I Wonder if the Girls Knew that, for a While, the World’s Attention was Focused on Them.
#DemandRealMedia
If you pay attention to news in the United States, and, even if you don’t, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that the only things happening in the entire universe are related to potential Republican Presidential nominee and huckster Donald Trump. I am experiencing Trump outrage fatigue, and have exhausted myself being aghast over his odious hijinxs and mainstream media’s ad nauseam coverage of them.
Admittedly, watching the nonsense fly is appealing in a train wreck sort of way. The unfortunate consequence of our reality television sensibility, however, is that while our media focuses on “the Donald’s” antics, metaphorically speaking, Rome bursts into flames around us.
For a period of time, the atrocity of young girls abducted from their dormitory in the middle of the night caused a global uproar and united the world community.
What would our nation be like if we subsisted on a diet of real facts about real things, instead of tittering over Donald Trump calling someone a “pussy?” Watching a recent episode about Boko Haram produced by HBO’s news series, VICE, my outrage fatigue morphed into a low rumbling fury. News of consequence - in this case, of atrocity - matters.
If you are at all familiar with the radical Nigerian Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, it is likely because of the 276 Nigerian school girls, the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped by the group in 2014. For a period of time, the atrocity of young girls abducted from their dormitory in the middle of the night caused a global uproar and united the world community. #BringBackOurGirls went viral with celebrities from First Lady Michelle Obama to Amy Poehler expressing their virtual support.
Nigeria, the richest country in Africa and one of the world’s largest oil producers, is essentially two countries. The southern half where the majority of its oil reserves are located is resourced. The largely Muslim northern half is poor and has been neglected by the government, providing an ideal breeding ground for the formation of Boko Haram, whose aim is the development of a radical Islamic nation in the region.
Boko Haram’s tactics are gut wrenchingly brutal especially as they relate to children, who are forced into training camps to become fighters, and women who are not only sexually abused but routinely used as suicide bombers.
Amnesty International estimated last year that the militants had abducted at least 2,000 women and girls, but the real number may be much higher. The U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence, Zainab Hawa Bangura, said last year Boko Haram’s sexual violence was “not merely incidental, but integral, to their strategy of domination and self-perpetuation.” -Hilary Matfess for Newsweek, 2/6/16
Unfortunately, the Chibok girls were a blip on our collective radar. Today, nearly two years later, 219 of them are still missing, and some are reportedly fighting on behalf of Boko Haram.
#BringBackOurGirls now reports 3 likes and 7 shares.
I wonder if the girls knew that, for a while, the world’s attention was focused on them.
I wonder if they knew that glitterati and the First Lady of the most powerful nation on earth knew of their plight and worried about them.
I also wonder as each day bled into the next with no one coming to rescue them, when they gave up hope.
I wonder most of all what would have happened if their faces, their families, and their stories were kept in front of the American public. I’d like to think we would have demanded their rescue. But then I remember that we knew their story, and haven’t bothered to ask what has become of them.
#BringBackOurGirls and #DemandRealMedia
