You Can’t Throw Facts at Fear

I was conversing with a person here at the Welcoming Economies Global Network conference who said that you can’t throw facts at fear.  You may have all the statistics in the world – immigrants founded 40% of Fortune 500 companies, immigrants commit crimes and are incarcerated at a much lower rate than the general population – but it won’t matter if your audience is convinced that immigrants are job-stealing law breakers. 

Facts matter, but we know from social science that the best way to persuade someone is through personal experience.  When you meet an immigrant or refugee, when you are able to talk with them and learn about them, that’s when you can start to believe, as another conference attendee said, that immigration is the most glorious part of America.

Take Joseph.  I met him at breakfast on the first day of the conference. He is from Liberia, but he had to flee the country in the midst of a civil war that claimed the lives of friends and family. He was resettled in Houston, became a citizen of the United States, and later moved to Pennsylvania where he now works in healthcare and is a passionate advocate for refugees and immigrants in the Philadelphia region.

He loves America, he said.  “In Liberia, I didn’t bother to vote.  The incumbent always won.  Here, I know my vote counts, I know it can make a difference. And I was able to study, I was able to get a job.”

Joseph lamented that some are resentful of the initial assistance that is granted to refugees.  “America made a small investment in me, and I have repaid it many times over...now I tell other refugees, ‘this country welcomes us, we have to try to give back.’”

Joseph is a visceral example of just how glorious America really is when we welcome people who are persecuted simply for wanting life and liberty.  We have to remember to go beyond the facts and figures and tell the stories of these New Americans, and celebrate how together we are writing the next chapter of the unlikely tale that first began 240 years ago.