Come to Ghana if you’re unwanted – Tourism Minister to African Americans

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority, Office of Diaspora Affairs and the Diaspora African Forum has organised a memorial and wreath-laying ceremony at the W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in honour of George Floyd with an invitation to African Americans to re-settle in Ghana if they feel unwanted in the USA.

The late George Floyd was an African American who was “gruesomely killed” by a white American police officer in the USA on 25 May 2020.

Speaking at the ceremony on Friday, 5 May 2020, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi expressed the hope that the death of Mr Floyd will put an end to racism, not only in the US but across the globe.

“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 Chauvin to be charged but all his accomplices who, together, [killed George Floyd],” Ms Oteng-Gyasi said.

She continued: “We gather in solidarity with brothers and sisters to change the status quo. Racism must end. We pray and hope that George Floyd's death will not be in vain but will bring an end to prejudice and racial discrimination across the world.”

Ghana, last year, opened up the country to receive Africans in the diaspora through a government initiative called the Year of Return. Thousands of African Americans and blacks from other countries visited the country.

This year, the government has launched the “Beyond the Return” initiative to help Africans in the diaspora to settle in Ghana and invest in the economy.

To this end, Ms Oteng-Gyasi noted that Ghana is ready to welcome every African in the diaspora who is ready to return to the continent away from the racial abuse they have suffered for about 400 years.

“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,” said Ms Oteng-Gyasi.

The death of George Floyd, who told the white cop he could not breathe while he knelt on his neck, has sparked protests across the US for the past 10 days.

The white officer David Chauvin has since been arrested and charged with 3rd-degree murder and manslaughter.

The other three officers who did not intervene and also held Floyd down when their colleague had his knee on his neck, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao have also been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting murder.