A Reminder of Literature’s Power as Society’s Conscience

Oluchi Chibuzor

I had first read “The Loop” by Aishat Adesanya in 2021 when it was published in Schuylkill Valley Journal Online, but when I came across it again recently, its power and potential shone brightly to my senses as though I had never read it before. Literature has always been one of society’s key entertainers, but it has also always been its conscience, documenting history, capturing events, presenting ideas, and sometimes nudging people to reevaluate their situations and ask necessary questions.

This last bit is what Aishat’s piece managed to do in response to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2021, but so well that it transcends this original focal point, to any other related event or scenario anywhere in the world.

The piece follows the collective thoughts of young hijabis who are getting themselves ready to join a planned protest. They take the reader through the tiny details that otherwise won’t matter—combing their afros, tying and tucking in their hijabs, remembering their religion.

They show the reader pecks of their appearances at the protests—cameras on point, lenses sharp and hungry; planks sharpened, with big boards in a rainbow of colours. They admit their collective fear—our hearts pounding like crazy, threatening to burst out of our chests; our breaths skip at every chant. Then they show the reader a picture of the other side, particularly a sense of betrayal at seeing their ‘brothers’ on the other side.

The piece ends, not with a resolution, but with a realization that there have been protests before, and even after this one that the hijabis are in, there will be others as long as inequalities exist.

In such a short piece, Aishat manages to stir up a sense of kinship with these protesters, making them so relatable that one can almost imagine one’s self as a part of the collective.

The ultimate strength of the piece is that, even though you read it as directly addressing America’s Black Lives Matter, you can immediately see how it could have as well been talking about Nigeria’s End Sars, South Africa’s Fees Must Fall, or the Free Palestine Movement. The humanness that it imbues reminds the reader that we are all these hijabis, and again, literature serves as a vehicle that reminds us of the necessity of asking questions when society’s situation requires such.

I particularly find it impressive that Aishat’s bio appended to the piece on Schuylkill Valley Journal’s website says that she was 17 when she wrote something that powerful. If she didn’t stop writing, one can only imagine how much the quality of her work must have improved since 2021. This is definitely one literary star worth seeking out and actively following.

You can read “The Loop” by Aishat Adesanya here: www.svjlit.com/dispatches/schuylkill-valley-journal-featuring-the-work-of-authors-and-artists-from-philadelphia-and-beyond-online/2021/6/3/the-loop-by-aishat-adesanya