Dr. Mumbi Seraki advised on her show that Africans returning to their homelands is a prophetic calling. A part of me wanted to refute that but given the current conditions of African people, the success of the Year of Return in Ghana, and the most recent news coming out of the UK, I can’t say that I disagree with her. The following information comes out of the Independent and BBC News.

Over 50 Jamaican nationals have been detained in recent weeks and are set to be deported out of the United Kingdom. Reshawn Davis, 30 years old with a family, is being removed from the country on the basis that he was convicted of a robbery 10 years ago. Davis who’s been in the UK since age 11 and has not committed any crime since his conviction, has not been back to Jamaica in 20 years. A draft copy of the Windrush Lessons Learned report stated that ministers should consider ending the practice of deporting people who arrived in the UK as children.

Regarding his feelings towards the deportation, Mr. Davis stated the following:

“I’m so stressed out. I can’t even explain how I feel. Yes I was born in Jamaica, but I was brought up here. I don’t know anything else. I made one mistake in life, and it feels like I tried to kill the Queen.

I look at my daughter’s pictures now every night before I go to bed. Since she was born I never had never spent a night without her until I was locked in here. I still reach for her when I wake up. I’m not one of those to leave my wife to do it by herself. I want to be there for them both.

I’m terrified to go to Jamaica. My cousin was deported and he has now died. People will be hostile to me because I’ve been deported. I’m going to be targeted.”

Davis’s wife, Tonique Kerr, advised that her husband’s deportation will prevent her from going back to work and forcing her to claim welfare benefits. She advised the following:

“I had been hoping to go back to work so he could look after the baby. I won’t be able to. That’s not something I wanted because I don’t want to sit down and rely on benefits. I’ve always worked. I’ve never been on benefits in my life.

I never imagined being a single mum. I don’t want to fall into the statistics of young single parents, especially for something that isn’t my fault and could have been prevented. It’s hard, emotionally and I would need help financially because it is hard having a young baby.”

Rayan Crawford, another Jamaican deportee, hasn’t been back home since he was 12 years old. But now at age 34, he is back living at his sister’s house, according to BBC News.

“If somebody commits a crime and they went to prison for it, and they’ve been rehabilitated, why would you punish them again by deporting them to Jamaica?”

Crawford served 12 months in prison after being convicted of burglary in 2017, but he and 16 others were flown out of the UK, designated as “serious foreign national offenders” by the government. The Home Office advised that those detained were men convicted of manslaughter and rape, and they all had their cases reviewed to ensure there were no legal barriers. It’s been stated that Mr. Crawford was convicted 10 times for a total of 22 offenses.

I hate the fact that families are being broken up, but I feel like more of this is coming, and not just in the UK. African people throughout the globe need to establish a Code of Conduct for those returning home, especially in housing and the job market. Because no one else will.

If you’d like to read the full articles, click here and here. If you have any additional information on what’s going on in the United Kingdom, feel free to comment below.

Until Next Time…