“Lmy idea of feminism maybe deviates from the mainstream stream, I don’t like following the masses, but living first-hand experiences, understanding my path and what I want to do».
Wayétu Moore, 37, writer, Liberian by origin and now an American citizen, lived most of his life wondering who he was. Was she the African-born woman she saw in the mirror who dated light-skinned men, or was she a black American? Did she carry her family identity with her, or was she just one of many people who emigrated to the United States?
In torment, as an adult, she returned to Liberia, took pen and paper, pieced together the fragments of her existence between pride, prejudice and shame, and wrote the memoir The dragons, the giant, the women (E/O editions).
Wayétu Moore’s life changes at five years old
He was five years old when – during the rainy season, he writes – civil war broke out in his country. He doesn’t quite understand at first what is happening. From one day to the next, however, his life changes: he runs away into the forest with his father, the Giant, mistakes the shots for drums and the corpses in the streets for sleeping people.
And then she finds herself an exile in the United States, a child and then a young woman who has to come to terms with her identity.
“I could be beautiful in one place and yet not be beautiful enough, not because of who I was or anything I’d done, but because of something as simple, and in some ways as important in this new place, as skin color.” tells.
Reported by the New York Times as one of the best non-fiction titles, Wayétu Moore with the book also won the first edition of the “Inge Feltrinelli Award-Telling the world, defending rights”in the category “Rights under construction: works of fiction and non-fiction”.
Wayétu Moore: «My origins are essential»
Wayétu who are “The giants, dragons and women?”
Dragons represent the forces and energies of life, those that cause conflicts, and therefore the power-hungry people who unleashed the war in Liberia. Dragons are, however, also my doubts as a woman in a foreign country looking for love for herself; the giant is my father and here the theme of love always returns, a bit the common thread of the book. Finally, women are the female protagonists of my life who have always played a very important role. In the transition from childhood to adult life there were first my grandmother, then my mother and Satta, the young rebel who helped us cross the border in our escape to freedom.
Why, at a certain point, did you feel so strongly the need to reconnect so overwhelmingly to your origins?
When we emigrated to the United States, we lived for six months in the Columbia University dormitory in New York, where my mother was studying, and then ended up in Connecticut and finally in Texas. I was eight years old and felt that I was missing my culture. My father always tried to stay connected to our roots through music and food, but then growing up I found myself living among prejudices. Those prejudices have also become mine. And I got lost.
The shame felt with the mother dressed in a traditional colorful dress
She recounts the shame she felt when her mother went to a class reunion dressed in a very colorful dress that attracted everyone’s eyes. Then came the “Black Lives Matter”.
Let’s say that prejudice and racism go hand in hand. When I returned to Liberia I discovered that there was no racism, there were certainly ethnic differences, but not the prejudices we experience in this part of the world. It affects everyone.
Did he figure out who he was in Liberia?
In part, the food has definitely been a great glue. Also because there are no Liberian restaurants in New York, apart from a take away on Staten Island. I was struck by the perspective of life, less anxious than ours. But I also realized that I carried a very romantic memory inside me. Women have always been important in her life, she said.
Do you feel the concept of “sisterhood”?
More than feminism in the broadest sense, I stick to my personal truth, my way of discovering the world. If there’s one thing my story has taught me, it’s to find your own way alone, really talk to those you love. In the end as women we all do the same things. There are those who choose to continue the cultural tradition that is imparted to them: procreate, cook, look after. Who to get busy, pursue a career to be autonomous and independent. On closer inspection, however, in all cases, don’t we always follow a masculine pattern? I want to be myself, a human being above all, and I will pass this on to my children. This, at least, is my truth, my narrative. The most important thing is to define yourself, not to follow models transmitted by other people.
Will he write a sequel to his story?
My writing is often therapeutic. This book has been written over time. Let’s say that first of all I’ll live the new stories, and then – who knows – maybe I’ll tell them.
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