Outcasts United
A Refugee Team, an American Town

Warren St. John

Luma Mufleh was raised in a well-to-do family in Jordan. She came to the United States for college and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts. She then chose to stay in the United States rather than returning to her family in Jordan. Her family cut her off. Luma was in the United States on her own with only the support of the friends she had made. In 1999 she moved to Clarkston, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

Clarkston had been a solid, middle class, white, Southern town. Then as it aged, the younger people started moving out. Some nice apartment complexes were sitting empty. International refugee organizations identified Clarkston as a good place to relocate people from war-torn Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and across Africa. People of all colors and cultures started moving in on one side of the town. Soon Clarkston found itself split into two groups.

Luma loves to play soccer. She saw many of the refugee boys playing pick up games. She wanted to do something about that. She approached the right people. Soon she had funding from the DeKalb County YMCA and the field at the Clarkston Community Center. She started putting together her teams.

The boys mostly came from single parent families. They just came to America from often horrendous situations. Most didn't speak English but were still entered into school classes for their age. Their parents were working at low paying jobs and out of the home part of the time. This America was not what they had imagined. When Luma offered the boys a chance to join the soccer team, they were excited. They could do something they loved in this strange new town.

The Fugees - their teams' name - and Clarkston soon became at odds. In Outcasts United, Warren St. John tells the story of the first few years of the Fugees team and the changes of the town of Clarkston. The established residents wanted to keep things as they were for the most part. They weren't ready for all the changes that were happening. More people in the old community were moving out. More of the new people were coming in. Plus the refugees came from many cultures, many that clashed before they came to the United States. These families didn't speak English or understand the American culture.

St. John slants this book towards the Fugees, their difficulties, and their first few years. Even so, he explains the attitudes of the voting citizens of Clarkston and their difficulties. It is very easy for the average middle class American to identify with the long time Clarkston residents.

This is a true story so the Fugees don't always win. Luma is a strict, demanding coach. There is a lot of conflict throughout the book - between the older residents and the newer residents; between the young men hanging out around the apartment complexes; between the new refugees and the red tape to get settled; between Luma and the boys on her teams. Yet this is a positive book. St. John shows that good things can come out of situations that look desperate.

Outcasts United is a book to show how America is changing again as new immigrants and refugees come in our country. Our history has us proud of accepting people from all countries and cultures. Yet great ideals don't always translate to day to day practice. Outcasts United shows reality and how we can work towards our ideals.