Because you can’t do everything doesn’t absolve you from doing something. We must #BringBackOurGirls.
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“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” –Abubakar Shekau, Leader of Boko Haram
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” – Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Like you, I followed the shocking mass abductions of Nigerian school girls by extremists in Nigeria. Like you, I felt horrible and grateful that mass kidnappings don’t happen here in the States. I rationalized away my outrage with arguments like:
“What does this have to do with me? I can’t do much to help. These things happen all the time in places like Africa and the Middle East.”
I had written extensively about Syria and the plight of the children in squalid border camps there; few had taken notice of those articles. My wife, my council and conscious, put it to me plainly,
“Of course you should write about Nigeria. If our daughter was taken I would want anyone with a voice to keep talking about it.”
So I shrugged off my cynicism and got to work.
A year ago Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s leader, released a video announcing that his fighters would begin abducting girls and selling them. The name Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful” in Hausa, the local language. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, Boko Haram wants to impose a strict enforcement of Sharia law in Nigeria. They oppose the education of women and believe women should be barefoot, pregnant and subservient to their husbands. If Boko Haram is successful, they will impose Taliban type rules in all of Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy. On April 14, Abubakar Shekau made good on his threat in a remote corner of northeastern Nigeria. The terrorists, posing as soldiers, shot security guards, stormed a students’ dormitory and fled in vehicles with approximately 300 terrified girls. Now, Shekau, is threatening to put the girls on the market as sex slaves or child brides.
“Extremists aren’t born; they’re raised.”
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Unfortunately, so far, the government of Nigeria seems unable or unwilling to find these girls. President Goodluck Jonathan hasn’t even bothered to visit the region. When he finally broke his silence on this issue he lambasted the parents for not cooperating with the police. Patience Jonathan, who is the first lady, met with some of the mothers of these girls and told them that they really needed to be quiet and were bringing shame and embarrassment to Nigeria.
Extremists aren’t born; they’re raised. These girls represent the future of Nigeria and the rest of the continent. Their fates are the fates of millions of other girls. Their futures are inextricably linked to the futures of our children. These girls and our children will share either cycles of prosperity or violence as they grow together in this world. As we all learned on the morning of September 11th, 2001, oceans and boarders are totally irrelevant today. The threats that we ignore today because they seem so far away, will be at our doorstep one morning.
The greatest threat to groups like the Taliban, Al Queda and Boko Haram aren’t drone strikes; their greatest threat will be educated, prosperous, independent women (and men) voting, owning and running their own businesses, providing nurturing environments for their children and leading in all avenues in their own societies.
“I imagine my daughter crying out for me. How would I get her back? What would I do? What would you do? Those girls are OUR girls.”
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So put yourself in the shoes of a Nigerian parent who is missing the one thing they hold most dear. A parent who is caught in a frightening position: afraid to make an impassioned plea for the release of his or her daughter for fear of what the terrorists might do to his or her kidnapped daughter but then subjected to criticism from Nigeria’s government for not taking on the terrorists. Imagine those girls. Those girls are afraid for their lives, separated from people who love them and subjected to abuse. I have a daughter and those thoughts are nearly impossible to comprehend.
I imagine my daughter crying out for me. How would I get her back? What would I do? What would you do?
Those girls are OUR girls. There is no such thing as “Other People’s Children.” Because you can’t do everything doesn’t absolve you from doing something. Reach out to your local congressman and senator to pressure them to support robust action. Keep informed and inform others about this crisis. If you can, speak, write, march, organize. Do whatever you can to ensure our government and Nigeria’s Government get the message. Give to reputable organizations that help educate women and girls globally. And don’t forget about them. Only if pressure mounts and it becomes less profitable and more troublesome to kidnap will this end. We must #BringBackOurGirls.
See Also: #TalkAboutOurBoys – Why the Murder of 59 Schoolboys Should Matter To You
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–Photo: AP
Alex, thank you. I admit, I have felt absolutely helpless at times to do anything about this deplorable situation. You have stated so well what I have struggled to put into words.
“Those girls are OUR girls. There is no such thing as “Other People’s Children.” Because you can’t do everything doesn’t absolve you from doing something.”
John, Thank you for reading and responding. Of course intervening in an epileptic seizure is an entirely different circumstance then petitioning the our government or shedding light on the plight of these Nigerian families. My call for action is limited in scope but that we are discussing it now is a big step. That wasn’t happening before #BringBackOurGirls went viral. To use your metaphor have to do triage and diagnose a problem before you can know what the proper “treatment” should be. Of course both boys and girls need a an education. It’s a basic human right and most societies… Read more »
I don’t know if this helps. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/protesters-plan-morning-rally-to-demand-nigerian-authorities-take-action-to-rescue-girls/2014/05/06/c3408bba-d514-11e3-8a78-8fe50322a72c_story.html “The White House announced that Secretary of State John F. Kerry had called Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday morning and offered to send a team including law enforcement and military experts to help his government find and free the roughly 300 girls” Lines sometimes get blurred. I see where you’re coming from with a call to action. Demanding action from the government and raising our voices. I also know that if I wanted to create fear and destabilize the government, I’d be happy for pressure on the Jonathan government and calls for… Read more »
“I don’t know if this helps.”
EXACTLY! John Kerry is a ‘Village Idiot’! If my daughter was one of the kidnapped girls, I would be very concerned!
Alex, this is a good article. The subject does tug at the heart strings. I will again caution that “doing something” is not always beneficial. My sister is an epileptic. Whenever she had an attack, the doctor told me to turn her on her side so that she didn’t swallow her tongue. In addition to this it was important for my brothers and I to ensure that my mother didn’t “do something” that would cause a temporary seizure to be fatal. Yes, when you see a loved one in trouble, there is always the desire to “do something” and “something”… Read more »
“I will sell them in the market, by Allah…”
This makes me nauseous….Is there anything in Islam that condones the selling of girls?
Yes and no. For certain, the enslavement of Islamic persons is strictly prohibited. For non-muslims, it seems to have varied according to time and place. I think I once read that in the Rennaisance sometimes captured and enslaved Christian soldiers would convert to Islam, because it meant they would have had to be set free by their master. Which lead to the paradoxical state of affairs that their Islamic owners actually discouraged conversion, which is otherwise warmly welcomed.
So in short, this act would definitely be against Islam as it is usually understood.
Those 300 girls DO matter to me – but…
…The hundreds of BOYS who are abducted and forced to become child soldiers also matter to me, equally as much, and it saddens me that the only time such abductions make headline news is only when girls are being abducted.
You must have missed this link at the bottom of this very article:
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/cc-talkaboutourboys-why-the-murder-of-59-schoolboys-should-matter-to-you/
I read the article you refer to. Unfortunately , this is the only place that I’ve seen any reference to it. Imagine, 59 school age boys, the lucky one’s were shot in the head and died immediately. The others were burned alive. Did you hear me F**KING BURNED ALIVE! And the world yawned.
I mean, you don’t see any ‘selfie hashtag’ photos by Michelle or Ann Hathaway for that matter. Oh wait, they don’t have sons. Oh, never mind!
Not all of them. The ones who escaped the burning building and didn’t make it far enough away to get shot had their throats slit.
“Because you can’t do everything doesn’t absolve you from doing something.” Sir, this has got to be the most important phrase ever spoken! I am sick to death of all the cynics and naysayers who stand in the way of anyone trying to do good. Unless you do something, even if that something is simply standing up to be counted for, you become an accomplice to the problem. As for you, Alex. I know that men on a mission to do good and be better sometimes question ourselves if it’s even worth it, if the article was shared enough times… Read more »
“These are OUR girls.” Damn right. Thanks for going to work on this, Alex! And additional thanks goes to your wife for giving you the nudge we all need sometimes!
~Cameron
Thank you Alex.