Micah Bazant

I created the Refugees Welcome image below with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Artist Council in 2015. Author Aurora Levins Morales had the idea for a poster welcoming refugees, inspired by the "Assata Is Welcome Here" posters of the 70s. I created the art in collaboration with the JVP Council. JVP members canvassed with these posters in cities across the US, having conversations about the Syrian refugee crisis and Islamophobia.

This image was originally created and printed in partnership with Muslim and South Asian activists in the Bay Area. It is available for download for for non-commercial use (—do not resell them). If your organization would like to use or reprint the image for commercial purposes (to sell or raise money), or would like to organize a large print order, please contact me.

This poster was inspired by Muslim women in an Oakland library literacy program. Participants shared stories about the harassment they face in public. One student relayed three incidents of harassment during the last year, including one that happened on her way home from literacy class. “My friends stay inside the house because they are scared,” she said. “But I always go back.” She said seeing a poster like this at a business or library would make her and her friends feel “good, happy, safer.”