Hollywood actor of Ghanaian descent, Boris Kodjoe, has responded to the denigrating comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Born Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe, the actor, who was in Ghana a couple of days ago to host the Aiteo CAF Awards, took to his Instagram page to school Donald Trump about the continent and black people.
The US President was reported to have made the unsavoury comments while complaining about immigrants coming to the US, during immigration negotiations on Thursday with lawmakers in the Oval Office.
Donald Trump said, “why are we having all these people from sh**hole countries come here?”. He was referring to people from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries in the temporary protected status program.
As soon as his statement was made public by the media, the world was infuriated and called him out for it.
Like many Africans who were offended by the comment, Boris took to his Instagram page to write;
“I am half German and half Ghanaian, ain’t no ‘shithole’ anywhere near that combination! This is a photograph of the late Dr. Eric Ofuatey-Kodjoe. He was my father. He also was an immigrant who left his country to become a physician and greatly contributed to his new home country through medical services and economically alike.
“He endured endless racially motivated abuse even as the head of anesthesiology at his hospital. Other doctors questioned his abilities, patients refused to be examined by him. But he kept going, kept helping people, kept saving the lives of those who wanted him to go back to his country.
I know it’s hard for you to understand, @realdonaldtrump, but most immigrants are looking for basic human rights for their families, a purpose in life, and a way to contribute to society. And when we welcome them we soon realize that they aren’t looking for handouts, but that they are extremely hardworking and intent on earning their place at the table.”