African-American reporter decides to leave U.S. to escape racism

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- DeNeen L. Brown, an African-American writer for the Washington Post, has decided to leave the United States and start a new life in Ghana where "racism is not a constant threat."

Brown, who was born and grew up in Kansas and Oklahoma, wrote in an article that she "never really felt at home in America" and faced racism even when she was only a school girl.

In the article titled "The Case for Leaving America to Escape Racism" and published on the Washington Post on Monday, Brown said "Democracy appeared to be imploding, and the country seemed to be increasingly dangerous for Black people -- although racist terror was embedded in the fabric of American history and is not a new phenomenon."

As a reporter for more than 35 years, Brown said she "had watched as insurrectionists attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6... One man carried a Confederate flag, a symbol of entrenched racism, through the halls of Congress. The fight for racial justice seemed to be failing. The moral floor had cracked."

She wrote that "It was a time when America seemed to be splintering, with state laws banning the teaching of critical race theory -- effectively, barring the teaching of historical truths -- and constant warnings about real dangers to democracy and the possibility of a new civil war."

She also mentioned that in the last two years, there has been a groundswell of Black people in America who want to go to Africa, citing Greg Carr, a professor of Africana studies and former chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, adding that celebrities have been part of this trend.

"For many, the death of Floyd in 2020 may have been a turning point," Brown said.