Everywhere, every day, Black Lives Matter [Issue 1. S4]
2020 is the friend they told you not to worry about
Image: Vofo, while god slept (a colonizers interlude, May 2020)
Hi! Remember us?
We’re back! Let’s get into it.
We don’t want to overwhelm you, so, for this issue, we’ll focus on one (profuse) matter.
It’s no news that 2020 has been wretched
But get this:
We’re in the middle of a dreadful pandemic that has, so far, killed over 200,000 people globally and 273 in Nigeria but, the biggest threat to black lives has been trigger happy law enforcement officers, terrorist groups fueled by tribalism, racism and rape culture.
Eish. What’s happening?
On the 12th and 13th of May, while many Nigerians were home trying to stay safe, a group of unknown gunmen attacked communities in Kajuru, Kaduna. The bandits rumoured to be the herdsmen group that has been terrorising northern Nigeria for over 4 years, killed 27 residents. Reports and witness accounts confirmed that more than half of these 27 were women and children.
In Sokoto, armed men who have been tagged “bandits” killed over 70 people in the course of two attacks. Residents believe that the attacks were in retaliation to the law enforcement officers killing two alleged members of a herdsmen clan days before. On the 27th, When they had barely recovered or buried loved ones, the Sabon Birni community was attacked again. Over 70 residents were killed in both attacks and many more are left homeless.
Daily Trust reports that many of the residents of Sabon Birni have been camping outside the community council headquarters, begging the government to protect and feed them because, with all these attacks, how would anybody find food?
In Anambra, residents are caught in the crossfire between rival communities: Omor and Umumbo. Their latest stint destroyed over 40 homes, took more than 30 lives and, as reported by National Assembly rep, Vincent Ofumelu, sentenced over 1,000 people to homelessness.
And the rape culture?
The premise of the Black Lives Matter movement has a lot in common with the life of the average (black) woman. Like the average American, women are targeted, beaten and killed for nothing other than the fact that they are women. Then there are the hashtags: they don’t all get one-- for those who are shot, sexually assaulted or strangled in quiet allies or police stations or a corner of the road with no cameras in sight, the cases are hushed, and the officers go on to kill another day but when brutal mistreatment or death gets caught on camera and publicized, the victim (now dead) gets a hashtag. Today, in Nigeria, we have three.
#JusticeforUwa: On the 27th of May, Uwa Omozuma, a 22-year-old woman of the University of Benin, went to her local Redeemed Christian Church of God to study. She was studying in the church auditorium when men who have neither been apprehended nor identified attacked her, raped her and hit her over the head with a fire extinguisher. The church security was said to have found her in a pool of her own blood. She was taken to the hospital, but she died three days after.
In Jigawa state, 11 men have been arrested for raping a 12-year-old girl. Initially, the Jigawa police officers went to investigate an anonymous complaint of a 57-year-old man called Alh Zuwai, trying to persuade the 12-year-old to let him rape her. Upon reaching and speaking to the child, she revealed that there were actually 11 men (read: animals) who had been constantly raping her for a while. There is no hashtag for her, and it is better she stays unnamed.
#JusticeForTina: On the same day, Tina, a 16-year-old girl in Oworo, Lagos, was shot by a trigger-happy police officer who was allegedly trying to shoot at a bus driver (who, please note, is another innocent person) for breaking lockdown curfew the Federal Government imposed to manage the coronavirus spread. Tina died in the hospital on Thursday, a day after the incident. The social media outrage and celebrity attention have compelled the Lagos state police to arrest two police officers.
Recommendations
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