The Cage I Built: Perspectives on Intimate Partner Violence in African Immigrant Communities - E-book - ePub

Biographie de Macdonald M. Metzger

Macdonald M. Metzger, M. S., DPA. is a Liberian American immigrant who lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, along with his wife, Rhoda, and three girls, Christine, Maima, and Mackenzie, and his mom, Maima. Mac, as he is affectionately called, hails from Damballah, a small town in western Liberia. His parents hailed from West African neighbors, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and he grew up in both cultures and speaks languages of both countries.
Growing up, when Mac was not visiting his late uncle, Supreme Court Judge William B. Metzger in the courtrooms, he was home typing up court documents for his late father, James D. Metzger, a court magistrate. His mother Maima Kamara Metzger is a retired businesswoman. Mac began his career in West Africa as a broadcast journalist. His early radio career kicked off in Sierra Leone with the Voice of Children radio project, a program run by the Public Information Office of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
He went on to work in Liberia for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia radio. After his immigration to the US in 2010, Mac branched off from radio into Human and Social Services work. He worked with older adults and people with disabilities in home and community-based settings. He has worked as a direct support professional, frontline supervisor, and manager. He now directs community outreach activities at the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota.
Mac enjoys writing, reading, poetry, and creative arts. When he is not traveling for work, he is often home cooking, painting, and making YouTube videos of his wife and three daughters. This book is Mac's first attempt at raising awareness of IPV within the African immigrant community. As a child, he lived through abuse. He and his elder sister were often caught up in the middle of the physical violence against his mom.
Mac has a lived experience as an IPV perpetrator. Mac has written this book to highlight the plight of IPV within African immigrant communities in the US. He hopes that other African immigrants, especially young boys and men can use the experiences shared in this book, and the knowledge gained from reading it to put an end to IPV within their communities.