Being a millennial I find out about many things from the internet. From business, advertisement, opportunities, current affairs and the news, I most likely hear about it on the internet first.
So I heard about Charlottesville from the internet and it obviously has to do with some Nazi-stuff from the pictures I have been seeing online. Many also linked it to Trump. Many also assumed that it had to do with the change in leadership.
I still didn’t know what happened in Charlottesville so I put my cursor in the tab section and typed in “what happened in Charlottesville” and sure enough I see a story with the title of the article I want to write.
Not to be discouraged, I add an addendum to the title; let me speak on the behalf of Nigerians.
I scan through very quickly, I must admit, if the first two paragraphs of an article don’t catch my attention, I will not waste my time to read it even though I love to read and write.
According to BBC, white nationalist including the Ku Klux Klan have been protesting in the city since April. There is a video on the site that lets the viewer know that their protest is because they oppose a proposal to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee, a man who fought pro slavery during the US civil war.
To make matters worse counter protesters showed up, by counter protesters, they mean groups like “Black Lives Matter” and others.
The rally was then cancelled and a state of emergency was declared.
It is a general opinion that the deaths that happened in Charlottesville are a culmination of months of protests in Charlottesville and Virginia.
One person was killed and nineteen people injured. Then a police helicopter monitoring the events crashed into a tree and they died.
So what did I learn from what happened in Charlottesville?
I learned that America has had this issue of white supremacist; Ku Klux Klan has been on for over a century.
If we compare the issue of white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan hating the blacks with Boko Haram hating the people who are different from them based on religion, it is a fair comparison.
The men were chanting, “You will not replace us” so possible we can say that is their agenda. They want their country to belong to them.
In conclusions, in spite of the feelings of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, a country has been birthed of different peoples with different colours of skin and different religions and they are going nowhere. They are going to be living in American for the rest of their lives.
The same subtle message is being sent out to Boko Haram. A country called Nigeria exists with different tribes, tongue and even colour albeit shades of black, brown and yellow. These people are Nigerians and no matter who complains about anything, they are not going anywhere. Instead all the tribes are going to learn how to live together in peace, that Nigeria may progress, God helping us.
