Africans march on New York streets during the African Day Parade.<\/p>\n
In the heart of Accra, Ghana\u2019s capital, just a few meters from the United States embassy, lie the tombs of W. E. B. Du Bois, a great African-American civil rights leader, and his wife, Shirley. The founder of the US-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People moved to Accra in 1961, settling in the city\u2019s serene residential area of Labone and living there until his death in August 1963.<\/p>\n
Mr. Du Bois\u2019s journey to Ghana may have signaled the emergence of a profound desire among Africans in the diaspora to retrace their roots and return to the continent. Ghana was a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th centuries.<\/p>\n
In Washington, D.C., in September 2018, Ghana\u2019s President Nana Akufo-Addo declared and formally launched the \u201cYear of Return, Ghana 2019\u201d for Africans in the Diaspora, giving fresh impetus to the quest to unite Africans on the continent with their brothers and sisters in the diaspora.<\/p>\n
At that event, President Akufo-Addo said, \u201cWe know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions they [Africans in the diaspora] made to the lives of the Americans, and it is important that this symbolic year\u2014400 years later\u2014we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n
200 yrs<\/strong><\/p>\n
since the abolition of slavery<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
US Congress members Gwen Moore of Wisconsin and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, diplomats and leading figures from the African-American community, attended the event. Representative Jackson Lee linked the Ghanaian government\u2019s initiative with the passage in Congress in 2017 of the 400 Years of African-American History Commission Act. Provisions in the act include the setting up of a history commission to carry out and provide funding for activities marking the 400th anniversary of the \u201carrival of Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since independence in 1957, successive Ghanaian leaders have initiated policies to attract Africans abroad back to Ghana.<\/p>\n
In his maiden independence address, then\u2013Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah sought to frame Africa\u2019s liberation around the concept of Africans all over the world coming back to Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cNkrumah saw the American Negro as the vanguard of the African people,\u201d said Henry Louis Gates Jr., Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard, who first traveled to Ghana when he was 20 and fresh out of Harvard, afire with Nkrumah\u2019s spirit. \u201cHe wanted to be able to utilize the services and skills of African-Americans as Ghana made the transition from colonialism to independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ghana\u2019s parliament passed a Citizenship Act in 2000 to make provision for dual citizenship, meaning that people of Ghanaian origin who have acquired citizenships abroad can take up Ghanaian citizenship if they so desire.<\/p>\n
That same year the country enacted the Immigration Act, which provides for a \u201cRight of Abode\u201d for any \u201cPerson of African descent in the Diaspora\u201d to travel to and from the country \u201cwithout hindrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Joseph Project<\/strong><\/p>\n
In 2007, in its 50th year of independence, the government initiated the Joseph Project to commemorate 200 years since the abolition of slavery and to encourage Africans abroad to return.<\/p>\n
Similar to Israel\u2019s policy of reaching out to Jews across Europe and beyond following the Holocaust, the Joseph Project is named for the Biblical Joseph who was sold into slavery in Egypt but would later reunite with his family and rule Egypt.<\/p>\n
The African-American community is excited about President Akufo-Addo\u2019s latest initiative. In social media posts, many expressed interest in visiting Africa for the first time. Among them is Amber Walker, a media practitioner who says that 2019 is the time to visit her ancestral home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is definitely comforting because that kind of red carpet has not been rolled out by our oppressors in the Western world,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
In making the announcement President Akufo-Addo said: Together on both sides of the Atlantic, we\u2019ll work to make sure that never again will we allow a handful of people with superior technology to walk into Africa, seize their people and sell them into slavery. That must be our resolution, that never again, never again!\u201d<\/p>\n
But Ms. Walker took issue with Mr. Akufo-Addo for appearing to downplay the actions of some Africans in the slave trade. \u201cIn the president\u2019s [Akufo-Addo\u2019s] statement, he sounds like the entire blame is placed on white people coming in with weapons and taking black people away, but that\u2019s not necessarily the history. So I think that needs to be acknowledged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She suggested a form of reconciliation such as took place in post-apartheid South Africa\u2014a truth and reconciliation process that will satisfy the millions of Africans whose forefathers were sold into slavery.<\/p>\n
In 2013 the United Nations declared 2015\u20132024 the International Decade for People of African Descent to \u201cpromote respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of African descent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The theme for the ten-year celebration is \u201cPeople of African descent: recognition, justice and development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cYear of Return, Ghana 2019\u201d will coincide with the biennial Pan African Historical Theatre Festival (Panafest), which is held in Cape Coast, home of Cape Coast Castle and neighbouring Elmina Castle\u2014two notable edifices recognized by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as World Heritage Sites of the slave era.<\/p>\n
Credit:<\/em>
\nBENJAMIN TETTEH, From Africa Renewal:
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