Hollywood icon Richard Gere expressed feeling “ashamed” of how the United States is managing migration during the launch of a new initiative in Berlin.
“Everyone is an immigrant or a refugee or migrant,” Gere stated at the event marking the partnership between his foundation and the Hertie School, a public policy university in Berlin.
“We often talk about migrants and refugees as if they’re separate from us. As if they belong to another category of human beings,” said the 76-year-old star of “American Gigolo”, “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Pretty Woman”.
“The US government calls them aliens,” Gere, who is a strong critic of former President Donald Trump, remarked. “They were once called vermin; now it’s aliens. I’m deeply ashamed of this, I want you to know.”
The Joint Initiative on Migration aims to foster “a new perspective, new politics and new policies on migration”, according to the school. It will focus on migration from Africa to Europe and promote moving away from “hostility-based to opportunities-led policymaking”.
“Migration is often discussed through statistics, border policies, quotas, election campaigns.. racism,” Gere mentioned, adding that “European governments frequently concentrate on reducing arrivals rather than tackling the root causes” of migration.
German Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan noted that this initiative was being launched “at a time when public discussions about displacement and migration are becoming increasingly hostile and polarized, making it very hard to find sustainable solutions.”
Gere has been active in humanitarian efforts for decades and has supported projects aimed at aiding refugees, improving public health, education, emergency relief, as well as promoting culture-especially within Tibetan communities.
In August 2019, he boarded the Open Arms rescue ship near Lampedusa where migrants were stuck after being denied entry.
Gere criticized Trump at an awards ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday by calling him a “maniac” who has “dismantled almost everything that was good” about America.
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