Liberia, May 13 -- There are moments in history when a man is not attacked simply because of what he has done, but because of what he represents to ordinary people. I have painfully come to understand that reality over the last several years of my political journey.

By Jefferson T. Koijee, contributing writer

For nearly two years now, I have remained away from my homeland while continuing my academic pursuits abroad amid political circumstances, sanctions, propaganda, and relentless public attacks carefully designed to destroy not only my political future, but my very humanity.

Many people only see the surface of public life: the speeches, the crowds, the headlines, the controversies. Very few see the lonely internal battles the weight...