Labeling and generalization are easy ways to depersonalize people. It's simple enough to hang a disparaging term on someone seen as a threat, rival or enemy. This is especially common in the context of immigration, where phrases such as "illegal aliens" cast a sinister, inhuman light onto people whose needs and motivations society makes inadequate effort to understand.
Common ground can be found in a very human emotion – fear. Everyone is afraid of something, and our fears can compel us to take extreme steps. In the case of asylum seekers, the fear of persecution due to things they can't change – or shouldn't be expected to change – is intense enough to drive them from their homes. Deeper understanding of the factors that lead to migration will lead us beyond fight-or-flight reactions and toward social change.
Asylum seekers are unique among the millions of migrants on the move around the world today. While many migrants are escaping poverty or hunger in their homelands, and growing numbers are on the move because of climate change or war, asylum seekers often are running for their lives. Beyond the persecution they face, their stakes become higher given the risks of travel and the potential that their requests will be denied. This focusing activity offers simple perspective on their plight.
Begin by explaining the simple rules in these or similar words: "There's no skill to this game, only luck. While some will win and many will lose, in real life, the outcome could be life or death. This game will dramatize the challenges that asylum seekers experience. Everybody on their feet!"
- Ask one or more volunteers to define asylum, then share this definition: ""Legal permission to stay in the U.S. for protection because a person fears violence or persecution in their country."
- Ask students to raise either one or two fingers. Explain: "To stay in the U.S., you first have to get here from your home country. There is no way to tell how many people die, are detained or give up as they travel to the U.S., so we'll simplify and say that only half make it. If you raised two fingers, sit down. You're out."
- Ask the remaining students to raise anywhere from one to seven fingers. Explain: "People fearing violence or persecution have a lot of good reasons to run, but the United States only recognizes five causes. If you raised one or seven fingers, sit down. You're out."
- Ask the remaining students to raise one, two or three fingers. Explain "Once people reach the U.S. and apply for asylum, there's a two-in-three chance that their request will be denied. If you raised one or three fingers, sit down. You're out."
- Invite all students to give the winners a standing ovation and remain standing.
Explain that this game was an overly simplified dramatization. The fear that drives people to leave behind their homes and families is nothing to make light of.
- Ask those who raised two fingers and were eliminated at the start of the game to imagine and name the causes of fear that would inspire them to take a risk with such a great chance of failure. Then invite them to sit again.
- Ask the students who raised one or seven figures in the second round to think about domestic abuse and gang violence. Then ask "Should fear of being attacked by a violent gang or an abusive spouse be a valid reason to flee your homeland for a new country?" Explain that the U.S. once granted asylum to such victims but no longer does. It only considers people who've been persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Ask those who held up two to six fingers if they think it is fair to limit acceptance to those five conditions. Invited the "ones" and "sevens" to sit again.
- Ask the students who raised one or three fingers in the final round why they think their odds were so poor. Explain that while the fate of asylum seekers lies in the hands of judges, those with legal representation have a five times greater chance of success. Ask the "ones" and "threes" how it feels to have money play a big role in their failure.
- Conclude by asking students what other challenges might successful asylum seekers experience in the U.S., as well as discussing the emotions of unsuccessful asylum seekers as they return to their homelands.
Loving God, light the path of the persecuted.
Enlighten those who threaten or harm people because they're different.
Encourage those who take drastic steps so that they might live in safety.
Open hearts and minds so that all your people might live in peace.
Amen.
Approximate reading time for this article: 13 minutes
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