The Fourth of July parade in Takoma Park, Maryland, on Wednesday included bagpipers, a man dressed as Uncle Sam — and several Syrian refugees.
The refugees marched in the small-town parade outside D.C. to the tune of "This Land Is Your Land."
Syrian refugee Yara Houran said she was moved by the welcome.
"I'm so proud. They give us to be, like, part of this," Houran said, wearing red and white shirts and a white hijab.
She moved to the United States after losing almost everything in her home country.
"We lost most of my family, and we lost our house," she said.
Mohammad Alzouadi, also a refugee from Syria, thanked his new neighbors for everything they had given him.
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"Our houses were taken from us, were destroyed, were burned, so we had to leave," he said, dressed in an American flag T-shirt. "There was nowhere else to go."
This marks the second year that refugees have marched in the Takoma Park parade. Organizers say they hope to make their participation an annual tradition.
