Posted by Ann Corcoran on June 10, 2016
You’ve been seeing the phrase in news reports….
So where did it come from?
‘Pockets of resistance’ is what the federal bureaucracy initially called us! We liked the description so much that we have made it our own!
I just did a quickie look around for the idiom ‘pockets of resistance’ and see that it usually is a reference to a small group of people resisting domination. Hmmm! When I first heard it to describe us—anyone questioning the UN/US government’s colonization of our communities with third world refugees—I thought of the famous, tough and brave French resistance to Hitler’s domination of France.
Pockets of resistance in WWII France fought bravely against Hitler’s domination of the country
I first heard the phrase uttered (in derogatory tones) by an employee of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement three years ago (June 2013) in Lancaster, PA, and was amazed that federal bureaucrats and their refugee contractors had actually taken time to ‘brand’ us.
They mentioned three states where ‘pockets of resistance’ had formed—Georgia, New Hampshire (because of Gatsas) and Tennessee.
Now there are many many more in a national network of ‘pockets of resistance!’
Up until a reader from Tennessee directed me to a 2012 news story posted at the UNITED NATIONS, I assumed the phrase originated in the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS), but check this out: The UNHCR, when reporting on a US State Department trip to mollify Tennesseans, references the phrase!
The U.S. State Department’s head of refugees met with local officials Thursday. His visit is partially in response topockets of resistance to resettlement in Tennessee.
So, it appears that the inner circles at both the US State Department and at the Dept. of Health and Human Services were both using ‘pockets of resistance’ when discussing America citizens’ concerns about the program. Amazing!
See our category, pockets of resistance, here.
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