That time a future West African warlord escaped a Plymouth jail

By adamg on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 12:48pm

The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism recounts the saga of Charles Taylor, a native Liberian who went to Bentley and lived in Roxbury, returned to Liberia to become a government official, fled after he was charged with embezzlement, was picked up by US marshals and put in the Plymouth House of Corrections, from which he escaped in 1985 to become the leader of a bloody campaign to become the country's dictator.

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History

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Comments

I am at work and was only

By Anon on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 1:42pm.

I am at work and was only able to read one chapter but I love this narrative so far. I have it bookmarked so I can read the whole series and check out this website. Thank you for the post.

Magoo sez

By MisterMagooForYou on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 2:39pm.

Magoo cautions all Uhubbers not to confuse Charles Taylor with one Charles Wallace. The latter is a child genius that travelled the realms of the multiverse and tango’d (as in battled not danced) with a ginormous brain thingy if Magoo ‘members correctly. Magoo.

I'm confused

By sbburzmali on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 8:01pm.

I'm not sure how to parse the concept of "native Liberian". Since Liberia is a nation founded by emancipated slaves, either you are are a descendant of the colonizers from the US, or you are member of one of the tribes displaced or integrated into the new nation. If you are the former, then calling yourself "native" is dubious, and if the latter, well, that's like a Palestinian calling themselves a "native Israeli" maybe not wrong, but definitely not usual. The linked article makes it clear he is the child of a local tribeswoman and a descendant of an African-american slave, so maybe it is some odd hybrid form.

This is confusing?

By adamg on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 9:57pm.

He was born in Liberia, which is why I called him a "native Liberian," same as if you were to call me a "native New Yorker" since I was born there (although, tbh, I would prefer "native Brooklynite," but whatever).

Here's a useful tool. In fact, if you look up "native," one of the definitions is:

2: belonging to a particular place by birth - a native New Yorker

The term has baggage

By sbburzmali on Tue, 01/09/2024 - 8:40am.

Is one born in America a "Native american"? The term "Native" is only really needed when you are trying to make a distinction, if I call myself a "Native Bostonian" as opposed to a "Bostonian", it's because I want to call attention to the difference. Liberia, in particular, has a complicated history since it was founded by freed slaves, ones not necessarily descend from the tribes in the region they settled in in Africa. The article you linked specifically refers to his father as "great-grandson of immigrants" and his mother as a native despite both being born in Liberia.

I mean

By lbb on Tue, 01/09/2024 - 9:20am.

There are books that deal extensively with the subject of Liberian ethnicity, written by Liberians. It's a concept that has gone through some changes in recent decades, you might say.