Warri-born Activist and Writer, Edafe Okporo, has announced his new book, a memoir. “The wait is over. My memoir ASYLUM is available for pre-order,” Edafe tweeted. The memoir, titled ASYLUM, is an “urgent call to action for immigration justice”.
“On the eve of Edafe Okporo’s twenty-sixth birthday, he was awoken to a violent mob outside his window in Abuja, Nigeria. The mob threatened his life after discovering the secret Edafe had been hiding for years—that 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,” the pre-order page reads.
It continues, “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.”
Edafe Okporo’s book will be released on June 7, 2022, and is available for pre-order here
“[ASYLUM is] both a moving memoir and an impassioned call for overhaul to our immigration system, Asylum documents the experiences of one man’s experience with the US immigration system, and integrating to life in America, as a Black, gay man. Edafe Okporo’s book is intersectional, persuasive, and timely in its plea for reform and compassion toward migrant policies and migrants,” LaSharah S. Bunting, Vice President and Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster says.
“Although writing the book triggered painful memories of leaving behind my family and coming to a new country knowing no one, I felt compelled to tell my story. US immigration policies have not caught up with LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing persecution, and who better positioned to write the story than someone who has gone through the process himself,” Edafe Okporo blogs. “Alongside my personal story is a call to action—not only for immigration reform but for a just immigration system for refugees everywhere. I have advocated for Afghan and Haitian refugees. I think when we read another’s story it humanizes us, creates more compassion, and inspires us to take action.”
