WHO CAN BLAME HER, with scenes like this unfolding across the U.S. daily...
Oh, never mind...that was 64 years ago.
*['Fulfil' is misspelled, among many such errors in this article]
Posted on 01/19/2018 8:53:23 AM PST by Red Badger
Accra, Ghana - They have come from the big cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Thousands of them. And many refuse to return.
A new wave of African Americans is escaping the incessant racism and prejudice in the United States. From Senegal and Ghana to The Gambia, communities are emerging in defiance of conventional wisdom that Africa is a continent everyone is trying to leave.
It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 African Americans live in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. They are teachers in small towns in the west or entrepreneurs in the capital and say they that even though living in Ghana is not always easy, they feel free and safe.
Take Muhammida el-Muhajir, a digital marketer from New York City, who left her job to move to Accra.
She says she moved, because despite her education and experience, she was always made to feel like a second-class citizen. Moving was an opportunity to fulfil her potential and avoid being targeted by racial violence.
She told Al Jazeera her story: On life as a second-class citizen in the US...
"I grew up in Philadelphia and then New York. I went to Howard, which is a historically black university. I tell people that Ghana is like Howard in real life. It felt like a microcosm of the world. At university, they tell us the world isn't black, but there are places where this is the real world. Howard prepares you for a world where black people are in charge, which is a completely different experience compared to people who have gone to predominantly white universities."
I can't say what's happening in America today is any worse than what's been happening at any other time.
Muhammida el-Muhajir
On her first trip to Africa...
"The first country I went to was Kenya. I was 15 and travelled with a group of kids. I was one of two black kids. I saw early that I could fit in and wasn't an outsider. Suddenly it switched, I came from America where I was an outsider, but in Africa, I no longer felt like that. I did graduate school in Ghana in 2003 and went back to New York and then moved to Ghana in 2014.
"I have no connection to Ghana. Some people in my family did tests, and we found ties to Senegal and The Gambia, but I don't think you can ever figure it out. No matter where you were sold or left the port, Senegal or Ghana, no one can be certain where you came from."
No matter where you were sold or left the port, Senegal or Ghana, no one can be certain where you came from.
On leaving New York for Accra...
"Even when you live in a place like New York as a black person, you're always an outsider.
"You hear stories about the richest black people, like Oprah Winfrey, getting shut out of a store or Jay-Z not being allowed to buy [an apartment]. Those things happen. It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity, you're a second-class citizen. This was the biggest issue for me.
"In America, you're always trying to prove yourself; I don't need to prove myself to anyone else's standards here. I'm a champion, I ran track and went to university, and I like to win, so I refuse to be in a situation where I will never win."
You might not have electricity, but you won't get killed by the police either.
Muhammida el-Muhajir
On moving to Ghana...
"There are amenities that I am used to at home in New York - like parties, open bars and fashion, so when I realised I could do the same things in Africa as I could back in the US, I was sold. There is also a big street art festival here, and that was the difference from when I came [as a student]. I saw the things that I love at home here, so I decided that now is the time." On Ghanaian reactions...
"When Ghanaians find out that I live here, they're usually confused about why I chose to live here as an American. There is definitely certain access and privilege being American here, but it's great to finally cash in on that because it doesn't mean anything in America.
"There are also plenty of privileged Ghanaians; if you take away race there's a class system."
On the 'Blaxit' documentary...
"In my documentary, I chose five people that I've met since I've been here and every one of them went to a black college in the US. It's something that prepares you mentally to realise you aren't a second-class citizen. Something like that can help you make a transition to live in Africa.
"I made Blaxit because of this wave of African-Americans moving to Africa. This trend started to happen around independence of African countries, but the new wave [comprises] people who come to places like this. This new group has certain access in America and comes here to have that lifestyle in Africa.
"Unbeknown to us, we're living out the vision that [Ghanaian politician and revolutionary] Kwame Nkrumah set out for us, of this country being the gateway to Africa for the black diaspora.
"I don't want people to think that Africa is this magic utopia where all your issues will go away. It's just that some of the things you might face in America as a black person - you won't have to suffer with those things here.
"You might not have electricity, but you won't get killed by the police either.
"I want people to understand that they have options and alternatives. Most black people in America don't know that these options exist; they think they have to suffer because there's nowhere else to go. But no, there are other places." On the prospect of more African-Americans moving...
"I think more will come when they begin to see it as a viable alternative. But it's not easy and it's not cheap. I can't say what's happening in America today is any worse than what's been happening at any other time. I think now is the time that people are starting to see they can live somewhere else."
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
“the incessant racism and prejudice in the United States”
What do you expect from aljizzera? Nothing but hatred for the country that tolerates their lack of effort. Good. Go to Africa and put a bone in your nose. Your victim mentality will not go far there. There are no Whiteys in sight that you can blame for your self-induced failures.
Great Data. This will be going out to my email list:
Let’s start with the question of fatal violence. Last year, according to the Washington Post’s tally, just 16 unarmed black men, out of a population of more than 20 million, were killed by the police. The year before, the number was 36. These figures are likely close to the number of black men struck by lightning in a given year, considering that happens to about 300 Americans annually and black men are 7 percent of the population. And they include cases where the shooting was justified, even if the person killed was unarmed.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/451466/police-violence-against-black-men-rare-heres-what-data-actually-say
There are no African Americans
There are Africans, and a number of Africans, Black and White I am friends with in Kenya and Tanzania are great people.
And there are Americans. Many of them are great people. Others are FUBAR.
There are no African Americans.
There is no possibility of split loyalty. To all who call themselves African Americans, make a choice, and if it is Africa, fine, but then go there and live in their social, welfare, educational, medical and political systems.
Train’s leaving. Time for them to get on or get off.
DON'T SAY YOU WEREN'T WARNED!!! STAY HOME. YOU WILL HATE AMERICA [EVEN MORE] IF YOU MOVE HERE!
FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, STAY HOME.
..and because you do not have the infrastructure, you will be targeted by the have nots, with no one to protect you unless its armed private security.
As so often is the case, the dream and the reality are going to be two different things. She’s going to find that she’s still an outsider and looked down upon in some quarters, because in the eyes of Africans she’s “colored,” meaning mixed race. Very few American black people are entirely of African heritage.
It makes sense for them to move to Africa irrespective of racism. They have skills they acquired here and Africa is a place sorely lacking in that area.
Later in the article:
so when I realised I could do the same things in Africa as I could back in the US, I was sold.
Interesting choice of words...
Wait until she encounters Africa’s sexism...
Actually, those never happened...and Oprah's (fake) allegation was from PARIS, not the "racist" U.S.
Fabricated, like all Leftist BS.
Someone noticed there are thousands of US passport holders in Africa and made up an explanation.
Most of them are local Africans who came to America for US citizenship and went back. US citizenship protects them a bit from the predations of their African neighbors.
I bet the number of repatriated Pakistanis, Indians and Saudis who use US passports is stunning.
One need only look at the civil wars in Rwanda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to see what blacks are capable of doing to other blacks. Even the Dakar Rally, named because it ran from France to Senegal, is held in South America now...
If you thought choosing between Michigan and Michigan State was tough just wait until you have to choose between Tutsi and Hutu or some other similar tribal rivalry...
WHO CAN BLAME HER, with scenes like this unfolding across the U.S. daily...
Oh, never mind...that was 64 years ago.
*['Fulfil' is misspelled, among many such errors in this article]
Like choosing between the Bloods and Crips...........
Exactly. Good luck with that.
“I did graduate school in Ghana in 2003 and went back to New York and then moved to Ghana in 2014.”
Apparently she hopes to be a 1%er over there; I suspect she received “participation diplomas/degrees” her whole life and was marginally employed in NY between 2003 and 2014.
I agree that this is no “movement” among “African-Americans”; why would you believe that a population that tends to cluster around freebies/”social safety nets” here in the US would move to such a sh!thole?
This is sad. The only reason I see for this happening is racism.
Black on black racism.
But the facts are clear. Blacks have more to fear from other blacks than they do from whites, cops, or other groups.
What a choice: Living in the slums of Chicago. Or the better parts (yes, there are some) of Africa.
Azad Esshole.
I agree with you.
Having worked with African engineers several times over the years, you find that they are not infected with “American Black Culture”. Nor, in fact, are their kids.
It doesn’t really matter who is to blame for it, its a real thing. The best thing that can happen is, if you are born into it, get out. Its not so strong among career military and their kids who are raised on military bases, for example. And if you have a chance to do a work assignment outside the US, whether Africa or Europe or Latin America, the best thing that can happen is to take the kids and go. Again, you’ll find that black kids who have lived abroad are much less affected by “Black American Culture”. And that’s a mercy.
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