It’s not just America — the abuse of authority is happening everywhere.
For the past 14 days, my family’s home of Lagos, Nigeria, has erupted in a national cry against injustice. As many UNC students sit in their off-campus apartments, family homes or on-campus dorms struggling to do online classes, Nigerians are struggling to breathe.
Twelve protesters were shot dead in the Lekki district, the neighborhood in which I spent a chunk of my childhood growing up. I’m not here to rehash the disturbing details of abuse perpetrated by the Nigerian government, nor am I here to demand your outrage. I am here to examine a widespread phenomenon that crosses all demographics and borders: abuse.
Burning heat and a lot of Black people. That's probably what first comes to mind for many people when they think of Nigeria. And they’re not wrong.
My first memory upon arriving in Nigeria as a 5-year-old American boy was stepping out of the airport and seeing the never-ending line of Black taxi drivers pleading to drive my family home.
My second memory was profusely sweating in 93-degree weather while a Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) officer prevented us from leaving the airport. His all-black uniform wasn’t a good look for him, but he strutted his AK-47 confidently. There was a tiny sliver of fear running down the back of my leg, but I didn’t know what fear was — I was 5. All I knew was I didn’t like this man. But then, money exchanged hands and we were off to go about our day.
Abuse: “improper or excessive use or treatment.” Improper use of power, excessive use of authority and mistreatment of money. All occurred in a 15-minute span that day. Imagine what could have been done in an hour, a year or a decade? Unfortunately for humanity, we have plenty of examples of what could be done. The Holy Crusade, the Rwandan genocide, George Floyd, even Goldman Sachs’ latest scandal. The improper and excessive use — or abuse — of power, authority and money afflicts both the richest and poorest of nations, from Saudi Arabia to France to Nigeria. There’s only one common theme in all these cases: humans are in charge.
Humans have and will continue to abuse power, authority and money. History shows it. The question is: how do people respond when abuse occurs? Most of society has gotten better at responding to abuse over the centuries. From revolutions and coups d'etat to civil disobedience and whistleblower protections, humanity has found destructive and proactive ways to combat abuse.
Clearly, there are exceptions, but overall, there have been major improvements. But when will it stop? When will humanity have to stop responding to abuse and start using power, authority and money strictly within appropriate parameters?
