Nigerians In US Stage Protest Against Racism In Yale University

Some Nigerians living in US have staged a protest against racism after one Ms Lolade Siyonbola, a Nigerian graduate student at the Yale University was allegedly embarrassed by a “white”  student in the school.

The Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN), in a letter addressed to the President of Yale University, Peter Salovey, and signed by OAN President, Solomon Bakare, demanded sanctions over the incidence.

Siyonbola had posted two videos of the incidence on Facebook on May 8, stating that she was sleeping on a couch in Yale’s Hall of Graduate studies, when a white student saw her and called police officers.

She said the white girl, Sarah Braasch, a Philosophy PhD student, woke her up and said she couldn’t stay there and called the police.

The Nigerian organisation called for more direct action to condemn Sarah’s behaviour, to send a strong message against any future occurrence.

“To ensure incidents of this nature is not given breathing ground in the Yale community, we would like to see more direct action taken to condemn Sarah’s behaviour, to send the message that it is against what Yale stood for and the community you have the vision to build.

“While we commend the initiative of hosting a listening session for the Yale community to share their thoughts on how to prevent such incident in the future, we strongly believe a direct statement condemning Sarah’s insensitive action is warranted at this time.

“We trust you will use your good office to change this unfortunate narrative and make Yale a leading example for other institutions to emulate,” OAN said.

They stated that they will continue to monitor the incident and take appropriate steps when necessary.

“We know of many African students and Nigerians in particular, who have passed through the prestigious Yale community without dealing with similar overt racist student.

“This is why we are convinced that this is more of an aberration and not the norm at Yale,” the Nigerian organisation said.

Founded in 1989, OAN has taken actives roles in engaging appropriate institutions to change any perceived negative stereotypes of Nigerians in the U.S.