By Imani Carroll
Hundreds of parents and family members in Nigeria are turning to the government to return the 101 girls kidnapped in a Boko Haram school raid.
Dapachi, Nigeria, Boko Haram allegedly raided a school, “forcing residents, including students of Government Girls Secondary school, to flee” noted the Los Angeles Times. A student named Aishatu Abdullahi from the school told Los Angeles Times that she had to find shelter in an abandoned house. She says the group was “shooting guns and everyone was confused.”
Some may recall the mass kidnapping of “276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok almost four years ago” says Los Angeles Times in “101 Nigerian girls missing after suspected Boko Haram attack on school, parents say.”
In fact, there are still 100 girls that are still being held captive even after almost 4 years. According to CNN’s Aminu Abubakar in his article “As many as 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram, Nigerian officials say”, the group had released a video to the world announcing their plan to kidnap the girls a month before it happened in 2014.
According to TeenVogue’s Jameelah Nasheed in her article “Following Boko Haram Attack, Dozens of Nigerian Girls Missing”, the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, said that Boko Haram was “technically defeated” just last year. Obviously this isn’t the case since in addition to the hundreds of missing girls, there are also reports that the terrorist group has kidnapped thousands of people throughout their years.
Senior Alyson Golden said that she didn’t know about the first incident in 2014, but had heard of the most recent mass kidnapping. She believes that the United States “should be aware and take action” but thinks that “too much action can lead to a bad thing.” Sophomore Helena Blanco knew of the group Boko Haram, and she knew that they were “killing people… innocent people.” Additionally, just like Golden, she believes the United States and United Nations should step in.
Science teacher Steve Whiteley, “was aware of [the kidnappings].” He believes that the United States, in “cooperation with the United Nation” should step in to help find those girls.
Devon Hornberger, a former valedictorian of York Suburban High School, spoke in her 2016 graduation speech a great deal of the Chibok girls. Her goal was to show the graduating students how fortunate they are to have gotten a complete education without having to risk their lives everyday for their entire school career. She proudly told the crowd “While I am standing on this stage … more than 200 high school girls of the same age, same potential, and same worth as myself remain missing and that is an unacceptable fact of my educational reality.” Her entire speech is very powerful, and Whiteley feels that it is still relevant and important to today.