 Why African-Americans are leaving America for Ghana? The transatlantic slave trade, which happened over many hundreds of years ago, saw the movement and transfer of many people from Africa to Europe, who later settled in the United States. Ghana, which was called the Gold Coast at the time, was the main exit gateway for many African slaves. After the abolition of the slave trade, many of the free slaves were resettled in Sierra Leone, and many other were sent to America. Most of this free slaves in the US later on became the blacks in the US, commonly called the African-Americans or Black Americans. Over the years, these Black Americans have been tracing their roots back to Africa, and most especially Ghana. Hello there, and welcome. You are watching Africa Reloaded, and I am James, your host. Stick with me to find out why African-Americans are leaving America for Ghana. As always, before we begin, please take a few seconds to like this video and subscribe to our channel. African-Americans are returning to countries like Ghana more than 400 years since their ancestors left Africa as slaves. Some say they want either to reconnect to history or resettle on the continent. Since 2019, at least 1,500 Black Americans have moved to Ghana when the government declared its year of return initiative, calling on Africans in the diaspora to return to Africa. As the US continues to confront its history of racism and police brutality against Black people, many are accepting Ghana's call. The year of return was formally launched by President Nana Akufo-Addo in September 2018 in Washington DC as a program to encourage Africans in the diaspora to unite with Africans. Its year 2019 is symbolic as it marks 400 years since the first enslaved Africans touched down in Jamestown, Virginia, in the United States. The program also recognizes the diaspora's achievements and sacrifices in the time since that event. The year of return was also to celebrate the perseverance of all the victims of the transatlantic slave trade who were forcefully displaced throughout the world, ending up in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Ghana holds an outstanding place in the lives of African Americans because it was and has preserved to date one of the largest slave-holding ports on the West Coast of Africa. It's George's Fort at Almena, built by the Portuguese in 1482 and infamous for its role in the transatlantic slave trade through the Door of No Return, has been for decades a place of pilgrimage for African Americans seeking to make a connection with their ancestral roots. The Ghanian Declaration of 2019 as the year of the return was timely because it came at a time when African Americans in general were facing increased racial discrimination in the U.S. through civic suppression, police brutality and killing, social alienation through poor housing and health amenities. People of African descent continue to face racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance, and excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies, according to a recent United Nations Human Rights Report. Black people in the U.S. are more likely to be killed during a police encounter and according to the FBI, race-motivated attacks are at their highest level in 12 years. Black Americans are also 20% more likely to suffer psychological distress and 50% less likely to receive mental health treatment due to underlying socioeconomic factors, according to Pfizer. According to World Population Review, the United States has the highest detention rate in the world. The U.S. is ranked 65th in safety and 69th in racial equality. Ghana has been trying to take advantage of the desire of African Americans to return to Ghana and escape their country's brutalities for the past several years. You do not have to stay where you are not wanted forever. Ghana's tourism minister, Barbara Oten-Gassie, said in 2020 at a ceremony in Accra marking George Floyd's murder. You have a choice and Africa is waiting for you. Ghani and President Nana Akufo Otto's Year of Return initiatives have attracted celebrities and social media influencers. In 2019, the president gave Ghani and citizenship to 126 foreign nationals who had been living in the country for many years. Many African Americans had visited Africa and some even moved here either temporarily or permanently even long before the 2019 declaration by Ghana. For example, in 1961, Maya Angelou moved to Egypt and shortly later to Ghana where she joined a small, tight-knit expatriate African American community that included the great scholar and activist W.E.B. Dubois, the writer William Gardner-Smith, lawyer Pauline Murray, journalist Julian Mayfield, and sociologist Street Claire Drake. Ghana's welcoming and easy-going nature is one of the first things tourists and expatriates notice upon arrival. Two years ago, the Ghanaian government said it would allocate about 500 acres of land for black Americans moving to Ghana. The government also agreed to facilitate citizenship for those who wish to become Ghanaians, but many, like Maroon, are moving even without these kinds of incentives. Home is not a place. It's how you feel where you are. The feeling of belonging, the feeling of welcome, and a sense of freedom, some say. Others say their expectation is to experience Africa and culture and sort of soak it in and get a little closer to their roots. Interviews with more than a dozen immigrant black Americans spread out across the globe from the Caribbean to West Africa became clear that, for some, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis provided fresh evidence that living outside the USA can be an exercise in self-preservation. For others who chose what amounts to a form of foreign exile, Floyd's death and the ensuing protests confirmed that leaving may not mean a life free from racism and police brutality, but it at least feels somewhat more within reach. Studies in 2019 by the National Academy of Sciences found that black men were about 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police. An analysis this year by Nature Human Behavior of 100 million traffic stops conducted across the country determined that black people were far more likely to be pulled over by police than whites, but that difference narrowed significantly at night when it is harder to see dark skin. Black Americans face a far higher risk of being arrested for petty crimes. They account for a third of the prison population, but just 13% of the overall population, according to Pew Research, a nonpartisan fact tank. All these have increased the number of African Americans opting to leave the US. Some chose to look beyond Ghana and West Africa and move to East Africa. Rwanda and Tanzania so far are host to a growing number of these returnees. Thanks for watching to the end. Please remember to like, share, comment and subscribe to Africa Reloaded. Also remember to turn on your notification icon to get alerts of newly posted videos.