their home countries in search of a better life in the United States.
Each chapter of Refugees in America focuses on an individual from a different country, from a 93-year-old Polish grandmother who came to the United States after surviving the horrors of Auschwitz to a young undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who became an American college graduate, despite being born impoverished and blind. Some have found it easy to reinvent themselves in the United States, while others have struggled to adjust to America, with its new culture, language, prejudices, and norms.
Each of them speaks candidly about their experiences to author Lee T. Bycel, who provides illuminating background information on the refugee crises in their native countries. Their stories help reveal the real people at the center of political debates about US immigration.
Giving a voice to refugees from such far-flung locations as South Sudan, Guatemala, Syria, and Vietnam, this book weaves together a rich tapestry of human resilience, suffering, and determination.
DONA KOPOL BONICK is an esteemed portraitist and artist whose photographic career spans three decades. The photography director for the inaugural BottleRock music festival, her works have appeared in many books, art museums, and private collections.
ISHMAEL BEAH whose work has been published in over 30 countries, is the New York Times Bestselling author of A Long Way Gone; Memoirs of a boy soldier and Radiance of Tomorrow, a novel. His next novel, The Lively Skeletons of Every Season, a novel, will be published by fall of 2019.
Madeleine K. Albright
Former Secretary of State
'Refugees in America is a timely, important, and deeply moving testament to the profound ways in which refugees have enriched our nation. By letting refugees tell their stories, Rabbi Lee Bycel reminds us of their humanity and our responsibilities to help them.'
Nancy A. Aossey
President & CEO, International Medical Corps
'Bycel’s powerful depiction of the lives of refugee families and their struggle for safety and freedom - from Iraq to Darfur - prove a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.'
Leon Botstein
President of Bard College
'This compelling book is a timely reminder that refugees are an indispensable part of the American nation. Their deeply affecting anecdotes of escape from terror highlight the existential motivations that continue to bring reasonable, desperate people to the United States. Readers will be inspired by the gratitude and hope in these pages.'
Rabbi David Saperstein
former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Magazine
'Lee Bycel offers us a compelling and astute look into the very difficult lives of refugees. His powerful insights and the historical context he provides make this compilation of deeply moving first-person stories an excellent primer for everyone—individuals, book groups, religious study groups, academic classes—who wishes to go beyond the myths and headlines into the real world of the refugee experience.”
Stephen A. Privett
SJ, President Emeritus, University of San Francisco, President, Verbum Dei High School
'Lee Bycel wrote this book to 'move readers to not only care deeply about the plight of refugees…but also deepen their resolve to help.' His touching profile of 11 refugees from around the world achieves that goal. This is definitely a book for our xenophobic times.'
Articles by Lee Bycel
World Refugee Day 2019
Meet Meron Semedar. He was born in Eritrea, a country whose people endure human rights violations, forced military conscription, brutal punishment for religious expression, torture and executions for political opposition, and life in prison for those who try to leave.
World Refugee Day 2018
Nobody wants to be a refugee. To be forced from your home, your family, all that is familiar. No one wants to be one of the 1,995 children separated from their families at the border because of a most inhumane policy...
Bearing Witness at the Border
Bearing witness is being present as an act of injustice is taking place. Bearing witness is seeing firsthand what the dispossessed and the most vulnerable are experiencing. Bearing witness can be uncomfortable. Bearing witness can be life changing. Bearing witness to our lives and the world around us is what the High Holy Days are all about.
The Haunting Voice Of The Refugee
Responding to the great moral challenge of our time. A first-hand report on the Syrian refugee crisis.
Where is the Conscience of the World
As I prepare to welcome in the Jewish New Year on Sunday night, I am plagued by the plight of the Syrian people. I am deeply concerned by the silence of the world. I hear the voices of the many refugees I met this summer in Europe who said to me: All we want is the world to hear our cries for help.
A Heartbreaking Anniversary; The Yezidis Cry For Help
Most were deeply moved by the compelling picture of the Yezidi people trapped by ISIS in early August 2014, yet for most that image has become but a memory. That picture provides a lens into a most tragic story. The Yezidis call August 3 the “turning point.” Approximately 5,000 Yezidi people were slaughtered in early 2014.
Why I Teach Holocaust and Genocide
Early in life, I learned the unambiguous and powerful words “Never again.” I actually thought the expression would create a new human ethic that would never again allow human beings to be systematically murdered for their religious, ethnic, national or racial identities. I was wrong.
Lee Bycel Blog: Notes from a Cautious Optimist
Uncategorized
It’s not enough to lament injustice, we must speak out for justice.
June 11, 2019Why I am writing a blog? I have some things to say about the human story throughout the world. This is beyond politics. This is about resilience, stre...
Spring 2020 Schedule
Paramount Theatre, Oakland
Guest Speaker
US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Naturalization Ceremony
January 15, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Oshman Family JCC, Palo Alto
January 19, 2020, 5pm
3921 Fabian Way Palo Alto, CA 94303.
https://www.paloaltojcc.org/Events/refugees-in-america
Temple Sinai of North Dade
January 24-25, 2020
https://www.facebook.com/pg/templesinaind/events/
Temple Judea, Coral Gables,
January 26 and January 28, 2020
https://www.judeagables.org/adult-learning
Books @ Books
Monday, January 27, 8pm
Coral Gables, Florida
https://booksandbooks.com/event/dr-lee-bycel/
Los Angeles, CA
Hebrew Union College
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
12: 00 - 1:30 pm
San Luis Obispo, CA
February 21-22, 2020
Congregation Beth David
https://tockify.com/jewishslocounty/detail/331/1582340400000
Irvine,CA
Irvine, March 12-15, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot
https://www.shmtemple.com/events/scholar-in-residence-3-12-2020/
San Francisco, CA
March 24, 2020
Congregation Emanu-El
San Diego ,CA
Congregation Beth Israel
Monday, April 6, 2020
New York City, World Refugee Day
June 20, 2020
Temple Emanuel
Contact
For review copies, interviews, or publicity-related items, please contact Courtney Brach at 848-445-7775, or send an email using the form below