Civic Engagement
Perhaps the most important theme in this book is civic engagement, or getting involved positively in one's community, especially to help those who lack power or access. Even though Luma is not originally from Clarkston, she does more than anyone to integrate the refugees into the community, creating not only a soccer program, but also a tutoring program for the struggling students who have not been receiving adequate English lessons from the school system. Besides this, Luma spends what little money she has to provide groceries for the refugee families who struggle to support themselves due to low-paying jobs and the need to care for their children. At the end of the book, Tracy tells the author, “Luma is really a normal person doing what she can for the people around her... No one person can do everything... but we can all do something” (240). Ending on this note shows that the author's purpose in publishing the book is to encourage people to look to the community around them, notice refugees or others facing challenges, and do what they can to help.
Community
A community can be people living in the same place, sharing characteristics, or feeling a sense of fellowship. There are many examples of community within Outcasts United based on each of these definitions. Most obviously, Clarkston is a community. People live in close proximity, interact with one another, and share laws and social spaces. However, the inhabitants of Clarkston (before the refugees resettled there) seek to close off the community from the refugees by not supporting programs through the community center and not creating an integrated local environment.
Within Clarkston, there are also communities of refugees from specific countries. For example, the Liberian boys on the Fugees form a clique together, as do players from the same region of the world such as all of North Africa. Because they share languages, foods, and parts of the cultures they came from, it is easier for them to be quickly comfortable together.
However, the Fugees becomes a community for its players and even their families. Many of the players say that the bonds formed through the team go beyond national boundaries; they feel like brothers with their fellow players. The Fugees being a community allows the boys and their families to adjust to the United States and to succeed in soccer, since they learn each other's strengths and weaknesses and support one another.
Changing Demographics in the United States
Clarkston is a microcosm of the resettlement of refugees across the United States. The United States has always been a country of immigrants, and the population continues to grow more diverse through taking in more refugees and immigrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. The white, American citizens of Clarkston are unsettled by the way that the changing demographics of Clarkston affects their lives. New restaurants, markets, and religious centers opened to provide goods and services for the refugee communities, and these sometimes caused older or more traditionally American establishments to lose business and close.
Clarkston also shows "white flight" from communities as they grow more diverse; Clarkston was first made up of white, Southern, white-collar workers, but as the white people got wealthier and people of color moved into the city, many white people moved to other, more expensive suburbs nearby. This caused much of Clarkston to fall into disrepair, and led to an increase in violent crime and difficulties upholding standards in education, governance, and policing.
Education
Flaws in the education system of the United States are shown in Outcasts United, particularly with regard to teaching English as a Second Language and dealing with English Language Learners in the public school system. Clarkston was not a diverse community before the 1980's, but throughout the 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's, many refugees were resettled in the town by international refugee agencies. This created a great need for English as a Second Language classes in the public schools, as well as support for English Language Learners in their other classes. Luma witnessed the system failing these young refugees, many of whom had never studied English before and were behind a grade level in other subjects due to living in poor conditions or refugee camps for multiple years. These students would either fail because they were placed into mainstream classes taught in English and at a higher level than the students could handle, or the teachers would purposefully give the students passing grades so they didn't have to deal with the students' language, content, and psychological issues.
Luma and Tracy created their own tutoring program for the Fugees players and upheld a policy that if students were failing or did not attend tutoring sessions, they would not get to play on the team. This encouraged students to improve their English and keep up in school. In the epilogue, the author reports that the Fugees received so much attention and support following the publication of an article about them that they were able to start a school called Fugees Academy that specializes in teaching refugee children in Clarkston.
Family
Family is a crucial and complicated matter in Outcasts United. In the beginning of the story, we hear about Luma Mufleh's struggles with her own family; they want her to succeed, but they also want her to fit their specific requirements for a Jordanian woman. When Luma decides to stay in the United States after attending university, her father is so upset that he cuts off all financial support and communication, and this disconnect continues until the end of the book, years later.
The families of the Fugees also have complicated relationships. Many of them were split up from family members who were killed in their home countries, traveled to different refugee camps, or were resettled elsewhere in the United States or the world. For example, Kanue was separated from his parents and great-aunt and lived only with his uncle in the United States. Their relationship also revealed a problem many refugee families had in Clarkston: though the parents wanted to care for their children, many were torn between keeping jobs that would allow the family to continue to have food and a place to live and wanting to actually be present at home to protect and provide for their children. Kanue was forced to do all the house chores and cooking for his uncle, who worked two jobs, and the same situation arose for Generose who had to leave her baby daughter in the care of her three young sons.
Discipline
While Coach Luma understood the difficulties faced by her players as they dealt with family issues, psychological trauma, and trouble with peers and gangs, she was always very strict with her discipline. She learned this trait from an American volleyball coach named Rhonda Brown who influenced her greatly when she was in secondary school. Though she didn't like Coach Brown at first because she worked the volleyball team so hard, she learned to respect her and her methods for coaching sports, especially with young players.
As the coach of the Fugees, Luma had many rules. Among them were rules that seemed more reasonable to the players, though they were sometimes hard to follow, such as not joining a gang, not doing drugs, and not getting anyone pregnant. However, other rules gave some players trouble. When Luma made a rule that all Fugees players had to have hair shorter than hers, one player decided he would rather leave the team than give up what he felt was a part of his identity in the United States. Luma held onto this rule partially because she wanted to show how serious she was about all players following the rules. Through her discipline, Luma taught the players the value of hard work and treating everyone equally.
Sports
Even readers who do not have an interest in the refugee crisis may be drawn to Outcast United for its focus on sports, particularly soccer. In team sports, players with different backgrounds and weaknesses must learn to work together to achieve success. There is a very clear structure in sports regarding who is on one's team and who one is against, which was likely a comfort for the Fugees members who lost their sense of community when they were forced to leave home. However, sports can also reveal inequality. Privileges like better equipment, better practice spaces, better coaches, and more time to train can allow teams to succeed more easily. Thus, when the Fugees play against wealthy teams from more well-off places in Georgia, they must work even harder to prove themselves.
