Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder, whose real name is Stevland Hardaway Morris (original surname was Judkins), says he will be spending the rest of his time on earth in Ghana.
The American musician says he is moving to Ghana very soon.
He told Oprah Winfrey on ‘The Oprah Conversation’ in November last year that he has already decided to move to Ghana, where he expects to be valued and respected.
“I promise you [America], if you do the right thing, I will give you this song. I will give it to you. You can have it. Because I wanna (want to) see this nation smile again. And I want to see it before I leave to travel to move to Ghana, because I’m going to do that,” Stevie said.
A shocked Oprah Winfrey asked, “You’re gonna (going to) move permanently to Ghana?”, and Wonder replied saying, “I am.”
“I don’t want to see my children’s, children’s children have to say ‘oh please like me, please respect me, please know that I am important, and please value me’. What is that?”
According to Face2faceafrica portal, it was not the first time the ‘Happy Birthday’ singer had referred to Ghana as the destination he planned to escape the United States to.
In a 1994 speech to the International Association of African American Music, Wonder promised to relocate to Ghana where he believed “there’s more of a sense of community.” He has been to the West African nation a few times in the past.
The musician’s advocacy for racial justice is a known substance to his art that goes as far back as the 1970s.
If Wonder does make good on his promise and moves to Ghana, he will not only join a recent long list of African-Americans and Caribbean nationals who have relocated, but also a historic collection of his compatriots who lived in Ghana at certain points in their lives. Maya Angelo lived and taught in Ghana for a few years, and so did W.E.B. DuBois until his death.