Israel and Ngozi
Nwidor: Episode 2
After seven months in Chicago, Israel lands
a new job at a metal stamping factory. He
has trouble fitting in with the American workers
and befriends a Vietnamese immigrant, Qui.
He is unsettled by his coworkers' unfriendliness,
but is shocked when he and Qui are pulled
over and harassed by a police officer. "The
police officer was insulting us, using all
sorts of foul languages. A police officer!
I was amazed. He said he was going to beat
me up and throw me into the cell. And you
can’t believe it—a police officer—in
America."
Israel also faces discrimination at a DMV
office near his home when he attempts to get
his driver's license, so he travels to the
South Side of Chicago where he is treated
with more respect. "I waited in the car
for an instructor to take me out for the test,"
he remembers. "But these people would
just look at me and walk away to the people
in the line who were not black."
Israel and Ngozi are thrilled to learn that
Ngozi is pregnant. This is an exciting development
for their families in Nigeria, who hear the
news from a videotape the Nwidors send home.
Israel hopes that his wife will finally "give
him a boy."
"If you don’t have a baby boy,
they use it to insult you in the African system.
They say, ’Be still, my friend, keep
quiet! Why are you talking? Do you have a
boy who will defend you?’"
During a sonogram, the couple is touched to
learn they will indeed be "blessed" with a boy.
Barine Wiwa-Lawani: Episode 2
Barine Wiwa-Lawani and her twin daughters,
Nini and Zina are part of the same Ogoni refugee
group as the Nwidors that is resettled in
Chicago. Despite her former prestige in Africa
as the sister of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barine is
unable to escape the same working plight as
Israel and Ngozi.
She juggles three part-time jobs at hotels
as a cook's assistant: "Work I would
have done twenty years ago. But what can I
do? I must feed my family." With her
teenage girls sleeping on bunk beds in the
living room, Barine says she has learned her
lesson about how to stay employed. "If
you let the management find out that you know
too much, you'll be out [of a job]."
Nini and Zina are attending the local high
school, navigating American teen culture,
their studies, jobs at the local Dominick’s
grocery store and their relationship with
their mother. They are good students, especially
Zina, and while they appear to have adapted
well, it is still challenging for them to
reconcile their African heritage with American
cultural norms.
Barine gets unexpected good news as she is
building her life in America. The death of
General Sani Abache paves the way for a fledging
democracy in Nigeria, headed by a former general
from the majority Yoruba ethnic group. When
the president gives the Wiwa family permission
to hold a proper burial for Ken Saro-Wiwa,
Barine returns to her childhood home of Bane
in the heart of Ogoniland for the first time
in five years to attend the ceremony.
The funeral reunites all of Barine’s
siblings for the first time since the violent
aftermath of Ken’s death. For the past
six years, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s body has
been buried in a mass grave with eight other
Ogoni carcasses.
What was intended as a private burial becomes
an emotional celebration by thousands of Ogonis.
Despite her joy at being reunited with friends
and family, Barine says that she has no desire
to stay. "Even if it was safe, I could
not come back and just live in Nigeria, but
I can't just live in America either. I now
live between two cultures."
Learn
more about the Ogoni struggle >
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| Ngozi gets
ready for work as her daughter watches |
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| Barine Wiwa-Lawani
returns to Nigeria for her brother’s
memorial service |
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| Barine in Nigeria |
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