Golibe is a young man who was born and spent the first years of his life in Nigeria. At the age of four his family relocated to the United States and that is where the challenges of his life began. As he shares his experience as an immigrants/ migrant, he realizes that in order to be accepted and feel normal in a different country than his own he must change who he is. This is a very difficult challenge for him. He loves his Nigerian heritage, and he wants to continue to allow it to be something that fuels him on a daily basis, however throughout his childhood different experiences made him feel like who he was was not enough. From his first-grade class questioning the traditional clothing he decided to wear on show and tell day, to his freshman year of high school when is English teacher told him that if he wants friends that he probably should make his name something easier that everyone will be able to pronounce. The United States is often proudly presented as a melting pot where all cultures are welcome because all cultures exist here. Unfortunately, for immigrants/ migrants in the United States the feeling of isolation and standing out for all the wrong reasons is a very true reality. As he continues to tell the story we see that something as simple as acceptance may or may not be a part of the original American dream, but it is definitely present and something that immigrants/ migrants may want as a part of their everyday life. He begins to realize that in order to feel normal he may have to actively experience cultural abandonment. He may have to let go of one culture so that he can be accepted into another. But is that how it should be? Is that really what the American dream is? A true love story of ones heritage in hopes that we will gain a better understanding of the concept that we are all different but we are all special.
*Performer should be of African heritage.
Forever Normal
Do you ever have those memories, that aren't really your memories but rather stories that have been told to you so many times over and over again that it almost feels like you really remember them? I do. I was four years old, clearly not old enough to have as vivid a memory as the one I am about to share with you. But I was four years old, and my mother and I were in the kitchen making dinner for the family. At four years old you would think that I was the youngest but no I was actually the oldest. After me, my mother had two sets of twins back-to-back. So, we were a family of seven. Because I was the oldest it was my responsibility to help my mother in any way that I could to maintain the household, that is how families work in Nigeria. Oh, I'm sorry did I mention that is where I am from. A long lineage of Nigerians. But as we gathered all of the ingredients for dinner that night my father burst into the house laughing and he grabbed my mother and started dancing with her and that is a moment I will never forget.