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United States And The Refugees Of Afghanistan

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Corinne Archambault World History
7/21/15 Ms. Sara Shelley 2nd Semester Outcast United To the townspeople of Clarkston, Georgia, home meant small houses with white picket fences. . To the refugees of Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Liberia, and Sudan to name a few, home had meant small wooden shacks and dirt roads; until civil wars destroyed their villages and towns. All of a sudden, home to the refugees now meant small bare-walled apartments in Clarkston, Georgia. Warren St. John’s Outcasts United, illustrates the struggles of both the refugees and the townspeople as they adapt to the changes in Clarkston. In particular, St. John focuses on a refugee soccer team led by a Jordanian woman named Luma Mufleh. While the soccer team helped refugee families adjust to American Lifestyle, it prompted changes in the community that the townspeople of Clarkston were not ready to acknowledge. The Clarkston residents had to alter their lifestyle economically, religiously, and culturally to accommodate for the changes the refugees brought.
The townspeople needed to change the way they ran their businesses in order to attract customer. Bill Mehlinger was the owner of Thriftown, a grocery store in the middle of Clarkston. In 1990, when Mehlinger bought the grocery store he had a customer base of half black half white. To cater to his customers, Mehlinger made sure the store had all American choices (173). The store was doing well until Clarkston’s population began

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