“If Kamala Harris wins, the situation will be bad. “If it’s Donald Trump, it will be even worse.” judged Daryl Landy, worried on the eve of the US presidential elections, which will take place on Tuesday, November 5. This former New York professor came to settle in Accra, the capital of Ghana, in 2019, to escape, he says, the increasingly uninhibited racism in American society.
Five years later, he is convinced that the situation has worsened. “People sing today”Make America Great Again” [“Rendons sa grandeur à l’Amérique”, le slogan des partisans de Donald Trump], I want to go back to a time when only a group of people controlled the country. “, he believes.
Sitting next to her, her friend Wanida Lewis nods, looking serious. Before launching her activity promoting Pan-African cuisine in the suburbs of Accra, this woman from Maryland, on the east coast of the United States, worked for the American government, particularly under the Trump administration. “No matter the outcome of the election, people will go crazy. “We live in very strange times, where some people do not want their history to change and are willing to fight.”she says. A situation that terrifies Daryl Landy: “I fear for my family who are still there. I really hope they soon have their passports to leave the country. »
A “year of return” in Ghana
Like Daryl and Wanida, many African Americans in recent years have begun “repatriation”term given to this migration movement, from the United States to the lands of their ancestors, deported from West Africa during the slave trade, between the 16th centurymy and XVIIImy century. To encourage their arrival, the Ghanaian government declared 2019 as the “year of return” and established a program to encourage their settlement. Today, this diaspora numbers between 10,000 and 15,000 members, according to an estimate by the Ghana African American Association.
During the events organized by the association ahead of the presidential elections on November 5, its president, Diallo Sumbry, acknowledged having perceived among its members “Some enthusiasm at the possibility of having the first African-American president”. Especially since Kamala Harris is well known in Ghana. The Democratic candidate arrived there in March 2023 during an African tour, in particular visiting the Cape Coast fort, a former center of the slave trade. she had greeted “the fight for civil rights and justice, in the United States and around the world”descendants of slaves.
“However, when it comes to politics, the African-American diaspora in Ghana is far from monolithic.shade Diallo Sumbry. Some hate the two-party system, others believe that the presidential institution is itself racist and steeped in white supremacy, and others still believe in the American dream…”
“The future is here in Ghana”
Some, like Gary Emerson Fray, have also decided to completely lose interest in the election and its issues. At 62 years old, this New Yorker came to settle in Ghana two years ago to create an NGO to help street children and, on November 5, he decided not to vote. The election that matters to him is that of Ghana’s next president, on December 7. “What I face daily are the effects of Ghana’s policy failure.explains. My interest in what’s happening in America right now has become very marginal. What really matters to me is the future. And it is here in Ghana. »
As the US presidential election approaches, the prospect of trying your luck in Ghana appears to attract a growing number of African-American citizens. For several months now, Diallo Sumbry, who is also CEO of Adinkra Group, a company that helps “repatriation”receive “Many calls from people saying they are preparing to leave depending on the outcome of the election, others assure me that they will leave the United States no matter who wins. » The last time it saw so many applications was between 2016 and 2020, under President Donald Trump.
