October 15th, 2020
A LOVE LETTER FOR THE STRUGGLE
To beloved Nigerian youth as you fight for your freedom.
It gives me great pride and joy to see you fill the streets, fighting for your rights, and really, for the rights of every citizen of this great country. The country has not given you much. Many of you grew up under civilian rule, but this so-called ‘democracy’ had nothing to offer you. There were no jobs, no good schools, no places to go for leisure or sports, no light, no water, no electricity. You have been killed on the streets and in your homes. You have been raped. And in all this, in all that the country has never given you, you have been misunderstood. Now you are rising up to tell your story, and to rewrite history on your terms. Never let anyone take this moment from you. It is yours and yours alone.
At this moment, when the struggle is new and fresh and the thrill of being on the streets with your friends fills you with euphoria, stay strong, stay resolute and stay calm. This is only the beginning of a long, hard and terrible struggle, for the fight for one’s emancipation is never easy, and the path to freedom is always watered with blood, sweat and tears. Already, many have lost their lives, already, parents and siblings and grandmothers and grandfathers and aunties and uncles are grieving for their children murdered by the Nigerian police. Already many of you have seen the but of the police gun and the dirty smell of a prison cell. But you remain resolute, you remain undeterred.
There are many that will try to divide you, they will come with their money, their talk, their own stories and try to push others away. They will sell you the jewels of pride and the empty diamonds of ego, they will tell you who is bad, and who is good, and who you should follow, and who you should not. They will tell you the North is different from the South, the East from the West, the Muslim from the Christian. But each day, when they try to tell you this, remember the moment. That moment when you went into the street, that moment when a brother or sister lent you a hand, wiped your tears or gave you food to eat. That moment when your fellow youth shielded you from the baton of a policeman, remember that moment and carry on.
They will tell you to back down, to give up and try to tell you that your demands are too much, and that they have answered your request. You know they haven’t. You know they never will. You know they are sitting in air conditioned homes watching CNN and drinking beer over hot pounded yam and soup and you, tired and weary from the day’s protest, are returning to your hot room without light and without even a fan to cool you and soothe you to sleep. They will send thugs and armed robbers to beat you and they will infiltrate your ranks. They will send money in bags to pay those who lie that they represent you. But when you toss and turn in discomfort, remember all the lies they are telling you, store them in your mind, resolve once again to this struggle, and prepare for the next day to go out and fight.
They will tell you to hate your mothers and your fathers, and that this struggle is yours alone. Don’t believe them. You know in your heart that your parents did what they could. You know in your heart that there were those who fought and died for the democracy that you have today, no matter how terrible it is, it was a dream, and a dream deferred, and you are here to make that dream a reality. You know in your heart that there were those who fought off the colonizers and the slave traders and military goons and you know that they shed blood and jumped into oceans to escape. You do not know their names, you may not know their history, but now is the time, to learn them, to know them, and to walk in their footsteps, to stand on their shoulders.
They will tell you to pick leaders so that they can bribe them and pay them off. You know that you are the leaders. You know that this is your struggle and yours alone. You are not a political party. You are not a church or a mosque. You are the Nigerian youth, and this is your struggle. Do not let them deceive you. They can never understand that you will never be like them, and they will never understand that you cannot be bought or sold.
You are so beautiful. As you march, as you sing, as you shout, as you protect each other, as you even defend those who are murdering you. You are so perfect, in your unity, in your anger, in your screams and shouts for justice. We are all imperfect, but the perfection of us all comes when we shed what makes us hate each other, work against each other, and unite in what is ours alone — our collective humanity.
Over the next few weeks and months, many lies will be told about these protests, but you will know the truth, because you were there. You were part of something that history will never deny, and you are part of a new story of our great nation, our great dear continent, and the African race across the world.
Hold on to this time, hold onto the memories that you make every day. Cherish every friendship, every contact made, every act of solidarity, and use this to feed your soul, to nourish your resolution, that nothing must remain the same going forward, and that you are the generation that will free us from those that have held us bondage. The time is now. The moment is here. Carry go!
In love and solidarity,
Nanre