THE ST. LOUIS REFUGEE SHIP BLUES: ART SPIEGELMAN RECOUNTS A SAD STORY 70 YEARS LATER

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 22 Jun 2009

Human Rights First-USA

In this cartoon commentary in The Washington Post on World Refugee Day [June 20], Spiegelman uses the familiar character from his graphic novel, Maus, to look back on how we treated refugees in 1939 – notably the refusal of the U.S. to grant entry to 900 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. Spiegelman connects this to the present with a compelling visual – "FREE! ORANGE JUMPSUITS AND HANDCUFFS" sign next to the Statue of Liberty, and a reference to our report on detention conditions for refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

Art Spiegelman addresses several very important issues: refugee crises then and now, as well as the unacceptability of hatred and intolerance, racism and xenophobia. Mr. Spiegelman’s visual commentary is inspired by and references the excellent report by our colleagues from the Refugee Protection Program that documents ways in which U.S. detention of asylum seekers is inconsistent with international human rights standards—U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison.
 
In our own report last year, we showed that in a range of countries, refugees and asylum seekers were among the principal targets of racist and religiously motivated violence. These immigrants often were distinguished by their appearance, language, religion and customs, particularly in largely homogenous societies.

CLICK TO VIEW: ‘The St. Louis Refugee Ship Blues – Art Spiegelman Recounts a Sad Story 70 Years Later’

Fighting Discrimination Team

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 22 Jun 2009.

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