Lessons From The Life of a Fighting Man: Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma
Introduction
Work in progress…
Nwá a mụ̀rụ̀ į́ tā ọ́kpụ́kpụ́ sį́té ná nwátá, onye átálá yá má ézé yá dį́ ókè nkọ́
A child born amid the political crisis leading up to the Biafran War and given the name “Innocent” by his parents to reinforce to everyone around them, including themselves, that despite the tribally motivated persecution happening all around them, they indeed maintained their innocence. Although they and their child were Igbo, they had no hand in plotting any coup or in killing anyone.
One must then be forced to wonder: to what extent is the perception of one’s group one’s own individual image? To what extent does it, or can it, affect them? In what way has the naming of this child, albeit unconsciously, only succeeded in reinforcing and planting the seed that, no matter how far removed one wishes to be from the plight of their own people—even from the false perceptions which they have a right to refuse—they can only succeed in attaching themselves further, or being further attached, to the very idea they wish to detach from?
To what extent has the naming of this child as INNOCENT successfully declared him guilty of being Igbo for the rest of his life? Does he disprove or display this fact of identity? On that note, we shall see.
Lesson: Nobody should blame a child who was taught from babyhood to chew bones if their teeth get rather sharp.
Lesson 2
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Lesson 3
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Lesson 4
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Lesson 5
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Lesson 6
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Lesson 7
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Lesson 8
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Lesson 9
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