They migrate from the lands of their birth
to escape the endless internecine warfare
the violence of tribal and sectarian antipathies
endemic poverty and disease to those lands
willing to accept them as refugees to be
viewed with compassion and welcome
and they make a place for themselves in
secluded ghettos where the culture they are
most familiar with imbues them with the
emotional security of heritage among others
like themselves. They are not assimilable
into the prevailing culture, alien to them
emotionally inhospitable valuing the ethos
of human rights, equality and respect for
all. Many have brought with them mental
illness, resentment of authority, ill-will
toward others not like themselves making
it inevitable that there will be casualties
when one from Somalia who has attacked
women dies while in the process of being
subdued, another from Sudan wielding a scythe
kills a medical professional attempting to
cure his patient of the disease that ails him
the incompatibility of cultures and values
difficult to transcend benefiting no one.
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