#BringBackOurGirls Rallies Planned in DC, NYC and London to Rescue 200+ Kidnapped Nigerian School Girls
For readers who don’t follow the WAOD Facebook Page, three weeks ago, terrorists kidnapped 234 Nigerian school girls who were away at school taking their final exams. The kidnapping is part of an intentional and organized campaign to close schools in northern Nigeria and I suspect ultimately the entire region. Earlier, this same group slaughtered 69 boys at school.
The Nigerian military initially lied and said that only 100 girls had been kidnapped and all but 8 have been rescued. The true number is closer to 234 and 40 of the girls escaped ON.THEIR.OWN with no help from the Nigerian government.
Reports from the region are that the girls are being taken as child brides and are being sold to other terrorists for $12. That’s a euphemism for saying that the terrorists are systematically raping these children and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives.
As I stated on the Facebook page, there are so many violations here.
Targeting schools and the mass rape of children is a crime against humanity.
The Nigerian government turning a blind eye to the crime against humanity.
The family units that have been ripped apart.
Girls who were courageous enough to seek out an education in a dangerous world are paying a horrific price for wanting a better life.
My Twitter and Facebook feeds have been filled with Black women who have been agonizing about the plight of these girls for weeks. There is a sense of helplessness because they are overwhelmed by the gravity of the event and the appearance that there is little a Black woman in the United States can do to help. It’s a war zone, the terrorists are heavily armed, the Nigerian government appears apathetic and inept, and the world community appears indifferent. ANd oh yeah, there’s an ocean or two between here and there.
In an ideal world, the internet would organize a Kickstarter campaign to hire agent Brian Mills to parachute into the forest and rescue the girls. But life is not a movie. In real life there are not good guys and bad guys, there are evil guys, slightly less evil guys, the apathetic and the engaged.
I posted about the girls repeatedly on the WAOD Facebook Fan Page. The post is one of the most viewed posts in the page’s history.
The second thing I did was call both of my US Senators and US Representative. I told them that I wanted to know what the US government was doing to aid in the recovery of the girls. I’m calling back today to set one of them straight - a staffer lied and said there was no legislation introduced about the girls and that is not true, the US Senate introduced a resolution condemning the kidnapping yesterday. The State Department gave the kidnapping a passing mention in a press briefing. Susan Rice the White House National Security Advisor is tweeting about how “horrified” she is about the kidnapping. That’s nice, but you are the National Security Advisor, surely you could do more than feel bad :(.
So we have a crime against humanity, an incompetent or apathetic government, little to no resolve from the world community to do anything and a group of heavily armed terrorists hiding out in northern Nigeria.
Just because you can’t do EVERYTHING doesn’t mean you don’t do anything.
This is clearly a problem that must be directly solved by powerful heavily armed or heavily financed entities. Those tend to be governments and religious institutions. Generally I am not a supporter of online hastagtivism, petitions and rallies - mainly because we never explore other methods of direct action. And I think it is ridiculous that you have to get 100,000 people to sign a White House petition to get the President of the United States to speak about something his National Security Advisor is tweeting about when last week he was commenting on a basketball melodrama.
However, this is one of those times where spectacle is called for.
I am aware of three rallies being held in support of raising awareness about the kidnapped girls and urging civil society to intervene on their behalf.
New York City
Saturday, May 3rd
12pm-2PM
Place: Union Square
Manhattan, NY
at the corner of E14th St. and University Place
It’s called Rock a Crown for #234
Washington, DC
Tuesday, May 6th
10:00AM-1:00PM
Embassy of Nigeria
Washington, D.C. 20008
London - Saturday May 3rd
Oakland, CA - Saturday May 3rd
Philadelphia, PA Saturday May 3rd
Link to Rallies Around the World
I saw a flyer for a rally in Atlanta, but the “promoter” was “problematic.” There are multiple rallies being planned in Atlanta. The flyer I was referring to was discussed in this post on the WAOD Facebook page. An alternative rally in Atlanta is happening on May 3rd ( Saturday) at Woodruff park.
If you know of more rallies, please share.
#BringBackOurGirls
http://www.whataboutourdaughters.com/waod/2014/5/2/bringbackourgirls-rallies-planned-in-dc-nyc-and-london-to-re.html
