Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Susan Sarandon Compares Refugees to Jesus’ Family: ‘No Room at the Inn’ for Syrian Babies



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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