Liberty Climb Protest: An African Folly Displayed in Far Away America

4th of July has always been spectacular in the America history; it is a day set aside to commemorate the country's declaration of independence and constitution. 4th of July's glory and the celebration started in 1776, July 4th, when America declared it would no longer be under the Great British Empire. Since that time, based on the declaration of John Adam, one of the signers of American declaration, who later became the country's president, the day has always been celebrated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions and political speeches.

 Again, this year's 4th of July, something forbidding happened; which would have been taken for another Osama Bin Laden-like attack, if not for the American forces' superior security-intelligence. In the early hours of Wednesday, July 4th, a news helicopter captured a woman sitting at the base of lady liberty's status- about 100 feet above the ground. The woman's stunt kept the police at bay for hours. She was seen making moves around the status of liberty; at a time she sat by the status' robe. At other minutes, she sat beneath the status' sander waging a T-shirt with anti-Trump inscriptions.

 She had a T-shirt that read: "Trumpcare makes us sick" on one side and "Rise and Resist" on the other.

 She said she did that to protest Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE's policy, the separation of migrant families. She told the police she would not come down from the status until the children held in detention centers away from their parents at the US-Mexico border were released. 

 Police persuaded the woman without success, for hours, to descend off the status. Her action caused authorities to evacuate Liberty Island. Liberty Island is a US national Monument park that hosts nearly 20,000 visitors every 4th of July.

 Report sources have it that the woman belongs to an immigrant activist group consisting of nationals from different backgrounds. Predominantly the group is composed of the Hispanics and a handful of Africans.

Well, after about four hours police succeeded in rescuing her.

 Police sources later identified her to be Therese Okoumou, 44, a Congolese who migrated to America about ten years ago.  Therese' fellow demonstrators, who demonstrated ruly down the Liberty Statue’s base, Liberty Island, told the New York Times that: “We don’t know whether she had this planned before she ever got to Liberty Island or whether it was a spur-of-the-moment decision."

Jay. Walker an organizer of Rise and Resist, an activist group in which Therese is a member also suggested that she acted on her own will when he said: “We don’t condemn her for the choice she made."

Now, According to NBC news, Therese Okoumou of Staten Island, New York, is in custody, she is to face charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct, and interfering with government functions.

What Does Therese’ Action Suggest?

Looking at Therese's action at the Liberty Island-holding whatever cause she stood for constant- one can say she acted stupidly. Especially given the background, where she comes from, DR Congo.

 Congo has all it takes to be an affluent nation, yet citizens there live in conditions suitable for wild animals.

 No wonder Ebola outbreaks have ravaged the country several times within a short period. All in the name of corruption, Congo people live in the worse form of abject poverty.

 Did she protest the perennial natural resources fund mismanagement in her home country of DR Congo? Fund mismanagement-including foreign aid funds- has been the reason her people back home have to be-friend chimpanzee in the forests as means of survival, and the reason why they suffer Ebola disease.

 As a matter of urgency, Congo needs persons like her to protest for its people. Granted America is a place where all and sundry can come to fulfill dreams, but this doesn't change one's DNA to American.

 Another point that brings her action’s folly to the fore is that she’s an African fighting a cause that affects Mexican directly, while other Mexicans look on. Mexicans are known all through American history mostly as undocumented border crossers. And American authorities have never identified Africans as illegal border crossers.

 The bottom line is: The reason why she went out of her right to fight a cause a bit distant to her is amusingly stupid!

#Immigrants #Mexicans #Africaninamerica #Immigration #Liberty #National #Monuments #Parks