Born in the USA
by Yemisi Aribisala
I visited a friend who was babysitting some relatives’ children, one Saturday afternoon 23 years ago. During the course of the visit, the children began to fight. One little boy had been called Nigerian, and as a consequence had become very offended. It emerged that they’d been discussing the countries of their birth, and the matter of their own citizenship.
These children, all under 10 years of age, had already brought with them from their different homes a conception of the rules of citizenship; they understood something of the shade and light of the issues: they knew back then that American was the most desirable thing to be, British was second best, and Nigerian completely unpalatable. They understood, too, that there were significant stakes involved concerning their parents’ self-esteem and feelings of power or the lack thereof. Then the angry little boy’s older sister, who stood nearby looking both sheepish and sorry, mentioned that she was American, and her little brother Nigerian. She had not bargained on how intense the altercation would become. When we finally came to settle the quarrel, the boy, who was three or four years old, was clasping another child’s shirt, threatening to beat up anyone who dared to call him Nigerian.
I was five months pregnant with my first child, and the profundity of what I was witnessing would only become clear to me over time. The fight was finally resolved by consoling the boy by explaining that it had all been an unfortunate misunderstanding: “…of course you are not Nigerian!”
Nigerians are the most accomplished whiners in the world. Nothing works, and we are incapable of making it work. The situation is irremediable, and so, finances permitting, we must flee abroad. Thus my family had made the decision that I was to have this baby in the U.S., that it was the best thing for me and my child, both for a successful birth experience and for the baby’s future. Fast forward 23 years and one almost has to laugh or weep uncontrollably.
Keep us breathing fire!
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