Dear Friends,

In 1969, I went to South Africa as an American Field Service (AFS) exchange student. AFS had its beginnings in World War I, where, when war broke out in 1914, the American colony of Paris organized an “ambulance” (the French term for a temporary military hospital). Later in the war (and before the United States joined the effort on the side of the Allies) American volunteers became ambulance drivers in the sense we think of them today, ferrying wounded soldiers from the front to hospitals in the rear.

AFS performed similar work in World War II. The experience of those involved in the conflicts led them to create an organization that offered international scholarships to bring foreign students to the U.S., in the hope of building understanding among peoples. AFS’s motto, “Walk Together, Talk Together” (based on an ancient Sanskrit proverb) expresses its idealistic intent: to build bridges among people.

My own family had hosted a Dutch student a couple of years before I traveled to Bloemfontein, the capital of the then-Orange Free State, the bastion of Afrikaner culture. I lived with a host family, attended Christian Brothers Academy with their sons, and experienced apartheid firsthand. My host family spoke Afrikaans (a language similar to Dutch) English, and some Sotho (the language of the black African people whose lived in a nearby segregated township and whose home “country” is Lesotho). We had two Sotho people as servants Evelyn and Elijos who lived in a small building at the rear of the family’s property.

The Sharpeville Massacre happened nine years before I arrived. This was when 69 people were killed and 180 injured by police during a protest against the “Pass Laws” (laws that regulated travel between Black Townships and white communities. Nelson Mandela was serving a prison sentence that would last 27 years, until 1990. The policy and system of segregation and discrimination known as apartheid would go on for another 25 years before it formally ended in 1994. However, its legacy continues. In 2017, 72% of South Africa farmland was owned by whites. This stark disparity is a direct result of historical land dispossession under colonialism and apartheid.

I share all this information to provide context for the Presiding Bishop’s decision to decline the Trump administration’s request to participate in the fast-tracked immigration of Afrikaners, part of the white minority in South Africa that formerly governed the country until the end of the extreme racial segregation of apartheid. You can read the Presiding Bishop’s letter here.

The church’s organization that has been involved in refugee resettlement is Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM). EMM resettled nearly 110,000 refugees over nearly 40 years, but it has not assisted any new arrivals since early this year, when the current administration halted the broader federal resettlement program indefinitely.

Until the program was suspended, the United States had opened its doors to up to 125,000 refugees a year, with the largest numbers originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR), Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, and Myanmar (formerly Burma). Many had fled war-torn regions like Sudan, while others came from countries where citizens face persecution for their past support of the United States military.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe wrote in his letter, “I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country. I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months…It has been painful to watch one group of refugees [the Afrikaners], selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,”

Although it has been many years since I lived in South Africa, I’ve done my best to keep current on the news from that country, especially on the Episcopal Church’s historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. This church was blessed by many visits to the U.S. from the charismatic Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu in the past, as he brought Christ’s message of healing and forgiveness. The Presiding Bishop consulted with Archbishop Tutu’s successor, Thabo Makgoba, in deciding not to participate in the immigration of the 50 Afrikaners who were granted refugee status.

There’s a broad consensus that the U.S. immigration system is not working. I share that opinion. But fast-tracking the immigration of a small number of white South Africans while allowing others languish (including those who supported our troops abroad), is not the way to fix it. Scripture is clear about how foreigners, especially those who have suffered repression, should be treated: “When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don’t take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34). My hope is that this “Dear Friends” gives you a broader perspective on the Presiding Bishop’s decision and underscores our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate