Henry Gusick

Professor Anyango

Seminar in Composition: Diversity

February 21, 2023

Against All Odds

Tani and his family have gone through the worst possible circumstances. After being

forced to leave their home country in Nigeria by extremists known as Boko Haram, one of the

world's deadliest terrorist groups, Tani and his family had to relocate to the city of New York.

Here they were treated as refugees and were given fewer opportunities. Most likely they’ve been

discriminated against and it is also likely they have been given negative biases due to our society

here. Fortunately, New York is a diverse location as well as an English-speaking location.

Though this may have made their relocation smoother, it did nothing for how this family

sacrificed their home, culture, community, and country. Their lives were on the line and it was a

miracle they all made it out safely.

Tani manages his day by balancing his work in school with his practice in chess. Tani

plays about eleven hours of chess per day along with having a social life and a presence in

school. As far as I am informed I know nothing of Tani’s family's struggles or if they have any

current struggles at all. It isn’t ok to assume that Tani has other duties around the house, but he

must be preoccupied in other ways which makes his everyday life extremely busy. He also

manages to include interviews and tournaments in his day. They are writing a book and movie on

Tani so Tani must be in a constant view of the media’s attention.

Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion are three terminologies we have worked with in class to

learn about diversity. They relate to this story and I will explain why. Equity is not present in
Tani’s life. Due to his unique skills and his extremely talented ability to play the game of chess

he single-handedly provided for his family and granted his family fairness in this newfound

home. Now his family has equal opportunity and they even have the ability to donate and

provide to individuals who struggled just like themselves. When Tani and his family evacuated

to the US they did not feel as if they belonged there. Fortunately again because of Tani, they

were invited into a community with welcoming arms. Trevor Noah and other Authors have

begun to tell Tani’s story which not only gives the family a sense of belonging but it is a way of

inclusion. This family and their child are heroes who found the American dream through hard

work and determination. They weren’t given any handouts and they managed to strive and

inspire the world.

“Refugees situations are created by people” relates to Tani and his family because of

Boko Haram created an unsafe and violent environment for the people of Nigeria. In the

conditions that Boko Haram created there was no longer a good quality of life for anyone to

prosper.

The three things Boko Haram are against in Nigeria are Western influence, western

education, and the Nigerian government. They dislike the Nigerian government because they

believe it is run by corrupt and false Muslims.