Blaxit: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Sociological phenomenon}}

'''Blaxit''' is a social movement that promotes the expatriation of Black/African-African Americans from the U.S. to destinations abroad. The term Blaxit was coined in the wake of Brexit by academic, journalist, and human rights consultant Dr. Ulysses Burley III. The term combines Black and Exit to form Blaxit in the same manner that Brexit describes the British Exit from the European Union. <ref>{{Cite web|title=About|url=http://www.ubthecure.com/about/|access-date=2021-06-14|website=Ulysses Burley III|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Disheartened By Racial Violence In U.S., Inspired By Brexit, He Pondered A 'Blaxit'|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/07/17/486359426/disheartened-by-racial-violence-in-u-s-inspired-by-brexit-he-pondered-a-blaxit|access-date=2020-10-29|website=NPR.org|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Hjeld|first=Kim|title='I'm leaving, and I'm just not coming back': Fed up with racism, Black people head overseas|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/06/26/blaxit-black-people-leave-uk-escape-racism-build-lives-abroad/3234129001/|access-date=2020-10-29|website=USA TODAY|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Sewing|first=Joy|date=2020-10-23|title=Joy Sewing: Black Americans, fed up with racism, move abroad as 'Blaxit' trends|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Black-Americans-fed-up-with-racism-move-abroad-15669032.php|access-date=2020-10-29|website=HoustonChronicle.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Savali|first=Kristen West|date=26 January 2020|title=Is Moving To Another Country The Answer?|url=https://www.essence.com/news/is-blaxit-for-you/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Essence|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oshindoro|first=Michael|date=2019-02-22|title=Blaxit and the Romanticization of Africa|url=https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bic/2019/005/7|journal=Black Issues Conference}}</ref>

 

 

In 2019 Ghanaian president [[Nana Akufo-Addo]] declared the year the "Year of Return" and made immigration easier for [[African diaspora]].<ref name=":1" /> In June 2020, Ghana Minister of Tourism [[Barbara Oteng Gyasi]] encouraged Black Americans to emigrate, saying "Africa is waiting for you".<ref name=":1" />

== Reasons ==

''[[USA Today]]'' said "Black Americans, like expatriates of all races and ethnicities, leave the USA temporarily or permanently for different reasons: in search of a better quality of life, for work opportunities, to marry or retire abroad, for tax reasons, for adventure."<ref name=":0" /> Kristen West Savali, writing for [[Essence (magazine)|''Essence'']] in January of 2020, compared Blaxit to the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], saying, "it has become increasingly clear that there is no corner of the United States where it is safe to be Black."<ref name=":2" />