Gotham Gazette
Gotham Gazette Web
Baruch School of Public Affairs
Recent Posts
NYC Blogs
Click here for a list of NYC blogs
Newsfeeds
Search This Blog
Contribute
Spot a published piece that would fit this blog? Let us know about it, at blog@gothamgazette.com

email this article

most emailed articles


Little Liberia
August 16th, 2007

When conversations turn to Staten Island, references to child soldiers don’t usually come up. But the borough is home to a large community of former child soldiers, writes Alissa Quart in Mother Jones magazine. The island, she says, has the largest population of Liberians outside of their native country, and the enclave is often called “Little Liberia.”

Many of the young residents of the community, though, bear scars from their previous lives. According to one estimate, as many as 80 percent of the people who fought in Liberia’s civil war were children. Assimilation has proved difficult for these young people, who were taught to kill, not to read and write. Detailing the struggles of these young victims with terrible memories, the reporter offers accounts of a hard life in a new country, as the immigrants struggle with their own violent outbursts and with bigotry from local residents.

By Mike Muller on August 16, 2007, 9:54 am
In category: Demographics, Immigrants
Recommend this entry via: stumble upon | digg | del.icio.us |

Leave a Reply