As the Ebola scare worsens in the U.S., West Africans living in America are starting a campaign to get rid of the stigma attached to healthy Liberian natives.
Liberians are posting pictures of themselves on social media with a sign reading "I am a Liberian, not a virus."
The campaign started when Shoana Solomon's 9-year-old daughter came home from school complaining that the other kids were teasing her, saying, "you're from Liberia so you have a disease," reports The Guardian.
Solomon moved from Liberia to the U.S. in September with her daughter.
"The day after that happened to my daughter, I made a Facebook post," Solomon tells The Guardian. "I said, oh my goodness, my daughter's being stigmatized. I said: Get ready."
Solomon's sister, who also lives in the U.S., is also experiencing stigma through her daughter who is enrolled in an American public school. She was asked to remove her daughter from the school after she sneezed in class, The Guardian reports.
Solomon tells The Guardian that she understands the concerns of the public and admits that she, too, is afraid. However, she doesn't think that should be an excuse for her daughter to be stigmatized.
"Ebola is a serious thing. I don't want to minimize that. But there has to be some sensitivity. We have been through so much as a country: first our 14-year civil war, and now Ebola - the stigmatization is just too much."
Since Solomon's campaign began a group of women already staged a Liberian march in Harlem.
Her campaign video is below:
