num_pages: 224
description: A movingdramatic (David Ebershoff New York Times bestselling author of The Danish Girl ) and urgent call to action for immigration justice by a Nigerian asylee and global gay rights and immigration activist Edafe Okporo.On the eve of Edafe Okporos twenty-sixth birthday he was awoken by a violent mob outside his window in Abuja Nigeria. The mob threatened his life after discovering the secret Edafe had been hiding for yearsthat he is a gay man. Left with no other choice he purchased a one-way plane ticket to New York City and fled for his life. Though America had always been painted to him as a land of freedom and opportunity it was anything but when he arrived just days before the tumultuous 2016 Presidential Election.Edafe would go on to spend the next six months at an immigration detention center in Elizabeth New Jersey. After navigating the confusing often draconian US immigration and legal system he was finally granted asylum. But he would soon realize that America is exceptionally good at keeping people locked up but is seriously lacking in integrating freed refugees into society.Asylum is Edafes powerful eye-opening (Dr. Eric Cervini New York Times bestselling author of The Deviants War ) memoir and manifesto which documents his experiences growing up gay in Nigeria fleeing to America navigating the immigration system and making a life for himself as a Black gay immigrant. Alongside his personal story is a blaring call to actionnot only for immigration reform but for a just immigration system for refugees everywhere. This book imagines a future where immigrants and asylees are treated with fairness transparency and compassion. It aims to help us understand that home is not just where you feel safe and welcome but also how you can make it feel safe and welcome for others.
language: English
title: Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto
publisher: Simon & Schuster