Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, invited African-Americans to return home to Ghana if they are feeling unwanted or abused in the United States.
“We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home. We have our arms wide open ready to welcome you home. Please take advantage, come home build a life in Ghana, you do not have to stay where you are not wanted forever, you have a choice and Africa is waiting for you,” Ms Oteng-Gyasi said.
Oteng-Gyasi made the comments at a memorial service for the slain George Floyd. Floyd, an African-American was killed by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25 as they were attempting to take him into custody for passing counterfeit bills. His death sparked widespread protests across the U.S. and the broader world.
“Racism in America continues to be a deadly pandemic, for which for more than 400 years now, our brothers and sisters in the United States of America have yearned for a cure. George Floyd was not the first black person to use the phrase ‘I can’t breathe’… The present situation we face today in the year 2020 with the death of George Floyd is going to result in change… One who condones evil is just as evil as the one who perpetrates it. That is why it is right not only for [Minneapolis Police Officer Derek] Chauvin to be charged but all his accomplices who, together, [killed George Floyd],” Ms Oteng-Gyasi said.
Ghana’s government started an initiative called the “Year of Return” last year in which the country was opened up to receive Africans living abroad who were visiting the country. Thousands of people of African descent from all over the world took part in the program.
This year the government launched “Beyond the Return,” a program that aims to help Africans living abroad settle in Ghana and invest in the economy.