Outcast United By Warren St. John

Sam Meitz

Dr. Ramsay Wise

5/5/16

Two Worlds, One Family

The novel Outcast United by Warren St. John is about groups of refugee families from around the world coming to a small town in America to try and start a better life through employment, education, and even sports. Throughout their journey in Clarkston, Georgia they had to overcome many obstacles to achieve the American Dream. From unpleasant encounters with the police, violent gangs, to the hardship on the soccer field, resettlement in Clarkston was not an easy thing to do, regardless of your age. With the negative encounters the Clarkston refugees have had to face, is resettlement really possible? Throughout the novel, a sense of two worlds coming together is discovered and a group

Many of the children joined the gangs to feel a sense of belonging. Children who came to Clarkston were without friends and had hard time at school getting bullied because they were different. Many joined gangs with similar ethnic backgrounds. For example, Tito, a Liberian boy was apart of a gang called “The Africans”. Altercations arose between this gang and the American gang because of trespassing on one anothers turf. The result was a gunshot wound to the jaw. Very little witnesses were there because of the time of night it was at, but when someone was accused, it was a little African American boy. This incident not only affected Tito and his family but also the fugees U15 soccer team that Tito was on, showing a real struggle these refugees faced.

“Luma feared gang members might show up to try to take revenge for their friend who had been arrested. She canceled practices and got the word out to her players not to show up to the field at Indian Creek until further notice” (170). Luma didn’t want to risk any of her other players getting hurt on her time with them. Her canceling a few practice could affect the fugees soccer season. Also with her canceling practices it was giving the other fugee soccer players a chance to join the gangs due to the fact they were not on the soccer

Luma starting varies boy soccer teams made it a save place for the kids ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen. They got to come practice and play in games with a bunch of boys were who also all refugees. Creating the name the Fugee’s. Luma didn’t make the soccer team an easy thing to do, Luma herself was a very strong willed woman. She had a tough outer core, “She was a tough older sister….very tough love, Inma said” (16). Inma being Luma’s sister told it how it was. Deep down Luma cared but on the outside it never showed. Which for the Fugee soccer team helped them a lot. With the families just being thrown into the country many to almost all of them didn't know how to live among American families. With Luma’s help on and off the soccer field many boys started to learn the American ways. For the Ziaty family Luma wasn’t just a coach, she was a friend. All four boys played soccer for Luma. Luma didn’t hand out many chances so for the team they finally ran out. After disrespecting Luma multiple times and not listening to her instructions for practice, she then canceled the U15 soccer team. Mandela Ziaty who was on took the loss of the team harder than most of the other boys. He was persisted to get the soccer team