Westy Egmont

One of the biggest stories in the news this week is the plight of the refugees of the current war in Syria, a conflict that has forced half of its residents to leave their homes. Today, one in every five Syrians, or four million people, are refugees in its neighboring countries and that number only continues to grow. As camps become inundated, and the crisis of displaced persons worsens, the world looks to the West to offer hope and respite to the men, women, and children forced to flee this war. Germany has agreed to shoulder its share of the burden, suggesting that as many as 800,000 Syrians could resettle within its borders. This past week, President Obama said the U.S. would expand the number of Syrians it would agree to resettle to 10,000.

This week, BCSSW Professor Westy Egmont has offered his experienced voice to the conversation around Syria’s refugees, appearing on Nightside with Dan Rea, a WBZ-produced radio talk show carried by stations in 38 states, and in an interview with Boston.com. In the WBZ segment, entitled “What Can the U.S. Do for Syrian Refugees?” Egmont offered this reflection:

The refugee crisis that has come out of Syria is an enormous moral question. Who is responsible? Am I my brother’s keeper to the world’s stateless people? Do we care enough, are we compassionate people, humanitarian enough to make room… for those who have fled their country?

For Egmont’s thoughts on this huge question, and to listen to his engaging conversation with Rea and callers from around the country, we encourage you to listen to the Nightside segment in its entirety.

Since the Nightside appearance, Egmont has continued to be a much sought-after voice on the Syrian refugee crisis.  Here are a few of his additional media appearances on this topic:

And for more of Professor Egmont’s perspective on immigration issues:

  • Read his piece“A More Welcoming Nation” in the latest edition of BC Social Work Magazine for his take on what we need to do to live up to our country’s history of inclusion.
  • Watch him respond to Obama’s executive action on immigration in this clip from CNN.