ATLANTA (CBS46) — An increasing number of Georgians are part of a growing trend. They are moving more than 5,000 miles away to find a better life than the one they have here in the United States.
Like any mother, Davisha Johnson worried that she couldn’t protect her children. Davisha says,
“From gangs to the police, to just having and raising young black men in this society in southern united states was just not safe. Just sending him to the corner store was stressful.” Davisha says the longer she stayed in Georgia, the harder it was to keep her three children safe.
“Living in Decatur, Georgia, I realized that it was just going to be unsafe for my boys. Tamir Rice and George Floyd really kind of caught me off guard, I think like it did everyone, but it really hit home for me, because I have two boys” she says.
Davisha, her two boys and daughter, now live in Ghana, a country in West Africa. She is just one of many Georgia families making the great migration away from the United States.
Rashad McCrorey is helping African-Americans across the U.S. resettle in Africa through his travel company. McCrorey moved to Ghana from New York in early 2020.
He says, “Systematic oppression and racial injustice is at the top of the list. Black Americans we deal with the prison industrial complex, we deal with education reform, we deal with redlining, we deal with police brutality. I see hundreds of thousands and millions of black Americans moving whether for short term stays or long term stays to Africa for at least another 50 years.”
Atlantan Delwyn Ray, who owns Rainbow Aquaponics, is already making plans to move to Ghana in the next 2 to 3 years.
“I think that there are some skill sets that we will bring to Africa that will help them enrich their business climate as well as their cultural climate.”
Ray says the move could be very lucrative for him and his business partners.
Here’s why, the American dollar goes much farther in Ghana. The cost of living is 64% less compared to the U.S., according to the website Living Cost.org.
It’s part of the reason why Ray already has business partners in Ghana for his company. During the summer Ray has a facility at Truly Living Well Urban Rarm in Atlanta where water is used as the primary way to grow produce.
Ray says he’ll be able to teach West Africans how grow their own business.
He says, “Using those gifts that you’ve gained here and enriching the culture there and i think that’s very important. It’s been a long coming dream.”
It’s also a dream realized for Davisha Johnson who believes she is now able to protect her children.
“From my first trip coming to Ghana I realized that this might be a place where I can raise my children and not have to wake up as a single black mother thinking about if my babies are going to come home or n