{"id":176436387,"date":"2014-05-10T02:44:32","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T07:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176436387"},"modified":"2014-05-10T02:44:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-10T07:44:32","slug":"nigeria-bringbackourgirls-solidarity-vs-appropriation-no-easy-task-fixing-a-complex-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2014\/05\/10\/nigeria-bringbackourgirls-solidarity-vs-appropriation-no-easy-task-fixing-a-complex-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"NIGERIA: #BringBackOurGirls: Solidarity vs Appropriation, No Easy Task Fixing A Complex Situation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176436388\" alt=\"bring back 01\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-01.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-01.jpg 620w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-01-300x159.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: large;\"><strong>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wall-st-journal.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176436391\" alt=\"wall st journal\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wall-st-journal.jpg\" width=\"461\" height=\"46\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wall-st-journal.jpg 461w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wall-st-journal-300x29.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>May 8, 2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 itemprop=\"headline\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">In Push to Free Nigerian Girls, <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1 itemprop=\"headline\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">a Tangled Web<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: large;\">When Twitter Hashtag Went Viral, American Woman Took Credit, Then Admitted She Didn&#8217;t Create It<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-module-id=\"7\" data-module-name=\"resp.module.article.BylineAuthorConnect\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong>By\u00a0ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong>NATALIE ANDREWS\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong>MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-module-id=\"8\" data-module-name=\"resp.module.article.articleBody\">\n<article id=\"articleBody\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"djvideo_D67FC493-4CF6-49CF-B531-1FB3678A42DB\"><b><iframe frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"http:\/\/live.wsj.com\/public\/page\/embed-D67FC493_4CF6_49CF_B531_1FB3678A42DB.html\"><\/iframe><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Despite growing national and international anger, the president of Nigeria spoke Thursday and gave no specifics as to what the government was doing to rescue the more than 200 abducted school girls and end the continuing attacks from Boko Haram. Jerry Seib reports. Photo: AP.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">It is an irresistible story line: An American mom hears of terrible wrongs done to poor girls the age of her own daughter in a faraway land, then galvanizes social media, prompting the U.S. to act.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">More<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/washwire\/2014\/05\/08\/how-bringbackourgirls-got-started-in-nigeria\/\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How #BringBackOurGirls Got Started in Nigeria<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Soon, first lady Michelle Obama is holding up a placard with the maternal cry for help:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=#BringBackOurGirls&amp;src=tyah\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">#BringBackOurGirls<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">But the real tale of how a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/TWTR\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Twitter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/TWTR\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">TWTR\u00a0+0.28%<\/span><\/a>\u00a0hashtag grew into a rallying call for more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group is a more complex web.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">In her online biography and in interviews on CNN and ABC, Ramaa Mosley has portrayed herself as a mother who until recently &#8220;didn&#8217;t even know what a hashtag was.&#8221; She said that two weeks ago, she was moved to tears by a brief radio broadcast about the mid-April abductions in Nigeria, and adapted the cries of the girls&#8217; mothers into the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Elizabeth Smart, a former child abductee turned activist, talks to the Wall Street Journal&#8217;s Lee Hawkins about the more than nearly 300 girls who are missing in Nigeria and reveals what she would tell them if she could speak with them now. Lee Hawkins reports.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">&#8220;I quickly noticed that there was no social media presence, no petitions, no action cry. So pathetically I set out to create a Facebook page and Twitter account for the cause&#8230;then I began tweeting and hashtagging one particular phrase #bringbackourgirls,&#8221; she said in an April 30 message about herself on her Facebook page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">In fact, Ms. Mosley also helped direct the film &#8220;Girl Rising,&#8221; a well-received documentary about the global struggle to educate girls, and her effort to draw attention to the kidnappings is part of a push by The Documentary Group, a for-profit company, to promote the project world-wide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">CNN Films paid $500,000 last year for three years&#8217; rights to the film, and will air it again on CNN International this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">CNN had no comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The &#8220;Bring Back Our Girls&#8221; hashtag\u2014retweeted nearly two million times so far by Twitter users\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PCCS_VA\/status\/464422547321548800\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">including the Vatican<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FLOTUS\/status\/464148654354628608\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the first lady<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and celebrities including singers Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown\u2014wasn&#8217;t created by Ms. Mosley but by Nigerian Ibrahim Musa Abdullahi, a 35-year-old attorney in the capital Abuja who adapted a chant he heard on television there. This week, Twitter users began calling attention to that fact in a storm of angry tweets to Ms. Mosley.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Ms. Mosley said in an interview on Thursday that she didn&#8217;t take credit for the hashtag: &#8220;The idea that people are so upset has been a complete shock.\u2026I felt compelled to help spread the word.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436389\" style=\"width: 272px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ibrahim.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436389\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436389\" alt=\"Ibrahim Musa Abdullahi, left, an attorney in Nigeria's capital, created the hashtag that went viral. Ibrahim M. Abdullahi\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ibrahim.jpg\" width=\"262\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ibrahim.jpg 262w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ibrahim-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Ibrahim Musa Abdullahi, an attorney in Nigeria&#8217;s capital, created the hashtag that went viral.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">She said she thinks she became the face of the cause in the media because &#8220;we don&#8217;t have photos of the [Nigerian] girls so the media in the United States has picked up on this as a human-interest story and attached me to it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">On Thursday, after receiving a call from The Wall Street Journal and noting the adverse Twitter reaction to its story, ABC deleted the headline &#8220;Los Angeles Mother of Two Creates Viral Hashtag&#8221; and posted an editor&#8217;s note that read: &#8220;This story has been updated to reflect that #BringBackOurGirls appeared on Twitter prior to Ramaa Mosley&#8217;s first tweet.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">An ABC spokeswoman had no further comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Holly Gordon, founder of the Girl Rising project, said in an interview on Thursday that the Nigeria kidnappings provide &#8220;an important moment for us to promote our film.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Ms. Gordon said Ms. Mosley&#8217;s idea for her social-media campaign was solely her own, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/girlrising.com\/\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Girl Rising<\/span><\/a>\u00a0helped her to expand her social-media network by linking to its own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The company said it designed the distinctive red avatar Ms. Mosley used on her social-media pages, and supplied her with &#8220;talking points&#8221; on girls&#8217; education.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Ms. Mosley on Thursday said she updated her Twitter account biography to reflect her involvement with Girl Rising, and sent a series of tweets giving credit for the hashtag to its Nigerian creators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The viral campaign has succeeded in drawing global attention to the Nigerian girls&#8217; plight.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436390\" style=\"width: 563px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/michelle-obama.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436390\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436390\" alt=\"A photo of Michelle Obama, taken from her Twitter feed on Thursday, shows her displaying the hashtag. Twitter\/Bloomberg News\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/michelle-obama.jpg\" width=\"553\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/michelle-obama.jpg 553w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/michelle-obama-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436390\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>A photo of Michelle Obama, taken from her Twitter feed on Thursday, shows her displaying the hashtag. Twitter\/Bloomberg News<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama tweeted &#8220;Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It is time to #BringBackOurGirls,&#8221; with a photograph of the first lady holding up a handmade sign with the hashtag. It was retweeted more than 47,000 times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The signature hashtag, which allows Twitter users world-wide to find like-minded people, had its origins in Abuja. On April 23, Mr. Abdullahi was at home watching a televised broadcast of the opening celebration of Port Harcourt&#8217;s year as the United Nations&#8217; world book capital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">One speaker, former World Bank Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili, took to the stage and helped lead the crowd in a chant of &#8220;Bring back our daughters.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Mr. Abdullahi had just a few hundred Twitter followers, but he is an enthusiastic tweeter. So, on April 23, he modified the slogan to &#8220;bring back our girls&#8221; and tweeted:<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Abu_Aaid\/status\/458935571076100096\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Yes #BringBackOurDaughters\u00a0<\/span><\/a>#BringBackOurGirls declared by @obyezeks and all people at Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t have a daughter so I thought it would be better to make it girls,&#8221; Mr. Adbullahi said in an interview from Abuja on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">It was retweeted just 95 times. But one of those came from Ms. Ezekwesili, who has more than 125,000 followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">She quickly adopted the hashtag and urged people to use it. She tweeted: &#8220;Lend your Voice to the Cause of our Girls. Please All, use the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to keep the momentum UNTIL they are RESCUED.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The message soon took on a life of its own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">On April 23,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/apr\/23\/200-girls-missing-nigeria-care-sewol-tragedy\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the British Guardian newspaper published<\/span><\/a>\u00a0an article that was shared more than 35,000 times on Facebook and tweeted more than 3,500 times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The biggest boost, according to Topsy social-media analytics, came on April 30, when Mr. Brown\u2014the performer who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting his girlfriend, Rihanna, the singer\u2014tweeted the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">But soon it was CNN leading the charge. The top #BringBackOurGirls tweets for four of the first five days of May were all from CNN-related accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The Girl Rising film and awareness effort are widely hailed. The project was financed by contributions from corporations led by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/INTC\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Intel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Corp.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/INTC\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">INTC\u00a0-0.15%<\/span><\/a>\u00a0, private philanthropists, foundations and ticket sales.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Ms. Mosley, 38 years old, has been with The Documentary Group&#8217;s Girl Rising project &#8220;from the very beginning,&#8221; in 2007, said Ms. Gordon, and directed the Afghanistan chapter of the film, which covers girls&#8217; education issues in nine countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Ms. Gordon said the budget for the film was $10 million: $3.7 million for production costs, and the remainder for the &#8220;campaign,&#8221; a global effort to highlight the challenges facing young women in developing nations by screening the film in venues including theaters and nonprofit meetings, along with creating short-subject films for nongovernmental organizations working on such issues as childhood marriage in Ethiopia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The project&#8217;s first and one of its biggest funders is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/MSFT?mod=DNH_S_cq&amp;lc=int_mb_1001\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Microsoft<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Corp. co-founder\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/topics.wsj.com\/person\/A\/Paul-Allen\/470\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Paul Allen<\/span><\/a>, through his Vulcan Productions. Mr. Allen and his sister Jody Allen are the film&#8217;s executive producers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Vulcan funded the film because of Mr. Allen&#8217;s interest in alleviating global poverty, and has also provided media and promotional expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">&#8220;We know that if you educate one girl you can break the cycle of global poverty in one generation,&#8221; said Carole Tomko, Vulcan&#8217;s creative director and general manager. &#8220;That community we created and united for change are coming together and doing everything they can do to get these girls released.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">To the degree that Ms. Mosley initially didn&#8217;t disclose her involvement in Girl Rising, &#8220;That would be unfortunate, because she&#8217;s a fantastic storyteller and she just wants to bring those girls home, too,&#8221; Ms. Tomko said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u2014Peter Nicholas and Drew Hinshaw contributed to this article.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong>Write to\u00a0<\/strong>Elizabeth Williamson at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:elizabeth.williamson@wsj.com\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">elizabeth.williamson@wsj.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and Michael M. Phillips at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:michael.phillips@wsj.com\" target=\"_new\" data-ls-seen=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">michael.phillips@wsj.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&gt;via:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304431104579550354216910992?mod=fox_australian&amp;mg=reno64-wsj&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304431104579550354216910992.html%3Fmod%3Dfox_australian\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304431104579550354216910992?mod=fox_australian&amp;mg=reno64-wsj&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304431104579550354216910992.html%3Fmod%3Dfox_australian<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: large;\"><strong>__________________________<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/compare-afrique.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176436399\" alt=\"compare afrique\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/compare-afrique.jpg\" width=\"439\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/compare-afrique.jpg 439w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/compare-afrique-300x51.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>May 7, 2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">Dear Americans, Your Hashtags <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">Won\u2019t #BringBackOurGirls. <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">You Might Actually Be <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">Making Things Worse.<\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00b7\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/dear-americans-hashtags-wont-bringbackourgirls-might-actually-making-things-worse\/#comments\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">225 Comments\u00a0<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/lost-girl2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"lost girl2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/lost-girl2-300x203.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Simple question. Are you Nigerian? Do you have constitutional rights accorded to Nigerians to participate in their democratic process? If not, I have news you. You can\u2019t do anything about the girls missing in Nigeria. You can\u2019t. Your insistence on urging American power, specifically American military power, to address this issue will ultimately hurt the people of Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">It heartens me that you\u2019ve taken up the mantle of spreading \u201cawareness\u201d about the 200+ girls who were abducted from their school in Chibok; it heartens me that you\u2019ve heard the cries of mothers and fathers who go yet another day without their child. It\u2019s nice that you care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Here\u2019s the thing though, when you pressure Western powers, particularly the American government to get involved in African affairs \u00a0and when you champion military intervention, you become part of a much larger problem. You become a complicit participant in a military expansionist agenda on the continent of Africa.\u00a0<strong>This is not good.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">You might not know this, but the United States military loves your hashtags because it gives them legitimacy to encroach and grow their military presence in Africa. AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), the military body that is responsible for overseeing US military operations across Africa, gained much from #KONY2012 and will now gain even more from #BringBackOurGirls.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Last year, before President Obama visited several countries in Africa, I\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/changecourseobama\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">wrote<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about how the U.S. military is expanding its role in Africa. In 2013 alone, AFRICOM carried out a total of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomdispatch.com\/post\/175823\/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_america's_non-stop_ops_in_africa\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0546 \u201cmilitary activities,\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0which is an average of one and half military missions a day. While we don\u2019t know much about the purpose of these activities, keep in mind that AFRICOM\u2019s mission is to \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.africom.mil\/what-we-do\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">advance U.S. national security interests<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And advancing they are.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/179050\/why-us-military-averaging-more-mission-day-africa\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to one report<\/span><\/a>, in 2013, American troops entered and\u00a0<em>advanced American interests<\/em>\u00a0in Niger, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Burundi, Mauritania, South Africa, Chad, Togo, Cameroon, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South Sudan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The U.S. military conducted 128 separate \u201cmilitary activities\u201d in 28 African countries between June and December of 2013. These are in conjunction to U.S. led drone operations which are occurring in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.punchng.com\/news\/us-drones-spy-on-boko-haram\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Northern Nigeria<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/al-qaeda\/10086660\/US-drone-shot-down-by-al-Shabaab-in-Somalia.html\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Somalia<\/span><\/a>. There are also counter-terrorism outposts in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.washingtonpost.com\/2012-10-25\/world\/35499227_1_drone-wars-drone-operations-military-base\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Djibouti<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/defcon-hill\/policy-and-strategy\/292081-rodriguez-takes-reins-at-africa-command\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Niger<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and covert bases in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.washingtonpost.com\/2011-09-20\/world\/35273162_1_undeclared-drone-wars-seychelles-president-james-michel-unmanned-aircraft\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ethiopia and the Seychelles<\/span><\/a>\u00a0which are serving as launching pads for the U.S. military to carry out surveillance and armed drone strikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Although most of these activities are covert, we do know that the U.S. military has had a destabilizing effect in a few countries. For example, a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/03\/24\/world\/africa\/in-mali-coup-leaders-seem-to-have-uncertain-grasp-on-power.html?_r=0\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">New York Times<\/span><\/a>\u00a0article confirmed that the man who overthrew the\u00a0<i>elected<\/i>\u00a0Malian government in 2012 was trained and mentored by the United States between 2004 and 2010. Further, a U.S.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.africom.mil\/Newsroom\/Article\/7727\/750-congolese-soldiers-graduate-from-us-led-milita\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">trained<\/span><\/a>\u00a0battalion in the Democratic Republic of Congo was denounced by the United Nations for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/us-trained-congolese-troops-committed-rapes-and-other-atrocities-un-says\/2013\/05\/13\/9781dd88-bbfe-11e2-a31d-a41b2414d001_story.html\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">committing mass rapes<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Now the United States is gaining more ground in Africa by sending military advisors and\u00a0<em>more<\/em>\u00a0drones, sorry, I mean\u00a0<i><a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/wireStory\/nigeria-us-sending-security-personnel-assets-rescue-276-23608907\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">security personnel and assets to Nigeria<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/i>to assist the Nigerian military, who by the way,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/nigeria-islam-atrocities-war-rights-437\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">have a history of committing mass atrocities against the Nigerian people<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Knowing this, you can understand my apprehension for President Obama\u2019s decision. As the Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole said yesterday, the involvement of the U.S. government and military will only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tejucole\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">lead to more militarism, less oversight, and less democracy.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Also, the last time military advisors were sent to Africa, they didn\u2019t do much good. Remember #KONY2012? \u00a0When President Obama sent 100\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/blogs\/politics\/2011\/10\/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to-combat-lords-resistance-army\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><i>combat-equipped troops<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0to capture or kill Lord\u2019s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony in Central Africa?\u00a0 Well, they haven\u2019t found him and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.washingtonpost.com\/2013-04-03\/world\/38238379_1_central-african-republic-lra-dominic-ongwen\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">although they momentarily stopped looking<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0President Obama sent more troops in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/24\/world\/africa\/obama-is-sending-more-resources-for-joseph-kony-search.html\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">March 2014<\/span><\/a>\u00a0who now roam Uganda, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Consequently, your calls for the United States to get involved in this crisis undermines the democratic process in Nigeria and co-opts the growing movement against the inept and kleptocratic Jonathan administration. It was Nigerians who took their good for nothing President to task and challenged him to address the plight of the missing girls. It is in their hands to seek justice for these girls and to ensure that the Nigerian government is held accountable. Your emphasis on U.S. action does more harm to the people you are supposedly trying to help and it only expands and sustain U.S. military might.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">If you must do something, learn more about the amazing activists and journalists like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gbengasesan\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">this one<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChiomaChuka\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">this one<\/span><\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/obyezeks\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">this one<\/span><\/a>\u00a0just to name a few, who have risked arrests and their lives as they challenge the Nigerian government to do better for its people within the democratic process.\u00a0\u00a0If you must tweet, tweet to support and embolden them, don\u2019t direct your calls to action to the United States government who seeks to only embolden American militarism. Don\u2019t join the American government and military in co-opting this movement started and sustained by Nigerians.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>+++++++++++++++++<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><em><strong>Jumoke Balogun<\/strong>\u00a0is a Nigerian-American. She is the co-founder and co-editor of compareafrique.com. Seeing\u00a0Nigerians of all tribes and religious affiliation together in her hometown of Oshogbo, in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and elsewhere protesting and controlling the destiny of their nation fuels her to do more and be better. \u00a0She dreams about handing down a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NzHyZiO8Ojc\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">festival of slaps<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to President Goodluck Jonathan and Patience Jonathan.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&gt;via:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/dear-americans-hashtags-wont-bringbackourgirls-might-actually-making-things-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.compareafrique.com\/dear-americans-hashtags-wont-bringbackourgirls-might-actually-making-things-worse\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: large;\"><strong>__________________________<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<header>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" id=\"mastheadLogo\" alt=\"The New York Times\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.nyt.com\/images\/misc\/nytlogo379x64.gif\" width=\"379\" height=\"64\" \/><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: small;\">May 8, 2014<\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">The Real Story <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">About the Wrong Photos <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: xx-large;\">in #BringBackOurGirls<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<address><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong>By\u00a0<a title=\"See all posts by JAMES ESTRIN\" href=\"http:\/\/lens.blogs.nytimes.com\/author\/james-estrin\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">JAMES ESTRIN<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/address>\n<\/header>\n<div>\n<div id=\"flashHeader\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436400\" style=\"width: 312px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-01.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436400\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436400\" alt=\"A screen shot taken from Chris Brown's Twitter account from May 1, 2014, showing the Twitter campaign for #BringBackOurGirls that went viral in support of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram. The girl in the image, taken by Ami VitalGuinea-Biessau in 2000, has no relation to the kidnappings.\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-01.jpg\" width=\"302\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-01.jpg 302w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-01-257x300.jpg 257w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 302px) 100vw, 302px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>A screen shot taken from Chris Brown&#8217;s Twitter account from May 1, 2014, showing the Twitter campaign for #BringBackOurGirls that went viral in support of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram. The girl in the image, taken by Ami VitalGuinea-Biessau in 2000, has no relation to the kidnappings.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436401\" style=\"width: 543px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-02.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436401\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436401\" alt=\"The original image of Jenabu Balde, who was photographed by Ms. Vitale in 2000.\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-02.jpg\" width=\"533\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-02.jpg 533w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-02-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>The original image of Jenabu Balde, who was photographed by Ms. Vitale in 2000.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436402\" style=\"width: 401px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-03.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436402\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436402\" alt=\"One of Ms. Vitale's images that have been repurposed for the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. The subject in the image has no relation of the recent kidnappings in Nigeria.\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-03.jpg\" width=\"391\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-03.jpg 391w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-03-300x272.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436402\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>One of Ms. Vitale&#8217;s images that have been repurposed for the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. The subject in the image has no relation of the recent kidnappings in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><em>A Twitter campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls has focused global attention on the plight of some 276 Nigerian schoolgirls\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/06\/world\/africa\/nigeria-kidnapped-girls.html\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">kidnapped<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram. Three photos of girls have been posted and reposted thousands of times, including by the BBC and by the singer Chris Brown (who himself has had issues with anger management and violence against women).<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><em><br \/>\nOne problem: The photos are of girls from Guinea-Bissau, more than 1,000 miles from Nigeria, who have no relationship to the kidnappings.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><em>The use of these pictures raises troubling questions of representation, and misrepresentation.\u00a0Ami Vitale, the photographer who made the original images as part of a long-term project, spoke with James Estrin on Thursday. Their conversation has been edited.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Tell me about the photos.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">There were three photos that were taken from either my website or the Alexia Foundation website, and someone made these images the face of the campaign. But these photos had nothing to do with the girls who were kidnapped and sexually trafficked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">There are many times when I get upset when people take my photos without permission, but this isn\u2019t about that.\u00a0I support the campaign completely and I would do anything to bring attention to the situation.\u00a0It\u2019s a beautiful campaign that shows the power of social media. This is a separate issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">This is about misrepresentation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">These photos have nothing to do with those girls who were kidnapped. These girls are from Guinea-Bissau, and the story I did was about something completely different. They have nothing to do with the terrible kidnappings. Can you imagine having your daughter\u2019s image spread throughout the world as the face of sexual trafficking? These girls have never been abducted, never been sexually trafficked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">This is misrepresentation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I know these girls.\u00a0I know these families, and they would be really upset to see their daughters\u2019 faces spread across the world and made the face of a terrible situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The photos were taken from two separate stories. I was there in 1993, in 2000 and then in 2011 for the Alexia Foundation. I lived there for six months, learned the language, learned about their lives and became very close to all the people in these pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">What was the story?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I wanted to put a human face on conflict. But when I got there my story changed. Because I realized the way Africa is generally portrayed in mainstream media is either wars, famine or stories like this terrible abduction. You see the horrors or the other extreme, beautiful safaris and exotic animals. There\u2019s nothing in between.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">So it\u2019s ironic the story I was telling was that there is a beautiful world that lies between these two truths. Why don\u2019t we ever tell these stories that show the dignity and resilience of these people?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And this is why I feel so enraged, because I was trying to not show them as victims. They are not victims.\u00a0Using these images and portraying them as victims is not truthful. The story I did was a hopeful story.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_176436403\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-04.png\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176436403\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176436403\" alt=\"One of three girls who were photographed by Ami Vitale in Guinea-Bissau in 2000 and whose images have been used \u2014 without permission \u2014 in the online campaign raising awareness of the recent kidnappings in Nigeria.\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-04.png\" width=\"480\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-04.png 480w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-04-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bring-back-pix-04-300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176436403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>One of three girls who were photographed by Ami Vitale in Guinea-Bissau in 2000 and whose images have been used \u2014 without permission \u2014 in the online campaign raising awareness of the recent kidnappings in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Tell me about the girls.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The picture of the girl outside the school was the image used most frequently. The girl\u2019s name is Jenabu Balde, and she is a cousin of the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amivitale.com\/2011\/07\/guinea-bissau-rediscovering-the-soul-of-a-forgotten-land\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">family I lived with<\/span><\/a>. Umou Balde is a relative and she is a dear friend. I lived with them and went back in 2011 to visit them. The point of the story was to show that the girls were going to school and life was getting better in many ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">How did you learn the pictures had been misappropriated?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Eileen Mignoni from the Alexia Foundation spotted this first, and the whole board of the foundation was very quick to respond. Mickey H. Osterreicher [a lawyer with the National Press Photographers Association] has been incredibly helpful as well, citing the legal issues and ramifications.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">How do you feel that someone found it acceptable to substitute these girls for the Nigerian girls who were abducted?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">This is personal. Even if they weren\u2019t dear friends, it\u2019s the principle. We can\u2019t pick up any photo and use it out of context.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I can\u2019t help but wonder that they thought this was O.K. just because my friends\u00a0are from Africa. If it were white people from another country in the photos, this wouldn\u2019t be considered acceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">What was your arrangement with the subjects of your story?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I feel a sense of responsibility to the people I photograph.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I go into communities and I make a promise that I will be responsible with their images and that I will deliver the message that they articulate to me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">We are responsible as photographers and journalists when we make promises to do justice to their stories and honor them in the way that they have honored us by sharing their stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I need to follow through with this one.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Q.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">How are you following through?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">A.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I spent my whole day Wednesday trying to track down the people who are spreading these images.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I tweeted back to scores of people asking them to remove the photos. The BBC and Chris Brown\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisbrown\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">retweeted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0it and it was everywhere. At first the woman from the BBC refused to take it down because it was already out there in the Twittersphere, But after a long exchange they removed it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Chris Brown did not respond.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><i>Ami Vitale is a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amivitale.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><i>photographer and filmmaker<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0who has worked in more than 85 countries. She is a contract photographer for National Geographic and works with the Photo Society and\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/rippleeffectimages.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><i>Ripple Effect Images<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>, and is represented by Panos Pictures. Her photos of Kenyan\u00a0 communities protecting their wildlife from poaching were\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/lens.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/02\/05\/it-takes-a-village-to-protect-a-rhino\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><i>featured on Lens<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0earlier this year.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><em>Follow @<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesEstrin\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">JamesEstrin<\/span><\/a>, @<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Amivee\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Amivee<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and @<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/nytimesphoto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">nytimesphoto<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Twitter. Lens is also on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nytimesphoto\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Facebook<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&gt;via:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lens.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/08\/the-real-story-about-the-wrong-photos-in-bringbackourgirls\/?_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_r=1&amp;\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/lens.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/08\/the-real-story-about-the-wrong-photos-in-bringbackourgirls\/?_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_r=1&amp;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ &nbsp; &nbsp; May 8, 2014 &nbsp; &nbsp; In Push to Free Nigerian Girls, a Tangled Web When Twitter Hashtag Went Viral, American Woman Took Credit, Then Admitted She Didn&#8217;t Create It &nbsp; By\u00a0ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON,\u00a0NATALIE ANDREWS\u00a0and\u00a0MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS\u00a0 \u00a0 Despite growing national and international anger, the president of Nigeria spoke Thursday and gave no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176436387"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176436387"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176436387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176436404,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176436387\/revisions\/176436404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176436387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176436387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176436387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}