Nigeria Old and New, Book Talks

Nigerian Doctor – The Video

Here’s the video I mentioned in my last post. It’s a priceless reminder of colonial days in Nigeria. I never did learn who sent it or how I came across  it.

It’s 13 minutes long, and I found it worth every minute! Let me know if you think so too.

More Book Talks and Events

The book

Americanah, the book cover

I’m excited to tell you that I’ll be part of the programming in Greenwich, Connecticut, around their common read of Americanah, in October. I’ll keep you posted as the event gets closer.

On July 13 I have two events. My friend Shelly asked me if I would meet with her book group. They will be discussing Americanah. She had seen my son’s name in the acknowledgments, done a little research, and found that I’d written Nigeria Revisited My Life and Loves Abroad, my memoir of my twenty four years in Nigeria.

So she thought I’d have an interesting perspective on Americanah. You probably know it’s the story of two Nigerians who fall in love and then are separated for several years. The heroine blogs about race in America from the perspective of a “Non-American Black.”

That evening I’m presenting a book talk at the Trumbull Library, at 33 Quality Street, Trumbull, CT 06611, in the Community Room from 6:30 pm until 7:30 pm. The event is sponsored by the Moms of Trumbull Book Club & Trumbull Library. It’s free and open to all, but they encourage registration. Maybe I’ll see you there?

Boko Haram On the Attack

Watching PBS news yesterday evening, I cringed when Judy Woodruff reported on another attach by Boko Haram. I read about it later. It’s so discouraging to know these attacks continue.

Two days earlier I read the op-ed,  A Close Encounter by Chika Oduah in The New York Times. His vivid description of being fired on by Boko Haram militants is harrowing. “Bullets rattled against the side of the car. The smell of gunpowder and pops from rifles collided with my senses.”

The author wrote about the horrors in the north but also the detachment of many southern Nigerians, who don’t seem to get the threat.

Nigeria is waiting, less and less patiently, as I read in BusinessDay, for Buhari to take action.

UN Human Rights and Boko Haram

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights held a session on Boko Haram on July 1. During the Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, there was an update and interactive dialogue “on the atrocities committed by the terrorist group Boko Haram and their effects on human rights in the States affected.”

“We continue to assist Nigeria and other countries affected,” said the representative from the EU. He announced that 21 million Euro had been committed recently to the effort to combat Boko Haram.

He added, “The.European Union is concerned about human rights violations committed by Nigerian security forces and other government forces. We welcome Buhari’s statement that security forces are required to respect human rights.”

Like others, he said that the critical need, beyond defeating Boko Haram, is tackling the root causes that allow the group to recruit and prosper.

On the right of the video is a list of all the speakers. You can click on any one and get to their part. I couldn’t watch it all – so much repetition, but I guess each has to get his country’s views on record.

I watched the UN, the Nigerian, and the EU presenters. Then I skipped ahead to the U.S. to find Keith M. Harper, the U.S. representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

I was looking for a picture of him to share with you, and I found from Wikipedia that, “He is the first Native American to ever receive the rank of a U.S. ambassador. Before that he was a lawyer known for working on behalf of Native Americans. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.” Who knew!

Black Lives Matter

I get the emails from MoveOn.org. In response to today’s report and request I made a donation to help rebuild Black churches that have been burned in the last couple of weeks, since the shooting in Charleston. This is so disgraceful.

MoveOn said, “Investigations are just beginning into the church fires; several of them are already being described as apparent arson. But one thing is quite clear: White racists are reviving the tactics of the KKK to terrorize Black Americans.”

That’s why we have to keep saying, Black Lives Matter.

Happy 4th

I wish you a happy 4th of July. We’ll be celebrating Kenechi’s birthday tomorrow in Philadelphia.

 

 

Author: Catherine Onyemelukwe

Author, blogger, speaker. Born in New York, grew up in mid west United States, lived in Nigeria for 24 years, back in U.S. since 1986. Advocate for racial justice.

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