The forgotten bond between Liberia and America

When my brother asks me about what Netflix series I’m currently watching, I answer vaguely about being busy watching world news.
My world news since November had been focusing on one person: President Trump.
Being part of a very conventional Arabic culture, I always found the American Dream and becoming whatever you want hard to digest. You see, where I come from, you only treat people if you’re a doctor and build things if you’re an engineer.
But become the president of a powerful country when you’re a businessman with no political background - and still get elected - was fascinating and worth watching the consequence of during both terms.
Everything about the first term was chaotic and my American friend Di kept sending apologetic messages on behalf of nice Americans that Trump doesn’t represent. I still remember the month of November of 2020 - amidst the Covid-19 pandemic- when I received an ecstatic text from her declaring Biden’s victory and how things will go back to normal.
Four years later, the doubt crept in again while I joked that at least news will be fun to watch. For the past few months, I’ve been following news clips from different American news channels where topics were changing on daily bases: The Big Beautiful Bill, unexplainable administrative changes, mass deportation and mistreatment of immigrants and citizens alike and lately the Epstein files.
But what surpasses all is the White House visits that seem like a bully trap for world leaders where some would fight back (Ukraine’s Zelensky), tease back (Canada’s Carney) or totally yield (Arab and African leaders).
The recent bullying session was under the name of the African Summit that included leaders of five countries: Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal. The newsclips focused only on two: Mauritania’s president Ghazouani who was nervously addressing an impatient Trump in French to finally be cut off and Liberian president Boakai who laughed incredulously when Trump complimented him for his good English, then looked baffled when he realised that Trump wasn’t aware that English is Liberia’s official language.
To my shame, I didn’t know much about Liberia either - other than it’s mentioned in Michael Jackson’s song Liberian Girl - and decided to find out more. Liberia is in the West coast of Africa with a capital called Monrovia (in honour of American President Monroe who supported it’s establishment) and the currency of Liberian Dollar.
In 1822, the American Colonisation Society sent African Americans - slaves and freeborn - to Africa, believing that they’d have a better life away from slavery and lack of civil rights (also fearing their uprise or rebellion). They settled in what was known to European traders as the Pepper Coast - later the Grain coast - and gave it the name Liberia which meant in Latin the ‘Land of the Free’.
The African American settlers didn’t mix with the indigenous, instead they called themselves Americo-Liberians and practiced their American heritage including Protestant faith and republican values. They declared independence in 1847 that the US only recognised in 1862.
Liberia is the first and the oldest republic in Africa that was never a European colony (along with Ethiopia). As the country was rich in rubber production, American company Firestone Tire invested in it at the start of the 20th century. Moreover, Liberia supported the US military in WWII which resulted in American investments in the country’s infrastructure and economic development.
However, it went through two civil wars in 1989-1997 and 1998-2003 between Americo-Liberians and the Indigenous. In general, American and Liberian historic ties are strong yet unknown to many of us, including President Trump. Hope you enjoyed this fascinating history lesson!

The writer is author of The World according to Bahja