Poland swears-in Nigerian as first black MP
John Abraham
Godson, a Polish citizen born and raised in Nigeria, has been sworn-in
as the first black member of Poland’s parliament.
Mr. Godson had
served as a councillor in the city of Lodz before taking up a
parliamentary seat, vacated by a party colleague after local elections.
His entry into parliament has created a media stir in the mainly white
country.
He came to Poland
in the 1990s, opening an English language school, and working as a
pastor in a Protestant church. He has since married a Polish woman and
the couple have four children.
Beaten up twice
A member of the
centre-right Civic Platform Party, he was appointed to the seat vacated
by party colleague, Hanna Zdanowskaafter, after she became mayor of
Lodz.
Racism is still a
problem in Poland, where it is not uncommon for well-educated people to
make racist jokes and it is still quite rare to see black people even
in the Polish capital, Warsaw, Poland’s most cosmopolitan city.
Mr. Godson was
beaten up twice in the early 1990s, but he says attitudes to black
people in Poland are changing for the better, particularly since the
country joined the EU six years ago.
Speaking earlier to Polish radio, Mr. Godson said:
“I am from Lodz, I will live here, I want to die here, and I want to be buried here.”
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