Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto
Written by Edafe Okporo
Narrated by Prentice Onayemi
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
On the eve of Edafe Okporo’s twenty-sixth birthday, he was awoken by 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.
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.
Asylum is Edafe’s “powerful, eye-opening” (Dr. Eric Cervini, New York Times bestselling author of The Deviant’s War) memoir and manifesto, which documents his experiences growing up gay in Nigeria, fleeing to America, navigating the immigration system, and making a life for himself as a Black, gay immigrant. Alongside his personal story is a blaring call to action—not only for immigration reform but for a just immigration system for refugees everywhere. This book imagines a future where immigrants and asylees are treated with fairness, transparency, and compassion. It aims to help us understand that home is not just where you feel safe and welcome but also how you can make it feel safe and welcome for others.
Edafe Okporo
Edafe Okporo was born in Warri, Nigeria. He migrated to the United States in 2016 as an asylum seeker and is now a refugee of the United States. Edafe is a global gay rights activist, the founder of Refuge America Inc, and one of the country’s most visible voices on the issue of displacement, leading an organization with a vision to “strengthen as a place of welcome for LGBTQ displaced people.” A graduate of Enugu State University and the school of Business at NYU, he currently lives in New York City. Edafe is among the inaugural winners of the David Prize, which honors individuals with bold visions for creating a better and brighter New York City. He is also a Logo 30 Honoree.
Related to Asylum
Related audiobooks
The Body Papers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Son of the House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn A Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm in Seattle, Where Are You?: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of a Man (and why we're so afraid to talk about it) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Goodbyes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadiance of Tomorrow: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Book Betrays My Brother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Small Silence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How We Fight For Our Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tastes Like War: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian writers on the home, identity and culture they know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of My Father the Pope: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The New American Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5They Said They Wanted Revolution: A Memoir of My Parents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Floating In A Most Peculiar Way: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Silence is My Mother Tongue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Chrysanthemums: A Novel in Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Who Is Not a Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better Never than Late Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shooting Out the Lights: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Love Prison Made and Unmade: My Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People Want to Live Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club): A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sociopath: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Asylum
11 ratings0 reviews