The Stoop podcast is hosted by KALW's Hana Baba and Leila Day.
In recent years, African immigrants in the United States have been moving back to the continent. More people have started going back in the past decade. ‘Repats' they call them.
When researcherssurveyed African immigrants about whether they would eventually go back to their home countries, 80 percent said yes — they would, if they could.
And thereasons? Opportunity, jobs family, and lifestyle.
But oftentimes, going back is tricky — especially for people who grew up here. You go back, and feel maybe you don't belong anymore. Or, you learn things that completely change you.
That's what happened to Berkeley's YaaGyasi, the award-winning, Ghanaian American author of the novel Homegoing. She says, growing up in Huntsville Alabama, she always wanted to be a writer.
"It feels so unfathomable that you could even see a place like this, and continue to perpetuate these atrocities against people. How did it last as long as it did?"
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