nigerian revolutionary group boko haram has been accused of abducting 276 girls from a boarding school in nigeria. almost 50 of the young women were able to escape and have reported that some of their counterparts were forced to marry members of the militia. this story of children torn from school, a space that’s supposed to be safe, breaks my heart and fourteen-year old eden duncan-smith shared the thoughtful piece below explaining how little a black woman’s body is worth.
“For less than a week at Starbucks…even less than a graphic tee at Forever 21…less than a meal for two at McDonald’s or even a bus pass for a week’s trip to school and back…The lives of each of those girls were sold for cheap. Dirt-cheap!
When I Rep. Ted Poe of Texas’ address to the United States House of Representatives on April 30th in which he said, “In Nigeria, $12 is the cost of a bride slave. Recently, around 200 girls went to school and never came home. They were kidnapped and, for $12 apiece, sold to the Islamic militant terrorist group Boko Haram. They were forced into marriage and raped–modern sex slavery,” I felt exhausted trying to wrap my mind around how in 2014 with all the Jedi mind- tricking, surveillance camera-ing and Google mapping that this world has at its disposal that Black bodies can still fall off the face of the Earth.
I accepted a long time ago the little Black and Brown girls are the very least of the concerns of most people in the world (even though there are more us in the world than any of y’all). It just bugs me out that aside from being able to identify the group Boko Haram as the enslavers and profiteers that no one knows where to find them.
As a young actress, I am bought and sold all the times. Each time I am cast for a role, I know that the decision for me to fill a role is based on my personality, my disposition that day, how I look (whether it be my hair length, color & texture, how tall I am, my waist size and if my breasts are too large or small). But my family and I are in control over how I am exploited and to what degree I am exploited. If I want to stop this game, I can. It is a job for which I am compensated. There is nothing consensual about slavery. These girls had no say so about their exploitation.
…I am exhausted. I am exhausted to think that I could be next. Yup, even me. I could be sold for a lunch meal at Red Lobster and no one would even notice. Look at organizations like GEMS and Children of the Night. It could happen and I a Broadway and Movie Star could be the next Amber Alert on your Facebook and no one but my mom would even care. I wonder if at next weeks World Economic Forum in Nigeria if anyone will care. Where is your outrage or are you also exhausted?”
reposted from bknation.org