Castile; a 32 year old black man, was shot after police in Falcon Heights had stopped his car on July 6. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, streamed the aftermath of the incident online from the back of the car as he bled to death with her four year old daughter present.
In an interview with Pulse Ghana, Kwao Amegashie, a Ghanaian who has lived in the United States for over 30 years, shootings such as this creates a sense of vulnerability among the Ghanaian Americans in the state.
“When something like this happens, the first question is why is this happening to black folks?... It creates a sense of vulnerability in our community...That is because we are also black and are also exposed to this.”
When asked about young Ghanaians, Amegashie said "as a general rule we tell our children to obey what the police say and also to be careful because they are of the same colour as these people getting involved in these shootings."
The father of two, who lives in Brooklyn Park, worries that even obeying the police is no longer enough. According to Castile’s girlfriend, he was reaching for his identification (which the police had asked him to) when he was shot.
Amegashie; an attorney, is the immediate past president of the Ghanaian Association of Minnesota where the community has over 8,000 members. The association was created in the 1970s by Ghanaian students in the state to celebrate their common heritage.
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Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
