Facebook is agog at the moment with images and memorials for
a Columbia University student who set
himself on fire during the Biafra war.
Nicknamed 'Hero on Fire', Mayrock was an idealistic young
white American student with Jewish roots.
On 29 May 1969, Bruce Mayrock set fire to himself near the
UN building in New York City.
His aim was to draw more attention to the plight of the
people in Biafra and to protest the international community's general lack of
support for Biafra's cause.
(The UK (the former colonial power), USA, and USSR all
supported Nigeria.)
Nine hours after he set himself on fire, having suffered
greatly, Bruce Mayrock died of his self-inflicted injuries, having given his
life on behalf of a black African people whom he had never met. He died at 20,
a day before Biafra Memorial Day, May 30.
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