#SAYNOTOPLASSA

We are right where we belong

There are four of them.

We told our peers, “Fight for your right.”

They said, “No, the four will do that.”

Which four?

They said, “The four.”

One shows up and sees red and white only. He calls himself the eagle. Which eagle sees red and white only?

Lagbaja is the second. He says he is for culture and tradition.

Another says she stands gallant.

The last says she can see, even with her shades in the dark.

“Remove the shades,” we told her.

She said, “No, that is why I have my stick with me.”

“My peers, these four are not the fantastic four,” we told them gently and with love.

“They are!” they replied. “Do you not see their superpowers? One sees red and white, one is for the culture, one is gallant, and the last walks without seeing.”

“These are not superpowers. They are nothing but limitations,” we explained to them with patience, but they have since turned deaf ears.

“We are being oppressed by the normal-height people because we are dwarfs,” the ‘fantastic’ four claimed. “They are oppressing you all also and you just do not see it. You are like us, dwarfs!”

But how can Lagbaja see the path clearly with the layers of clothing? Even if he does, he would not perceive the dirt on the path. How can he then direct us to the right path?

The ‘eagle’ promised us flying colors, but he sees red and white only.

The gallant says we can stand on her shoulders, but she has no shoulders and is crippled.

The blind said we can trust her stick, but her stick can only see what is near. It cannot see far ahead.

The normal-height people gave us a mirror so we could see ourselves, but the blind broke it with her stick.

They gave us scents, but Lagbaja wasted it all on his many layers of clothing.

We were given skateboards to ease our journey, but the ‘gallant’ took one for herself. But what could we say? She is crippled and needs it more than we do. So we surrendered it to her.

The mirror was so we could see that we are not dwarfs. We only think we are because we would not stop standing on our knees.

We looked in the mirror and we finally saw it.

“But we have not learned to walk with our feet,” we told the normal-height people.

“Do not worry, you can hold our hands,” they told us.

But the fantastic four convinced some of our peers that they are nothing but dwarfs. They told them they would not survive in the world of giants. They can only survive in a world designed for them at Plassa.

But Plassa is not for us. It is not who we are.

“You all are not dwarfs,” we pleaded with them, and we gave them new mirrors.

The blind said she cannot see the mirror.

Yes, that is because you will not remove your shades.

Lagbaja said he sees himself as a dwarf.

Yes, because the clothes are too many and too long. They make you appear like one.

The eagle says, “I am sorry, I can only see red and white.”

Yes, because you chose to use red on white instead of black on white.

The gallant says, “I am crippled. I cannot see the mirror.”

You are crippled, not blind. Of course you can see.

Now my peers and I are holding the mirrors under the hot sun to show others that we are not dwarfs,

that we are not oppressed,

that we do not want Plassa.

We belong right where we are.

They said our voices are nothing but whispers and that we should surrender.

We told them a hundred whispers will be loud enough for the world to hear.

And even if it is not, we will move closer to them.

They said the world will not see us because we are still dwarfs.

We told them we just have to climb on one another’s shoulders and the world will see us.

And even if our shoulders are not strong enough, we will use a ladder or stand on the mountain of books we have read.

I am Ariya Adejoke, and I say no to Plassa.

I say I am not a dwarf.

Even if I am, I will climb the mountain of books I have read.

I say my voice is not a whisper, and even if it is, I will move closer to their ears so they will hear me.

My peers, I have lent my whisper. Lend yours also, and maybe we will be loud enough for the world.

~~ Ariya Adejoke

#saynotoplassa