Nyong'o Condemns Kenyan Government's Crackdown on Protests

Lupita Nyong'o talks about her family's struggle and denounces the "chilling" crackdown in Kenya. Lupita Nyong'o, an actress, has denounced the Kenyan government's suppression of massive anti-tax demonstrations that started in June.

Rights groups claim that police abuse against protesters resulted in scores of fatalities and many more kidnappings.

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Daniel arap Moi, a former president, imprisoned and tortured Nyong'o's father, who told the BBC:" It is chilling to know that this government is resorting to tactics that I had thought had been left in the past."In response, the government stated that it "regrets any death that occurred" and that it was impossible to compare two "very different" regimes.

Oscar winner Nyong'o, who was born and raised in Kenya but currently resides in the US, called the way the government handled the demonstrations "upsetting."

"The more things change. the more they stay the same... I don't know how this story ends,"Lupita Nyong'o, who has acted in Hollywood blockbusters such as Black Panther and 12 Years a Slave, in an interview regarding her new podcast.

Currently serving as Kenya's county governor and interim head of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), one of the nation's major political parties, is her father, Anyang' Nyong'o.

In an effort to appease the demonstrators, the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) included ODM politicians in the administration in July.

Anyang' Nyong'o, a professor of political science at the time, was one of several intellectuals who organized against Moi's government in the 1980s.

Moi brutally repressed his political rivals and controlled Kenya with an iron grip from 1978 until 2002.The family fled to Mexico following the disappearance of Lupita Nyong'o's uncle, who was also an activist. Although her uncle's body has never been located, the family believes he was forced from a boat, based on local reports.

"I am deeply grateful for the younger people who are on the front lines fighting for a different Kenya,"Lupita Nyong'o said of this generation's protesters."The authorities were very cooperative with the protesters and acceded to the demands, including the president not assenting to the finance bill," Isaac Mwaura, a spokesman for the current Kenyan administration, told the BBC. That bill's contentious tax provisions were the root of the issue.

Regarding claims that protests resulted in fatalities, Mwaura stated: "Only police statistics are official. The government regrets any death that occurred during the protests and anyone who may have caused such will be held responsible following the rule of law."In the most recent installment of her narrative podcast, Mind Your Own, Nyong'o described her father's experience.

In order to examine what it means to come from the continent, Nyong'o and other African participants share amusing true stories.

Accounts from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and the diaspora have been featured thus far in the series.

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In The Freedom Fathers, the only episode to far to touch politics and tyranny, Nyong'o shares her father's story.

This is deliberate; the actress stated that she preferred to concentrate on "quirky" and "peculiar" stories over common topics like poverty, tragedy, and violence.

"I think that all too often we can be narrow about our idea of what is African... I wanted to stay away from the hot button issues that are in the news, that are making it across the globe, because those already exist," she said.

"What are the stories that we don't know about - an ordinary person going through an extraordinary situation?"Despite being developed by Snap Studios, an American firm, many African creatives were employed to work behind the scenes on Mind Your Own.

For instance, the theme song was performed by Nigerian-American musician Sandra Lawson-Ndu, while the podcast's cover art was created by Mateus Sithole, an artist Nyong'o met in Mozambique.

"I really wanted to have as many African hands touch this project as possible. I wanted to send a message, a clear message... this is by and for Africans, without it being exclusionary of anybody else," Nyong'o said.

However, she acknowledges that it is not possible to encapsulate the entire continent, comprising 54 countries, in one podcast.

There's absolutely no way that I would task myself in trying to give the ultimate or comprehensive thesis of Africa - that's crazy!" she said.

Africa is going to be as malleable and as changeable as the people who come from there..So we're never going to be done telling our own stories.