Week 2 Post A

There hasn't been as much cultural differences displayed in this book so far, as I thought there would be. The main cultural difference though, that has reoccured throughout the book is the government. In the U.S. the government is suppose to help out the people and police officers are there to protect the law and help out people who are in trouble. As shown by Beverley Naidoo, the Nigerian government is corrupt and the people at the top of it only care about having power and wealth for themselves. Also, the police officers are just workers for the government and don't even help the people, even if they are in danger. An example of this is when the author is talking about Sade and Femi's feeling towardst the Nigerian police and how the officers rob civilians at random check points on the road. "Mostly taxi drivers with minibuses full of passengers had to pay up. Usually the policemen stared rudely at Papa, sometimes demanded money. Something in his manner must have warned them. But when Papa had driven on, his anger would erupt as he fumed about the daylight robbery of innocent people"(25). Clearly, the Nigerian police force as well as the government is unhelpful to the people, which is part of the reason Sade and Femi must flee London.