Susan Sarandon Compares Refugees to Jesus’ Family: ‘No
Room at the Inn’ for Syrian Babies
by Daniel
Nussbaum 29 Dec 2015
Susan Sarandon spent
the Christmas holiday on the Greek island of Lesbos assisting international
organizations with the mounting Syrian refugee crisis — a crisis, she says,
that recalls the travails of Joseph and Mary on their way to the Inn in
Bethlehem.
In a column
for the Huffington
Post and RYOT, the 69-year-old
Oscar-winning actress described meeting a 16-year-old girl who had apparently
given birth shortly before arriving on the island.
“I smile and approach her, but without a translator, our
conversation is basic-friendly,” Sarandon wrote of her experience. “She takes
the bundle next to her and opens it to me. Inside is a perfect, rosy, newborn.”
The actress continues:
She is beaming, so proud. How did this young girl, just
having given birth, manage that trip at sea? How did she do all that walking?
Where did she give birth?
Wasn’t Mary just a kid too when she and Joseph took to
the road? So far, there is no manger for this Syrian baby, no room at the inn.
Sarandon’s short column is part of a new collaborative
series with the Huffington Post and the “virtual reality” network RYOT called The
Crossing, which will see the actress host a series of reports “chronicling
the refugee crisis as it unfolds in Greece.”
Sarandon detailed her week-long trip to the Greek island
in an interview
with the Guardian this week. She told the paper that she
packed granola bars, emergency blankets, socks, and hand warmers to distribute
to the refugees and reportedly assisted at least four different international organizations
working on the island.
“I wanted to learn from the refugees, take their stories
and somehow put them on the Internet,” Sarandon told the Guardian. “My
main goal was to humanize the issue and have them be real people, not
politicize it.”
The actress also criticized the political discourse
surrounding the refugee
crisis in the United States: “It seemed like people who had the loudest voices
were the most xenophobic and un-American,” she said.
Sarandon isn’t
the only actor to have visited the Greek island to assist
international aid efforts for refugees; Homeland star Mandy
Patinkin recently spent time there assisting the International Rescue Committee
after wrapping production on the fifth season of the hit Showtime drama.
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is
goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Note: Maureen White was
a U.S. representative for UNICEF, a board
of overseers chair for the International
Rescue Committee, is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and married to Steven
L. Rattner.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, the Harlem Children's Zone, Refugees
International, and the New America
Foundation.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a
benefactor at the Harlem Children's Zone,
is a director emeritus for Refugees
International, and Jonathan Soros’s
father.
Matthew C. Blank
is a trustee at the Harlem Children's
Zone, and the chairman & CEO for the Showtime Networks.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone, is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, and a friend of Steven
L. Rattner.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun
Control” group for guns.
Kenneth B. Lerer
is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and was a co-founder & chairman for the Huffington Post.
Steven L. Rattner
is a friend of Michael R. Bloomberg,
married to Maureen White, and a director
at the New America Foundation.
Jonathan Soros is
a director at the New America Foundation,
and George Soros’s son.
Maureen White is
married to Steven L. Rattner, a
director at the International Rescue
Committee, was a board of overseers chair for the International Rescue Committee, and a U.S. representative for UNICEF.
Susan Sarandon is
goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
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