And she said ive heard some stories about you. And he says you have. She said i heard you are in town to edit an International Magazine published by chinook he says no i am a graduate student. The woman said you said you were okewy. There is somebody in town whose name is okey and i thought i was meeting him. After the encounter he went away thinking the woman had wanted to pick him up and he said he was willing to be picked up and he midwaye changed her mind through the game and came up with a story about somebody named okey. The next day he met me and thats why when i introduced myself he could not stop laughing. Host how many people in nigeria would be named okeyu . Guest a lot. Key in ibo, it is short for , which means the creation of god. To give you an example, about four years ago my wife and i were in the bahamas for a french wedding. Me and this guy, there were two other okeys at the party. Yesterday i read in Houston Texas there was a professor named okey in the audience. A fairly common name in nigeria. Simply because nigerian names ibo names have meaning. Host lets do some background so we can get to some of the rest of the book. You live today where . Guest West Hartford connecticut. Host what do you do fulltime . Right i pretty much fulltime now. Teaching. Nto visiting different universities from college and so on. The last year i spent in las vegas in the university of nevada las vegas. Host the first year you came to the United States. Guest i came to the United States december of 1988. In december i wouldve spent 28 years in america. To set up an International Magazine called african commentary. Host what year did you become an american citizen . Guest 1996. Host why did you do it . Guest that is a question my mother asked me. I have always been a great admirer of america. A student of american history. Of itslarly the history african descended people beginning in slavery and captivity. ,ulminating today where we have that story of tragedy and transformation has always impressed me. I think it has something to do with it. I wanted to be part of this great social experiment called america. Host what is the view that america . Have of i know this is a big general statement. The viewmore, what is that africans have of americans view of africa . Guest americans view of africa has evolved and continues to evolve. Electionhat obamas put a particular spotlight on africa and has helped to reshape in a dramatic way the american conception of africa. When i came to america the dominant view of africa was that kingdomas some kind of of animals and the human population was somewhat incidental. Almost peripheral to this continent. Hilariousred so many questions. People who believed there were no airports in africa. People who believed africans lived in trees and that you could come out of your compound and encounter a lion. Think im guessing things have changed that. I think the internet, social media has opened every corner of the world in a significant way. Downcans can actually sit in any locale in this country and say and see any part of africa. I think more and more american universities and colleges are establishing visiting relationships with universities in africa. Obamas election will be the third most important factor. Host nigeria. Tell us something about the country. Where is it first of all . Guest nigeria is going through difficult times. When you say that, it is a statement that needs some kind of contextualization. Nigeria has been a difficult address since its founding by the british. I think that nigeria still exhibits all of the symptoms of some community. The british put together nigeria , collected close to 400 more than 400 different ethnic groups in light which is into this behemoth they named nigeria. I dont think that nigeria, that the british imagined for a moment that nigeria was going to coalesce into a meaningful community. Coulduge space where they exploit Raw Materials and dump the goods produced and so on. Did not Pay Attention to what was the task of nationbuilding. A task that was urgent, as urgent now as it was in 1960 and it continues to be abdicated by the political elite. Achebe said nigeria is a country that manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. A nation that was conceived with some hope that hasnt nurtured into that has nurtured into hopelessness. The crocodile story. I kind of gave it away. Back to the view that people have of africa in the United States. What was that story . Guest shortly after i came to america i became friends with a graduate student at a university where i lived at the time. One day he said to me, i would like to know how you africans are able to come to america when there are no airports in africa. I thought he was some kind of rookie comedian trying out material on me. So i said to him, we ride on the back of crocodiles across the atlantic. His face shaped in horror. He said dont they eat you. I thought he was still joking so i said if you speak in african language, carpet as will kiss you. In anvening, he called me earnest voice and said i told the crocodile story to my roommate and they dont believe it. I would like them to meet you so they will hear the story from the horses mouth. At which point i said, i dont know the horse well. Knowd the crocodile that i is far too busy ferrying other africans across the atlantic to come meet your roommates. Host where did you get your sense of humor . [laughter] guest first of all, in my culture, humor is so integral to everything. Marriage ceremonies, weddings, traditional marriage ceremonies, formal christian weddings. Funerals even. Wherever there is a gathering you found people who were extremely funny. For many years nigeria did not have professional comedians. So many funny people that you could buy someone a beer in a bar and it would hurt your really from laughing hurt your ribs from laughing. Host your mother is alive . Okey my mom is alive, she will be 92 next year. Brian where is she . Okey my hometown in nigeria. She is next to the neighboring town. The capital of my home state. Brian looking at the map, go down to the southwest corner. Okey southeast is where you want to be. Do you see where it is . We would be very close to it. An hour from that. Biafra is the southeastern part of nigeria, including the delta wasing niger also part of biafra. Brian did you ever lived there . Okey i was born in the northeastern part of nigeria. Has been most active. That is where i was born. Moment, the precursor to the civil war, my father sent us home. He had to stay back. Warved in biafra during the. I was a child. I have images of that war. Brian when did it happen and what was the issue . 1970 withwar ended in calamitous consequences. To 3 millionon people died. A lot of them civilians. A lot of them children and women. Sharply of those dividing memories that we havent nigeria. There is no agreement on what or who caused the war. One way of explaining the biafran war, it was a the failure of nigeria to achieve nationhood. There was a coup detat in which military officers staged a coup. Most of the casualties were politicians from other parts of nigeria. There was a kind of reprisal in june of 1966 when more than officers staged a counter coup in which they targeted ibo officers followed by a series of people froms the southeast and nigeria. These series of attacks led to a groundswell of demands for secession by the southeastern part of nigeria to become a different nation. Brian what would you find today if you want to that part of nigeria . Okey what you find today is there is a resurgence of again. Nt for secession aret of young people who disappointed in all the. Ailure in nigeria toing a resurgence of biafra their hopelessness. Brian 170 Million People you say live in nigeria, the largest country in africa. How many live here in the United States . Okey im sure somebody has put the figure together. I dont have it. Nigerians constitute the highest number of africans outside of the african continent. In europe and United States , everywhere you go there is a nigerian. There is a joke that if you went to the most remote place in the world and you didnt find a nigerian then it is not particularly habitable, you might as well move on. Okey how big brian how big nigeria . O tried in okey there are three big ones. There are the ebo. Oruba. Usa and the y of thestitute about 60 nigerian population. Brian what was it like when you moved here for the first couple of years . The process of transitioning to a different culture. To edit anmerica International Magazine. When i came, sadly, there was not much money. That was something i had to deal with. To be an editor of an International Magazine and find out month after month the employer did not have the money to pay you. A lot of times i had to make phone calls to people to ask for money to beg for money to make rent. I was living in amherst, massachusetts. Brian let me run some video so that people who have never seen what year did he die . Okey 2013. He was located he was a professor at brown university. Brian just a bit of video so we can see what he looked and sounded like. [video clip] know, im sure have heard of a whole tradition of novel writing which was based in in which africans were presented in which i personally. Ound unacceptable a plan to deny this language. Instead animalm sounds. , pick up heart of darkness and read it again. Brian your reaction to that . Chinua achebe, his a quiete mode was statement that was profoundly resonant. That is an example. Theg to that european tent tatian by europeans, the temptation by even americans to to register africa to this space of animals. And says it way powerfully. Brian why was he so admired and popular . Okey i think part of it has to do with the fact that his novel things fall apart is the most read book by any african i would suggest. Perhaps by a person of african descent. That novel has been translated into 16 different linkages. It sold millions in english. The novel captures a powerful moment. Moment of this encounter. Etween africa and europe he gave the world a subject that waiting for this caution. He never became an american. Brian why not . Okey i had interviewed him. The story of how i came to america began some years back when i interviewed a young journalist. On one occasion i interviewed a chebe. Wisdom god in his planted him in nigeria. Earth, if youf like, where his loyalties lie. Sadly, he could never turn to nigeria because of his condition. He had an accident and became paraplegic. He could not return to nigeria. It was clear in his writing and persona that nigeria was at the heart of his being and his work as well. Brian what did he teach you . Okey he taught me that stories have to have integrity. Achebe also taught me that stories were important. That there was something deeply moral about the art of storytelling. To enslave anded oppress. Stories can also be used to liberate and free people. That is one. In his motive storytelling, achebe was a writer who never wasted a word. Something, you had the sense that he had such deep didect for language that he not play around with point which. What he said in the way he said it came together beautifully. Brian i think you were sitting at a bar. A couple of guys were talking okey two women. Brian im thinking the one about communism. Okey much earlier. Brian you can tell both of those. Toy as a youngster, i loved eavesdrop on conversations. Today would ask my children to come sit and listen to me they find the first excuse to run away. Young people seem indifferent sometimes to the stories of adults. I was particularly curious to eavesdrop. In my world there was a sharp division. You did not intrude on the space of adults unless you are invited. I would appear to be doing something, but that was an excuse to overhear what adults were talking about. One day i was near a bar i like , to go to such places, to hang out. A man who was bearded was talking about a system he called communism which he said was invented by a man called karl marx. He said communism meant that everything was owned in common. That the best cars the poorest guy could just find a mercedes and get into it. The key would always be there so you can start the car and drive to wherever you wanted. You could get into the mansion and take the best bed and so on. And because i grew up poor, i became a communist in my mind. I wanted to come to nigeria so that i could drive the great expensive cars that only a few privileged nigerians were driving. I did go to the mansion that some nigerians were able to build and spend the night there. Start of what i saw my self as a communist. The other story about my encounter with people in a bar was when i had gone to the train station to pick up my brotherinlaw who was visiting from nigeria. I arrived to find his train was running late so i decided rather intogo home, i should look a bar and have a beer or so and we trimmed to arrive. Two women walked in and seemed inebriated. They struck up a conversation with me, remarked that i had an accident. One of them said, where are you from him i said nigeria. I said its in africa. She said, what are you doing in america. I love animals, i love the jungle, if i was from africa, i would never come to america. I said to her, my mother in law is from vermont. Ive seen a lot of jungle in vermont. A lot of animals in vermont. I recommend vermont for you. Brian you met your wife where . Her name is sherry. Okey my wife is named sherry. I met sherry at a Birthday Party which i crashed. I used to be a party crasher. I tell people i crashed the party and stole the price. Stole the prize. Brian you used to be a party or. You talk about it in your book. Okey i used be a rascal. In some ways, i still am. In rather more innocent ways that i used to be a rascal in ways that were not particularly considerate of the interests of other people, especially women who were in relationships with me. The day i crashed sherrys party, i was surprised to see her father there. He was a very revered intellectual, a professor of education who wrote major textbooks that were used in classrooms. He was at this party. I went to him and i said, what are you doing here. He said it was his daughters birthday. The party was happening elsewhere. I began to talk to him and was flattered that he knew who i was. I had been a journalist in nigeria. I was talking to him for 30 or 40 minutes when his daughter said why dont you let this guy come and dance . And the father said, hes the one who sat here. Im not holding him. Do have thisill movement on the dance floor that is not quite great dancing but it is remarkable. People notice me when im on the dance floor. Felt. Was some chemistry i of aose days i was more playboy than someone who was looking for a serious relationship. There was a woman who knew of my reputation and wanted to protect this beautiful wife of mine from me. This woman came to me and said i see you. I said what did you see . She said i wanted you to know that i see you. I said, i just danced, thats all i did. She said i want you to know that you dont play around with this one if youre not serious, just move on. Years later, several years later, sherry and i got married and she has been the love of my life. Brian she was born where . Okey she was born in nigeria but her mother is american. She came here frequently. Her mother is from vermont. She was born in nigeria. Brian what is the origin of your three daughters names. Okey i have two sons and a daughter. Brian my apologies i thought there were all daughters because they have a similarity. Okey we call my son chibu for short. Chi in ibo language means god. There are three or four words for god. One is chibu, one is chi, and one is chineke. My older sons name means god is my strength. My favorite daughter, i call her that because she is my only daughter. Brian how old is your son . Okey 24. My daughter is 21. She is wonderful. The younger sons name is kitibe. My fathers name. My father had just died before my son was born. As an honor to my father whom i really revered, i named him. Site they friends chis. The youngest is 19. Brian what do they do today . Okey they are in college now. Brian where do they go . Toy my older son goes Central Connecticut State university which is where my wife teaches. College at connecticut and then trinity college. He is finishing his education. He took couple of years to travel in peru. He went to peru to learn Spanish Language and fell in love with the country and i suspect with a young woman. It took two years to do that. My daughter is finishing at uconn. The baby of my family, is an eastern connecticut university. Brian what is the difference between a nigerian born person and your children who are of nigerian descent but they were born and raised in the United States . Do you see a difference in their approach to people . Their interests . Okey nigerian born children . Brian between you, nigerian born person and your kids. Okey definitely. In america, children are encouraged to have a voice. In nigeria, children are encouraged but you have a voice within the world of children. In nigeria, i wasnt allowed to speak to my parents unless i was invited to speak when they asked me questions. My children have a much more free relationship with made in relationship with me than my parents did. My parents used Corporal Punishment quite a bit. I received it at school as well. That was part of the mechanics of my shaping. Its not something that i remember with any regret at all. Brian explain what Corporal Punishment wouldve been. Bit. I was caned quite a at home and at school. I was a difficult child growing up. Mccain was not spared the cane was not spared. I will tell you a very interesting story. I never gave a reading in my home state. So my mother, when i travel to south africa, britain or italy and say im going there for readings, my mom kept saying to me, what do you do it these readings and i said i talked to the audience. I read a bit from the book. I respond to questions and assign books. 2014,y, in december of happened to be visiting nigeria. Presentation was arranged which was broadcast live on state radio. Because theyd invited my mother to introduce me. On air, my mother starts telling people, you love my son, he is popular in the country because i write a weekly column that takes an unsparing view of corruption in nigeria. She says this son of mine was so difficult and such my late husband and i used the cane to cane sensitive him. When it came time for me to speak, i jokingly said to my mother, you just confessed that you abused