Here it is a country about the size of Ohio in land mass with a population of 4.6 million. The next door neighbors are Sierra Leone and The Ivory Coast. You've heard of them. The coast is beautiful and the palm trees lovely.
A small history so that we all know. (This is the Anna Taylor boiled down version and I hope I get all the facts right.)
Liberia is called such because it means Liberty-an American Heritage. The capital city Monrovia is name after the American president Monroe. Their flag is our flag with only one star. Their constitution is our constitution with the words Liberia substituted. The currency US in addition to their own. Their current laws-taken directly from US law. Why all this?
In the late 1810's the US had a growing number of freed slaves. Many Americans felt that integration of the two races was impossible and they were concerned about how to manage the growing numbers without discord. So, a group was put together to find a solution and that solution was to allow those who wanted to "return" to Africa (even though many of these were the US born children of slaves and their owners.) They decided to aim to "return" them to Sierra Leone, purchase some land, and allow the blacks to run their own state. The society sent 88 blacks and three white members of the society to establish a location. After meeting resistance from the local chiefs and the death of almost all of the original members from malaria, a new white leader was sent to coerce (by way of gun to the head) to force a chief to sell them the land. Not surprisingly they sold them Liberia. The tribes in the area rejected the "settlers" which they called Congo people not because they were from the Congo but because they landed at the Congo river aperture. To this day they are still called Congo and they are often identified by their lighter skin (mixed with white from America obviously.) The local tribes fought back but the settlers had brought guns and cannons and were able to fortify their city. Other ships from America with American blacks arrived and the Congo people were able to establish and rule their own state. Around 20,000 came from the US but this was much smaller than the hoped for mass exodus they had anticipated. In order to protect itself from the British and the French who had providences nearby, the US allowed the state to be declared sovereign in the 1840s. They provided minimal support and expected the country to establish its own financial structure.
Until the 1980 the Congo people retained control over the government. In 1980, a military nobody named Samuel Doe from one of the tribes miraculously pulled off a coup and seized control of the government. It seems that Doe had no actual plan or experience and simply all the cards fell into his lap and he liked it. He was not a good leader and the country's financial stability immediately declined. He maintained control by cruelty and fear. So while the native Liberian people finally had control of their own country, it was not a beneficial move. Several years after seizing control, he decided to hold a public election to show he was working towards a democratic nation. He, of course, lost the election and rigged the results. But now his paranoia was more severe and he became worse. His rule was marked by rapes, violent murders, and misuse of government moneys and foreign aid (mostly American).
Several attempts at overthrowing his government failed. In 1989, Charles Taylor, a trained guerrilla, successfully entered Liberia to overthrow the government but succeeded mostly in causing civil war and extreme violence. He trained the infamous child soldiers that he kidnapped from foreign and Liberian families, heavily drugged them, forced them to rape and kill their own family members. In 1990, he killed Samuel Doe and took control of the country. But because the country is formed mostly by ethnic tribes, the country's civil war escalated as they all tried to gain or maintain control over the resources of rubber and diamonds mostly. Charles Taylor succeeded in ending the Civil War in 1997 when he won an election with the slogan, "He killed my ma. He killed my pa. I will vote for him." The idea behind the slogan was that he was the most powerful person in the country and he will kill you otherwise...Additionally, his strength in warfare made him the most capable of keeping the country from continuing the civil war. But, in 1999 the civil war resumed. In 2003, Charles Taylor was finally put under extreme pressure to resign and fled to Nigeria as a political refuge. He was charged internationally with aiding civil war in Sierra Leon, illegally running arms, and selling blood diamonds. He was never charged with the crimes against humanity in his own country.
It is estimated that between 400,000 and 620,000 people, mostly civilians were killed during this time. The number of rapes, specifically gang rapes, is obviously not recorded but the women repeatedly report that it was common practice among the soldiers both child an not. The saying was women are for raping not killing, so much of that death toll above is men.
The Liberian people feel that their big brother America should have been helping them during this time, but America largely ignored it and even sent arms during some portions. It wasn't until Charles Taylor that they pulled out their arms donations and sent paltry air drops of rice that may have been intended for civilians but was taken by armed soldiers. The only consistent American presence was the presence of Firestone rubber plants who were not involved in aiding anyone. There has been some speculation as to how Firestone has been able to run consistent business in the country but I don't know much about it.
Furthermore, Liberia as well as other West African countries was struck by the ebola virus in 2014. It killed approx 4,500 people and infected around 10,000 in Liberia alone. Sierra Leon and Guinea suffered another approx 5,000 deaths. It cause wide spread fear and panic. Again, Liberia asked where is their best friend America? American did send aid but the Liberians felt it was too late. There was one great benefit of ebola...before the ebola virus there were reported only 50 trained doctors for the entire country of 4.6 million. I don't know the number of actual doctors now but there are many more trained healthcare nurses and workers.
My taxi driver says little babies are born looking at the US dollar and dreaming American dreams. It is my goal to make sure that American babies at least know of their Liberian brother.
Several attempts at overthrowing his government failed. In 1989, Charles Taylor, a trained guerrilla, successfully entered Liberia to overthrow the government but succeeded mostly in causing civil war and extreme violence. He trained the infamous child soldiers that he kidnapped from foreign and Liberian families, heavily drugged them, forced them to rape and kill their own family members. In 1990, he killed Samuel Doe and took control of the country. But because the country is formed mostly by ethnic tribes, the country's civil war escalated as they all tried to gain or maintain control over the resources of rubber and diamonds mostly. Charles Taylor succeeded in ending the Civil War in 1997 when he won an election with the slogan, "He killed my ma. He killed my pa. I will vote for him." The idea behind the slogan was that he was the most powerful person in the country and he will kill you otherwise...Additionally, his strength in warfare made him the most capable of keeping the country from continuing the civil war. But, in 1999 the civil war resumed. In 2003, Charles Taylor was finally put under extreme pressure to resign and fled to Nigeria as a political refuge. He was charged internationally with aiding civil war in Sierra Leon, illegally running arms, and selling blood diamonds. He was never charged with the crimes against humanity in his own country.
It is estimated that between 400,000 and 620,000 people, mostly civilians were killed during this time. The number of rapes, specifically gang rapes, is obviously not recorded but the women repeatedly report that it was common practice among the soldiers both child an not. The saying was women are for raping not killing, so much of that death toll above is men.
The Liberian people feel that their big brother America should have been helping them during this time, but America largely ignored it and even sent arms during some portions. It wasn't until Charles Taylor that they pulled out their arms donations and sent paltry air drops of rice that may have been intended for civilians but was taken by armed soldiers. The only consistent American presence was the presence of Firestone rubber plants who were not involved in aiding anyone. There has been some speculation as to how Firestone has been able to run consistent business in the country but I don't know much about it.
Furthermore, Liberia as well as other West African countries was struck by the ebola virus in 2014. It killed approx 4,500 people and infected around 10,000 in Liberia alone. Sierra Leon and Guinea suffered another approx 5,000 deaths. It cause wide spread fear and panic. Again, Liberia asked where is their best friend America? American did send aid but the Liberians felt it was too late. There was one great benefit of ebola...before the ebola virus there were reported only 50 trained doctors for the entire country of 4.6 million. I don't know the number of actual doctors now but there are many more trained healthcare nurses and workers.
My taxi driver says little babies are born looking at the US dollar and dreaming American dreams. It is my goal to make sure that American babies at least know of their Liberian brother.
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