Summary

Ndibe recalls being a child and dreaming about many things while sharing a crowded room with siblings. His dreams include eating good meals, driving nice cars, and going to Britain. At the time, he associates Britain with white privilege and power. Nigeria has been independent of Britain since the year of Ndibe’s birth. While only his parents and grandparents experienced colonialism firsthand, Ndibe experiences it through his education. His textbooks teach African geography through the perspective of the white colonists who supposedly discovered it.

Ndibe’s classmate travels to London and describes it as totally paved in concrete. To the young Ndibe, this represents civilization. Ndibe’s family is too poor to travel to Britain, but his father, is connected to the country through a friend, Reverend John Tucker, and through his habit of listening to the...