Maryville College to host immigration forum featuring famed restaurateur Yassin Terou

Photo of Yassin Terou
Yassin Terou

A nationally respected Syrian-American restaurateur, the leader of a local organization that extends hospitality to refugees and an immigration attorney are three of the guests who will speak at a forum on May 5 hosted by Maryville College.

History professor Dr. Doug Sofer is one of the organizers of the event, titled “Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Tennessee Today.” He aims to strip away political rhetoric from the evening’s discussion, instead putting it into a historical and humanitarian context.

“As a center of learning, we at Maryville College understand that people can best navigate complex issues when they’re informed. Immigration is an important issue that can feel very overwhelming and complicated, especially when we’re talking about people from other countries you may not know much about. The point is to try and defuse some of the fearmongering that happens on all sides of the political spectrum.”

To that end, Sofer will be joined by Sherry Brewer, former member of the Maryville College Board of Church Visitors and organizer of the local group Welcoming Immigrant Neighbors-Blount County (WIN-BC); Syrian immigrant Yassin Terou, who built the Knoxville-based restaurant Yassin’s Falafel House into an establishment named the “Nicest Place in America” by Reader’s Digest; and Arlene Amarante, an assistant professor at Lincoln Memorial University who specializes in asylum and refugee law.

Sofer will provide a short academic presentation designed to highlight the historical and political contexts behind immigration, he said.

“The fact is that refugees and asylum seekers are a major component of world politics today, and you can’t understand the modern world without understanding refugees,” said Sofer, whose specialty is Latin American history. “I’m going to talk about the big picture, historically, of refugees and asylum seekers, and that includes things like treaties the U.S. government has signed over the years.

Photo of Arlene Amarante
Arlene Amarante

“The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution says that supreme law of the land consists of the Constitution itself, plus federal laws and treaties, meaning that whether we like it or not, if the U.S. has signed these treaties, we’re honor-bound to observe them, and those include giving people a fair shot at making their case for asylum or refugee status.”

Terou — who grew up in Damascus, Syria, before escaping in 2011 as the country collapsed into civil war — will discuss his experiences as a refugee in East Tennessee. After being granted an asylum visa, he came to Knoxville and attempted to navigate the complexities of living in a foreign country while learning the language and connecting with a community at the Annoor Mosque in Knoxville. He began selling falafel to friends who fell in love with his cooking, and when one offered to help him open a restaurant, he turned it into a place renowned for both food and positivity.

Amarante will then discuss the legal context of immigration, using personal stories of those she’s represented over the years to highlight the difficulties newcomers to America, and East Tennessee, often have navigating a labyrinthine system of government restrictions and requirements. Brewer, Sofer added, will provide introductions and discuss the work of WIN-BC.

“This is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community organization that’s trying to be welcoming to our immigrant neighbors, in the same way a lot of Blount County offers Southern hospitality to other people who move here,” Sofer said.

Sofer himself will also discuss the recent spotlight on refugees forced out of their homes and cities by the war in Ukraine, which is estimated to have displaced roughly 10 million people during the ongoing crisis. It’s a global issue, he added, despite the fact that to many Americans, immigration from Mexico and Central America seems to be the area of biggest concern.

“I’m mostly talking about how immigration works politically and how historians think about these things — why people are leaving, why they’re coming, and why is the migration and movement of people such a major factor in the present day around the world,” he said. “It means explaining where refugees and asylum seekers fit into geopolitics, and where the United States has obligations to these people under international law — and why it should matter to Americans.”

“Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Tennessee Today” will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in the Lawson Auditorium of Fayerweather Hall on the Maryville College campus. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Sofer at doug.sofer@maryvillecollege.edu.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”