Ghana to black Americans: Come home. We'll help you build a life here.

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

As the United States again confronts its history of racism, as outrage again erupts over police killings, leaders in Ghana say they’re rolling out the welcome mat for black Americans who want to get away from the turmoil.

The government has negotiated with local chiefs to earmark 500 acres of land near the nation’s center for newcomers, carving out enough space for about 1,500 families. Survey and registration fees are waived for members of the African diaspora.

The effort grew out of a public campaign called the Year of Return, which attracted a record number of tourists to the West African country last year — four centuries after the first slave ship reached Virginia — and aims to convert visitors to residents with special land deals, expatriate guides and easier paths to citizenship.

“We want to remind our kin over there that there is a place you can escape to,” said Akwasi Agyeman, chief executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority. “That is Africa.”

[Bluepinky]

1. Can white folks fed up with the USA go too?

I’m really disappointed in the state of this country.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. Why do I immediately suspect

a Russia/Trump ploy to siphon off Black voters?

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

3. Ghanains had their chance.

The area where Ghana is now was instrumental in the American slave trade. African Americans are "Home" in the United States. African American blood runs through the soil of this country. African American labor is the basis for the economy and the wealth of this country.

[DFW]

4. It may be an option, but it's one to be very carefully weighed

As a European-American who ended up moving to Europe, I can tell you, it's not a move to make on a whim. There are languages to learn, cultural differences to adapt to, and a different, unfamiliar bureaucracy that will now control your life.

I moved to Europe because my European wife wanted to continue to live there, and my job allowed me to do it. Yeah, the people all look like me (more or less), but they don't sound like me or think like me, and it's THEIR country, so it's MY duty to try to fit in. Whether you're a white person moving to Europe, like me, or a black person moving to sub-Saharan Africa, it's the same situation. Don't move to another continent and expect them to conform to your way of thinking. They won't, and they don't want to. Only do it if you're willing to play by THEIR rules.

[Peacetrain]

5. Amen to that!!!

I have family that lives in England.. and there is not even a language barrier there..but absolutely.. you adapt to their world, not the other way around.. and it is not always what you think..

[StarfishSaver]

6. Ghana is one of loveliest places I've ever been

The people there are the nicest on earth

[Igel]

7. The people there weren't always so nice.

The slave trade didn't involve white slavers being given licenses to go and hunt. (In a small percentage of cases, Europeans, esp. Portuguese, did stage raids. But that's before the entire affair became civilized and the locals would do the fieldwork for hire.)

The European ships docked, the payment was rendered, and the people that the Ghanaians had enslaved were herded to the ship and turned over to their new owners. Money would flow through the tribal rulers down, as money does in such hierarchies. It wasn't a new thing--the slave trade wasn't huge in West Africa prior to Europeans, but still existed, with slaves being traded north. (The East and Central African slave trade was much bigger, since the slave markets weren't as far away. People focus on America as exceptional. American exceptionalism can be viewed as good and patriotic, or bad and through a social justice lens. But in this regard, exceptionalism is mostly a deception.)

the Ghanaians inviting back people, many of which are the descendants of people that they captured, enslaved, and sold to outsiders. While some Ghanaians may be seeking absolution, I'd look for additional motives.

Most reports are that fewer than half the people enslaved were actually sold to the outsiders. Slavery wasn't just for whites or Muslims, but also endemic in-country.

"Nicest on Earth" is like "Southern hospitality." But cultures change or are changed. Don't know whether to trust a site like https://www.freetheslaves.net/where-we-work/ghana/ . So many trolls cheek-and-jowl with well-intentioned activists (some of which are right, some misguided) anything like this takes time to check out. I'm not going to.


I'm old enough to remember when "to enslave" meant to "make not free, cause to be a slave." It was a change of state. They were free. Enslavement happened. They were slaves. You couldn't enslave somebody already enslaved; you bought slaves or held slaves or you could keep somebody as a slave.

It's a horrible thing to hold a slave. I think it's worse to enslave somebody, but we're talking about things mushed up against one end of the vile scale. The second part of enslavement is the "horrible thing" of holding a slave, but it starts off with the act of stripping the person of dignity and freedom. If A and B are both horrible, A + B is worse than just B.

Now it's routine and falsely damning to use "enslaved" to mean "kept ____ as a slave" or "bought an already-enslaved person." It erases the original sin of taking a free person and rendering them unfree. This morning I heard a story in which a child was "enslaved" by being bought from her owner and taken to another state. Dramatic, but it spreads out the meaning of the word and weakens it.

[StarfishSaver]

10. OK

[MichMan]

8. Has Ghana ever offered reparations or apologized for their role in slavery ?

[AJT]

9. Best be careful.....

Same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Ghana, and LGBT rights are heavily suppressed. The majority of Ghana's population hold anti-LGBT sentiments. Physical and violent homophobic attacks against LGBT people are common, and are often encouraged by the media and religious and political leaders.

[NCjack]

11. If I were an African American, I would research Ghana to determine could I live there and

be happy and safe? Next, I would wait for results of the 2020 election. Then, it would be decision time.

About 2002, I was in Benin for a month. Everyone I met had high praise for Ghana and for its ability to attract a lot of U.S. Dept of State African-American retirees to emigrate there.