ALIS GRAVE NIL❧

Johari Osayi Idusuyi: the hero who read through a Trump rally. 

A writer and student at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois, Idusuyi found herself not only in the right place at the right time, but with the right book in hand: Citizen: An American Lyric is a critically acclaimed, award-winning work by Claudia Rankine that explores the pervasiveness of racism and micro-aggressions in America.   

“I think we were chosen for obvious reasons. We were minorities and there weren’t a lot of minorities there,” Idusuyi told Jezebel. “He also instructed us to sit in the middle, so we kind of already knew what this was.”

The 20-year-old student stressed that she went to the rally not as a plant, or with ill intent. She genuinely wanted to see Trump speak. Idusuyi said she had no interest in Trump. “But if you have the chance to see a presidential candidate, why not?” But when a few protesters interrupted the speech and the crowd collectively turned on them, Idusuyi got angry. “The way the supporters treated the protesters was really unbelievable and that’s what made me mad,” she said. “There was a man who snatched a lady’s [Barack Obama] hat. She was one of the protesters and was leaving and her hair just went with the hat. Then the man threw it into crowd and everybody cheered. I thought, ‘That’s bullying. That’s aggressive.’ I don’t think Trump handled it with grace.”

So she pulled out her copy of Claudia Rankine‘s award-winning book of poetry, Citizen and ignored the rest of the speech. That’s when an older couple, visibly irritated by Idusuyi’s action, poked her on the shoulder and said, “If you don’t wanna be here then leave.” A brief argument ensued, after which the older woman said she was glad Idusuyi wasn’t her daughter.