Images of Aylan Kurdi

Devichand, M. (2015, September 3). Has one picture shifted our view of refugees? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43142804

This article is about Aylan Kurdi, the three year old Syrian boy whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish shore and the impact his death had on the way people view refugees. The image of this little boy being carried by a Turkish policeman was shared via a Turkish news agency and then of course made its way onto social media. People on social media then had their own debates. Those started at whether or not the image(s) of Aylan’s lifeless body should be the ones shared (versus images of when he was alive) to the moral issues concerning the Arab states’ lack of responsibility towards Arab refugees and changes to asylum systems in the west.

I chose this source and topic because I felt it lent a much deeper view of what these refugees go through and risk. I think it is important when thinking about problems like this refugee crisis to keep in mind even the most harrowing details. A lot of people focus on much more general topics such as what to call the people involved in this crisis but I do not think focusing on what to call them is nearly as important as remembering that these are human beings that are in danger. The article “Fedussa’s Story: Surviving the Mediterranean migrant crossing” is good at illustrating the horrific things a lot of these refugees would have to deal with on their venture. The article opens with Fedussa explaining “You get scared when you first board. You have already accepted you are dead.” Immediately I can imagine Aylan’s mother and father thinking perhaps the very same things as they boarded a boat with their two small children not fully knowing that three of them would not survive. It is amazing how the exclusion (at least temporary) of refugees from safer and more hospitable places can put so many people in immediate danger. Of course there are many details that need to be figured out before anybody can be allowed into a country that is not their own because complications do happen when masses of people decide to go to the same place. I am not saying that people should simply be allowed into these European countries but I do think there should be more help for them. This crisis has been going on for a very long time and the fact that things aren’t looking much better and that there are still so many people in danger is heartbreaking.

I had learned about Aylan Kurdi at the end of September when I had read an article on the Hungarian camera woman who had been caught kicking at and tripping refugees as they ran from police officers. It was one of those butterfly effect sort of findings. The article I had previously found on Aylan had very graphic images and it struck a much deeper cord with me. I wanted to show this really sad side of the migration. The article was posted the day after he died and here we are almost two months after that and I feel that the attention towards not only this death but all of them has not received enough attention worldwide. Sure there was a quick spark from many people but two months later we should still be thinking about Aylan and other refugees and the dangers they encounter.