Haimanot Tekie (HT Show)

I recently read an autobiography by Professor Paul Thomas titled 𝘼 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙞 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙜𝙖: 𝙈𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙍𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙜𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝘾𝙖𝙗 𝘿𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙧. 📚 🤩 It’s published under open access and is freely available here: https://lnkd.in/dVNFPJiV I reckon I’ll need to reread it a couple of times to fully grasp its powerful insights and to find ways to apply some of the suggestions the author offers. But even after just one read, I can confidently say this: This book is such a gift. It has profoundly educated me. My goodness, it really has! 🤯 💡 This book is not a mere complaint of a bitter immigrant from a “third world country” languishing at the bottom of Norway’s safety net. No, it’s far from that. This autobiography comes from someone who has endured the harsh, dream-crushing reality faced by many with a minority background and who has lived to tell the tale—not just as a survivor but as a thriver! Professor Paul Thomas achieved his goals and recounts his story with honesty and balance. He does an amazing job shedding light on the structural racism that minoritized groups in Norway face and the complex landscape they must navigate. As the title suggests, the book is written by someone who arrived in Norway as a refugee at 18. It’s a candid recounting of his years—first as a refugee, then as a taxi driver, and later the challenges he encountered while pursuing higher education. He succeeded despite all the odds, only to face another hurdle when trying to find a job in academia. Again, against all odds, he pulled through and is now a Professor of Pedagogy at the University of South-Eastern Norway. My heart broke multiple times reading about how the system's indifference to his skills and qualifications, coupled with politicians' stigmatizing language against immigrants, left him in despair. This book isn’t just a collection of anecdotes; each story is backed by statistics and enriched with the analytical frameworks of various social scientists and educators. Professor Thomas invites policymakers to make meaningful changes to the system, to make it equitable for ALL. He also encourages people from minority backgrounds to dream bigger, while acknowledging the hurdles they face and showing how they can navigate those. He speaks powerfully about how claiming “color blindness” is often a way to avoid uncomfortable conversations about race. I hope it gets picked up by as many people as possible and sparks constructive conversations. Swallowed by the daily demands of work and raising kids, I haven’t had much focus on being an active member of the society I live in. Lately, though, as I’ve reached a more stable position work-wise and am raising two Black children born in Norway, I’ve been thinking about taking part in shaping the society I live in. This book has given me pointers on making Norway the best country to live in for ALL its citizens.