Baylor is home to a diverse group of students from the various countries of Africa. Though traveling from the same continent, each student’s experience at Baylor has been different and has affected their views on global immigration as well as diversity at Baylor.
Onose Aigbe is from Nigeria and said America is very different from her country. She described a society where everyone is expected to bow down to elders and use their right hand for everything. Everyone is more in tune with each other, Aigbe said.
Aigbe said she appreciates the various people she has met at Baylor as well as others from various states she has lived in. She said she came to America for the quality and stability of the education. Aigbe said she would be hurt if immigration were prohibited.
“If immigration were taken away as a whole, I would feel hurt. I feel that it’s kind of selfish since America was built on people from different countries,” Aigbe said.
Berachah Kwarteng-Siaw is from Ghana and proud of the fact that his country was the first African country to gain independence.
Kwarteng-Siaw said he thinks America is what it is now because of immigration. He believes that the different cultures that make up America is what makes it so great.
Kwarteng-Siaw said that being from Ghana, there were many people who saw coming to America as an opportunity to give themselves a better life. Even though people are willing to do almost anything to gain that opportunity, Kwarteng-Siaw said he feels that everyone should not be afforded that chance.
“Some people won’t survive here, while others would be a nuisance to society. So, the best bet I feel is to do what’s being done right now where there is a background check on people wanting to come into this country to see if they will survive or benefit it,” Kwarteng-Siaw said.
Charlz Bizong Jr. from Cameroon said he believes America is a great place to immigrate to because he has seen what people will go through to have the opportunity to live in America. He said that while it is a great place to immigrate to, people tend to forget that it is an opportunity.
“I feel like as Americans, we don’t understand the privilege we have to be here. We tend to feel like we deserve to be here, thus squandering the privilege,” Bizong said.
Kwarteng-Siaw said he thinks the president’s immigration reform is an overreaction out of fear of radical Islamic terrorists.
“Obviously, not all of the Muslims in the countries that are banned are radical,” Kwarteng-Siaw said. “In banning all of them, he’s depriving them of an opportunity to better their lives. In addition, there are radical Islamic terrorists all of the world, so banning these countries wouldn’t particularly solve this problem.”
Kwarteng-Siaw said he hopes the president’s ban will be rejected, and the government can seek better solutions to enact change.
“An actual bipartisan committee can come together, sit down and discuss sensible ways to protect the people of the United States of America from the radical Islamic terrorists,” Kwarteng-Siaw said
