Okey Ndibe On Confronting Stereotypes Of Immigrants In America

Nigerian-born author Okey Ndibe always dreamed about coming to the U.S.

As a boy, he would watch the American Westerns aired throughout Africa. He saw America as a country of suave, heroic figures. He collected the trading cards of American actors, once even renaming himself "Tony Curtis." It wasn't until Ndibe arrived in the U.S. that he learned reality was not quite the same as he'd imagined.

He writes about the experience in his new memoir, "Never Look An American In The Eye: Flying Tortoises, Colonial Ghosts, And the Making of A Nigerian American."

Okey Ndibe, author of two novels and a memoir, "Never Look An American In The Eye: Flying Tortoises, Colonial Ghosts, And the Making of A Nigerian American." He tweets @OkeyNdibe.