My dear readers,
It took me a long time to write this article because I asked myself a lot of questions and I also did some research concerning this craze that we currently observe in the american society, precisely in the African-American community within more and more families are deciding to emigrate to Africa.
2020 as you know is a year full of upheavals and surprises, the virus that literally changed our lives continues to do a lot of damage in the United States, but another scandal has recently come to revive another pain. The death of Georges Floyd that you have necessarily heard of, is definitely, the point of no return.
The Black Lives Matter movement is once again in the foreground, but this time, it’s a worldwide case. In all corners of the globe demonstrations were held denouncing acts of police violence of a racist nature, men and women therefore took possession of this incident to assault the streets in yielling their indignation.
It is therefore in this atmosphere that many families belonging to the African-American community have chosen to leave the United States to join the African continent. This news quickly spread through social networks, self-help groups were created to advise and plan things for the future emigrants. The governments of some African countries have not hidden their enthusiasm for this trend either:
"Take advantage, go home, build a life in Ghana, you don't have to stay where you are not wanted, you have the choice and Africa is waiting for you" recently said in the press Barbara Oteng -Gyasiara current Minister of Tourism in Ghana.
Ghana, in 2019 launched the “The Year Of Return” movement and thus significantly boosted tourism, the country seems therefore ready to welcome Americans with open arms. Are we witnessing the beginnings of a real reverse trend in terms of immigration?
"BACK-TO-AFRICA"
Intrigued by the controversy, it was by browsing the media on this subject that I discovered that in reality, this phenomenon has a name, and that it does not date from yesterday, this is actually the “BACK-TO-AFRICA". Initiated in the 19th century in the United States, this ideology is found in particular in the Rastafarian movement or in the Nation of Islam, and was also called the Black Zionism.
In 1816 the American Colonization Society (ACS) was born, there were notable members such as Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln and other abolitionists. The company aims to help African-Americans who want to return to Africa, by creating the state of Liberia as the new land to welcome the freed black population from the United States. The more the years pass and the more radicalism settles especially in the south of the United States with the Klu-Klux-Clan for example and the practice of lynching and wild hanging, history will end up showing us that very few African Americans actually chose to return to Africa at that time, beacause uprooted for several generations, many had America as their only landmark.
The "Back-To-Africa" movement then continued to exist with different leaders and activists of the black cause in the United States as the famous Marcus Garvey during the 20th century.
Many things have changed today, but the black American population clearly feels in danger in a country where there are countless deaths due to systemic racism which has been denounced for a long time.
From a subjective point of view, if all this materializes, I think it may be a good thing, the economies of the host countries would be boosted, which logically should improve the dynamics of development in the sectors of industry, technology or sciences because at the time of globalization, the African continent unfortunately has only the role of reservoir and not of effective actor on the world markets, so what I see there is a great opportunity...What do you think about it?
Mrs Prue
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