Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Victor Emmanuel Smith, has said he is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that racism still exists in America, citing the personal experience of his own 15-year-old son.
Speaking on TV3’s The KeyPoints on Saturday, November 7, Mr Smith said his son is bullied in school because of his accent.
“Nobody can convince me that there is no racism in America. Nobody,” he said.
Mr Smith was speaking in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on the recent deaths of two young Ghanaians in New York — 15-year-old Javits Frimpong, who was shot dead, and 24-year-old Joseph Owusu, whose body was found in a bag on a pavement.
The Ambassador has previously spoken about his son’s experience in the context of the Frimpong case.
“This kind of bullying is no news at all. Personally, I’ve experienced it, my son. They do that. I don’t know why they do it. But the most painful part is that usually it’s black people doing it to black people,” he said.
“They wanted him to speak with American slang on day one. And they make you feel just like unwanted. They make the kids feel lonely,” he added.
Background: The Death of Javits Frimpong
Javits Badu Nkansah Frimpong, 15, was fatally shot at about 9:20 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, 2026, while walking to DreamYard Preparatory School in the Bronx, New York.
He had moved from Ghana to join his father, Thomas Frimpong, about a year earlier and dreamed of becoming a physician.
Police said he was shot once in the abdomen near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the Bronx, and later died at St. Barnabas Hospital.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) is searching for three teenage suspects, described as wearing hoods and surgical masks, who allegedly approached the teenager before chasing and shooting him.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators are examining several possible motives, including bullying, robbery and mistaken identity.
The bullying angle follows claims by Javits’ father that two students had recently been suspended after allegedly bullying his son at school. Police have said they found no indication that Javits was involved in gang activity, and no arrests had been made as of the latest updates.
Following his death, Ambassador Smith wrote to the family on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama and the Government of Ghana, calling for a thorough and impartial investigation.
“In light of the reported experiences of racial bullying he endured at school, it is imperative that all relevant circumstances be examined carefully and impartially,” he stated.
“While we must allow the investigative process to establish the truth, we cannot ignore the urgent need to protect our children from bullying, racial discrimination, and violence,” he added.
The Government of Ghana facilitated an expedited US visa for Javits’ mother, Madam Doris Adu Gyamfi, to travel to New York. She has since called for justice for her son, saying: “I want justice for my son”.
President Mahama has also called on the United States to confront gun violence, describing Frimpong’s death as particularly painful given his young age and the brief time he had spent in the country.
The family has since retained renowned US civil rights attorney Ben Crump to seek answers and accountability.
Background: The Death of Joseph Owusu
Days after Frimpong’s killing, the Ghanaian community in New York was thrown into fresh mourning over the death of Joseph Owusu, 24.
Owusu, a church organist at the Ghana United Methodist Church in the Bronx and a caregiver for people with disabilities, was found dead inside a large black duffel bag on the morning of Friday, October 30, in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
Surveillance video broadcast by ABC7 shows two people taking the bag from a white sedan and leaving it on a pavement near East 93rd Street and Avenue L. A man collecting scrap metal later found the bag and alerted authorities.
Owusu was born in the Bronx to parents who came from Ghana. Neighbours described him as a “devout” churchgoer who played gospel music on the piano.
Police told the family of the death on Saturday, October 31, and said an autopsy was under way. As of Thursday night, no arrest had been announced and the medical examiner had not determined how he died.
Police have not publicly connected Owusu’s death with the shooting of Javits Frimpong.
His brother, Kojo Yeboah, has appealed for justice, saying: “He’s only 24. He had a lot of living to do”.
Wider Concern
The two deaths, occurring within days of each other in New York, have sparked grief, outrage and renewed debate in Ghana and among the diaspora about the safety of Ghanaian children and young people in the United States, bullying in schools, gun violence and racial discrimination.
The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its missions in the US, says it remains in close communication with US authorities and will not relent until justice is done in both cases.
