LETTERS TO AFRIQUE
Regarding
With No More Cotton To Pick,
What Will America Do With 36
Million Black People?: Phillip
Jackson is a pro black
extremist. I find his article
very exclusive to the
hardworking blacks living in the
city. In his article, he’s
painted such an ugly picture of
us. I’m not denying that many of
us are out of jobs, nor am I
denying that we should recognize
that this is becomming a “STEMM”
Technology, Engineering, Math,
and Medicine world. I think he
had the right points, but it’s
not easy to “rebuild the black
family” or “providing black boys
with strong positive black
mentors”, or Control the
genative peer culture and
electronic media” and etc. It
might be wishful thinking to
just lump it into easy
sentences. Maybe Afrique should
focus on these areas, and focus
on speaking to the kids who are
not in school. Maybe you should
have a learning section or an
engineering section. There are
virtually no publications out
there to give these young people
something positive. Maybe it’s
time for black media to step up!
-Sheldon
Reid
Dear
Afrique:
It looks
like Afrique is pick up again.
Thank you for the business
profile section. I am a security
guard at the University of
Chicago. I picked up a copy of
Afrique from Hyde Park, and the
article of the woman who started
her own business was very
inspiring. I had been pushing
around an idea with my cousin
Lester to open up a sea food
grill place on the Southside. I
wanted to write to let you know
that article has inspired me to
move on with my plans with
Lester. I will notify you for
the Sea Food (restaurant)
opening. Thank you and keep in
touch.
-Brother
Kyle
Regarding
your last Political Boxing
Column by Carli Simmons of “Is
Obama the Right Candidate”: If
Obama is not black enough, who
is? Are you saying Hillary is
blacker than he is? What makes
her know more about black people
than he does. He is married to a
black woman you know. He just
needs to surround himself with
people who have experience like
Colin Powell and others and
listen to them to make good
decisions. He is just as smart
as she is. He is really running
against her and her husband who
would gloat all over to return
to the white house.
If her own
husband had no fear or respect
for her, what do you think
foreign leaders would think of
her. Black people should not
always think that the white
woman has more to offer than a
black man. Sad, Sad!
-Frieda
Simond
Editor's Voice
Happy 47th
birthday Nigeria! Through this
issue, I was able to speak to
many interesting Nigerians about
the up coming celebration.
Essien Joseph has a Chicago
based business in real estate,
but before he settled in the
U.S., his experience growing up
in Nigeria was quite out of the
ordinary. Please send comments
to
cliafriquenews@gmail.com
Catiah Li:
Nigerian Independence is coming
up, through producing this
issue, I’ve learned a great deal
about Nigeria as a country.
Majority of people in the U.S.
are very clueless about Africa
or any type of African History.
When they think of Africa, they
think of..
Essien
Jospeh: Poverty, people living
in trees, disease, and negative
things. Right? They do not know
the complicated wars we’ve been
through, and what they’re all
about. There’s always the
misrepresentation of our people
and our country in the U.S.
CL; Wars
are similar in ways of
brutality. I’m sure young
American soldiers in Iraq are
experiencing the same thing
you’ve experienced. The Biafra
war of Nigeria back in the late
60’s was very gruesome, and you
were apart of it all?
EJ: Yes, I
was a 9-year-old boy, a child
soldier! I’ve seen things you
would not believe! At the time
(in 1967), Biafra wanted to
split and be recognized as their
own country. Naturally, the
country of Nigeria wouldn’t
allow this. The entire fiasco
lasted three years. Britain,
China, Russia, Spain, were all
feeding ammunition into the
country to create this mess. It
ended because the Nigerians
blockaded the imports and
everything that went into
Biafra. Biafran soldiers starved
to death, they were cooking
grass, reptiles and snakes to
support their troops.
CL: If we
think about the U.S. history,
besides the civil war here, the
generations after have never
really experienced war on their
native soil. You were very young
in Nigeria when this war broke
out, were you fighting for or
against Biafra?
EJ: I am
from the Bayelsa area, our tribe
was called the Ejaws. I think to
this day, if Biafra really
succeeded in breaking off from
Nigeria, they would have been a
very successful African country,
maybe even the most successful
because they were a very smart,
calculated group of people.
Sometimes they hid bombs in
river rafts that looked like
dead logs, when people went near
it, it’d blow up! It was very
dangerous. Ejaw was the
neighboring tribe of Biafra. We
were forced to fight for them.
Biafran soldiers would come to
our village, and they said to
us, “if your boys do not join
our forces, we will shoot them
to death.” So, I had to. They
utilized the children, and it
was very effective.
CL: How
could they use children in a
war? That seems very hard to
control especially dealing with
nine-year-old boys.
EJ: Oh no,
children, at the time, we had to
obey. It was the only way. The
Biafran army told us that we’d
go as a group and play near the
enemy Muslim Nigerians. Those
soldiers didn’t think kids were
spies but we were, they would
play and laugh with us.
CL: They
underestimated you guys. I can’t
imagine American children toting
guns around and shooting people
in Iraq. The 18 year olds
joining the army to fight in
Iraq is already having a hard
enough time as it is. My father
always used to say “15 year olds
in ancient times used command
armies, look at your generation,
a bunch of video gaming swines!”
EJ: (laugh)
Oh yes, times have changed.
We’d go and steal cigarettes and
food from these Muslim soldiers
when they fell asleep, and give
everything back to the Biafra
army.
CL: You
eventually got caught right?
It’d be hard to miss a pack of
roaming children stealing goods.
EJ:
Eventually I got captured. It
was a very scary time. When they
caught me, they interrogated
us. I couldn’t’ say I was
Biafran because I was not from
there. So I told the truth, and
said I was from the Ijaws. The
soldier said to me “if you are
lying, you will be dead. I have
a fighter from Ijaw here with
us, and if you cannot speak to
him, I will shoot you.” He asked
the other kids if they were
Ijaws, they just shook their
heads in fear. When the Ijaw
captain approached me, we spoke
in our native tongue. I was
saved because of that.
CL: You
were lucky, what happened to the
rest of the children?
EJ: It was
very sad. After I was saved and
led away from the other
children, the captain told me
that I would be helping his
troop. I was a child, I didn’t
know what to do, and it was my
only choice. The other children,
I think they led them into the
forest, and shot them.
CL: So you
ended up traveling with the
enemy troops?
EJ: I just
moved with the Muslim Nigerian
soldiers, I carried their guns
and ammunitions, food and water.
Wherever they went, I went. It
was a hectic time. I even fought
with them, carrying firing
weapons on my shoulder, it was
too heavy to be put on my chest.
We’d cease cities, and I saw so
much cruelty. Sometimes they’d
go into a house, and everyone
had their hands up, but they’d
still shoot them. Boom, boom,
boom, these people would fall
like flies. Sometimes if the
soldiers wanted to rape women,
they just did so. If the women
refused, they stuck the bayonet
gun in her and shot her into
pieces. I was nine. It was
crazy. I have to say, Nigeria
will not see war anytime soon
because that war was so
unbelievably cruel. When I
finally went home, everyone in
my town thought I had died. I
had come back from the dead so
to speak. Folks, don’t vote for
war. I’m telling you.
