closetdiscoqueen 's review for:

Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto by Edafe Okporo

5.0

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Author, activist, and asylee Edafe Okporo shares his experience seeking asylum in America with readers in a way that is accessible and direct. I think many Americans live oblivious to the cruelty and dehumanizing process asylees are faced with when they arrive in our country. Edafe left Nigeria because he was no longer safe after being mobbed for being gay, which is illegal there. After leaving everything behind in a hurry, Edafe arrives in America only to be detained in a private prison for 6 months. Upon release, Edafe realizes he now feels unsafe in America for being Black. This book is about belonging just as much as it is about the exhausting and lonely process of immigrating to America. Often times, he finds solace through houses of worship and the people there. I've always struggled with the idea of a god that hates gay people, it's affected my faith in many ways that are hard to describe. A line that I want to carry with me from this book is, “Transcendent experiences do not have to happen exclusively in churches, the world offers us many opportunities to broaden our world views and expand our perspectives, doing so I believe, is similar to the experience of finding faith in a higher calling or an extraordinary power you cannot define.” Edafe never lost faith in himself and humanity - his faith that there are good people in the world and his need to connect with them is what keeps him going.

We read this book for our LGBTQ book club for teens at our library. The teens in attendance expressed so many emotions about Edafe's story, and shared that much of the information about asylees' experiences in America they did not know about and they're eager to learn more. Read this book, and then talk about it with the people in your life.