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Outcasts United: A book about refugees, unity and community

Soccer brings together refugees from Somalia, Liberia, Afghanistan and Iraq in the small town of Clarkston, Georgia.

Outcasts United by Warren St. John

Photo: Random House

Nearly half the people in the small town of Clarkston, Georgia, are refugees from war-torn countries like Somalia, Liberia, Afghanistan and Iraq. The only thing many of the young boys from these families have in common is soccer. Jordanian immigrant Luma Mufleh, a soccer lover herself, connected to the sense of alienation these young men felt. Their families had been uprooted and relocated to dingy apartments. Inspired to help, she organized a soccer program through the local YMCA and has been coaching the boys ever since. Journalist Warren St. John tells their story in Outcasts United, an expanded version of the tale he told in The New York Times in 2007. This emotional narrative gives a detailed view of the daily challenges of resettlement amid the clash of cultures.

The Fugees, as the soccer team is called, are divided by race and nationality. Many of the boys are haunted by traumas inflicted in their home countries. Yet with Mufleh’s ferocious leadership—which encompasses everything from negotiating cultural divides to helping the boys’ family members get jobs—this ragtag group comes together, eventually competing with much more affluent local teams. St. John describes how the boys responded to tensions in Clarkston, where the immigrants triggered both empathy and racism. Mufleh had to fight the town for permission to play on the town’s all-purpose field, which the mayor claimed was for baseball only, while the boys endured taunts and bigotry during games. Through it all, they forge bonds with each other and earn the respect of their competitors.

Carmel Wroth

Chalk one up for the outcasts