If the Episcopal Church had agreed to resettle South African Boers, then it would have elevated a lie that will affect refugee resettlement for years to come.
The combination of the Trump administration granting expedited refugee status to white South Africans and the Episcopal Church ending a 40-year partnership with the federal government rather than help resettle fake refugees leaves me with contradictory feelings.
As an Episcopal priest and a dual citizen of the United States and South Africa, I am proud of the Episcopal Church for standing up and speaking out about the U.S. government’s lies of a white “genocide” in South Africa. In equal measure, I am devastated that the work our church has done for decades, giving hope and care to people forced to leave their homelands, is ending because of white supremacy and Christian nationalism.
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If the Episcopal Church had agreed to resettle South African Boers, then it would have elevated a lie that will affect refugee resettlement for years to come. If white South Africans are experiencing genocide, then it is truly an enviable genocide. White South Africans, who are about 7% of the country’s population, own about 75% of South Africa’s farmland and control a great majority of senior corporate positions. Our Palestinian brothers and sisters experiencing a true genocide would likely be happy if they had control over 30% of their ancestral land.
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The Episcopal Church has taken a moral stand. The Boers who arrived on U.S. soil this week are not refugees. They are white people using their privilege to leap over legitimate refugees who have been waiting to escape political repression and life-threatening situations.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-afrikaners-apartheid-refugees-genocide-rcna206660