In the last few weeks since the brutal murder of the African American man, George Floyd a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, there have been calls by some African leaders and nationals urging all people of African descent to “return” to Africa to live there. Many of these proponents for return “home” believe that a return will free African peoples from racism and racial discrimination that has plagued the western societies for centuries.
A friend shared a video in which a young black man criticized wealthy African Americans and other African peoples in the diaspora for not “returning” to Africa to help develop the continent as many Jewish people have done by relocating in Israel. The man in the video, also a black man, insuated that African peoples in the diaspora are selfish and have failed to accept their roots and that a return could have ridden blacks of prejudice, racism and discrimination.
In the funeral organized by Ghana’s Tourism Authority in conjunction with the African American community in Ghana, the Minister of Tourism urged on Africans in the diaspora to come and live in Ghana to avoid racially motivated treatments.
Often those of us who have direct roots, immigrants and direct offsprings in the diaspora get prejudiced by people back home with all sorts of derogatory or offensive comments because we live abroad. Our people who live back home talk down on us as if we don’t know what is right for us. Others assume we must be enslaved here, doing menial jobs or must be nuts for staying overseas. For those of us who appear to have acquired higher education, people criticized us and accuse us of being self-centred, materialist, unpatriotic or anti-African.
Following the death of Mr. Floyd death and on several other occasions, I have maintained that many people do not return or relocate in African countries because of poor governance, inefficient and seemingly dysfunctional systems. I have cited among others, the poor provision of public goods and services, poor sanitation, poor infrastructure, pervasive corruption, unemployment opportunities, lack of good environment for entrepreneurship, safety, peace and security as some of the reasons.
While many of the diapsorans share this view, those who reside on the African continent do not necessarily seem to appreciate this perspective.
Well today, a story I watched among so many I have seen bore echoed my thoughts and fears. The story concerned a woman whose 27 year old nephew had a medical emergency and died due to delays and neglect in the healthcare system. First, the emergency call to Ghana’s Ambulance Service failed to dispatch an ambulance for at least an hour as the young man laid dying.
After the family reportedly managed to take the young man to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the doctors said nurse never said any efforts to save the young man’s life, even after the family stood begging. According to the family, they did not even bother to check the young man’s pulse before pronouncing him dead. This young could be alive if he had received prompt and appropriate emergency care.
Just last week, a pregnant woman and her full term baby died because a hospital in the Eastern region had refused to help her deliver the baby for fear that she may have contracted the coronavirus, COVID-19. Last year, I heard many similar stories in which individuals lost their lives to neglectful acts, lack of space or appropriate equipment at various hospitals.
Human beings are rational beings! People normally make decisions that they think serve their best interests. No one would choose to live in a society that gives them the worst experience than another. In other words, many Africans choose to live outside Africa for a reason. Living in a “racist” society may give many African peoples several protections that they may not have in their “home countries”.
A racialized society may give so many Africans something as basic as a secure job, a much more decent accommodation, better education quality, better legal protection and even much more equitable justice than what they could have had on the African continent. If those protections were offered, that would incentivize many African peoples to “return home”.
It is not because African immigrants and diasporas are selfish or irrational in the thinking! Rather they do not feel secure on their ancestral land. If the leaders want African peoples to return, they must do better and to offer us basic guarantees to ensure the returnees basic needs can be met. That their healthcare will meet minimum standards; their children will have comparable education; they can be assured of basic legal, security and safety guarantees.
Racism and lack of is insufficient to lure us back home! Fix the system and we will.
Signed,
Akosua G
Ontario, Canada
June 14, 2020