Former Sierra Leone striker and captain Kei Kamara has shared his personal experience of growing up in the United States as an African immigrant following the tragic death of 15-year-old Ghanaian teenager Javits Frimpong in New York.
Frimpong was shot and killed while on his way to school in the Bronx, just a year after moving to the United States from Ghana.
The teenager’s death has reportedly been linked to bullying at school after his father, Thomas Frimpong, disclosed that his son had complained about being bullied three days before the incident. According to his father, the school principal later informed him that the students involved had been suspended after Javits reported the matter.
The tragic incident has attracted widespread attention, with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani reportedly engaging US President Donald Trump to help facilitate the travel of the teenager’s mother to the United States so she can bid her final farewell to her son.
Several public figures have also reacted to the tragedy, including Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B, who was born and raised in New York.
Kamara, who relocated to the United States in 2000 as a refugee from Sierra Leone, said he experienced similar bullying during his teenage years. He explained that sports provided an escape from the abuse he faced as he adjusted to life in a new country.
In an emotional Facebook post, the former striker reflected on his journey and expressed sympathy for the Frimpong family.
“Right now I am in Africa, where many kids you see around here are teenagers or adults, are wishing for brighter future, that’s going to Europe or America. Not many of them hear stories like this,” he said in an emotional post on Facebook.
“As for me, the story really hits close. It was October of 2000, when I migrated to the USA as a refugee. That’s 26 years ago. Now I am a proud citizen. I went to school, got my education. I was able to play professional soccer for over 20 years. But what many of you don’t know is how much I relate to Javits Frimpong,” he added.
Kamara went on to describe the discrimination he experienced from other Black students because of his skin colour, hair and accent.
“As a teenager, moving from Africa to America, being in High School, I got bullied a lot by my own kind, dark-skinned blacks, say, they call it Black-Americans. The provocations from being too black, darker than them. My hair being too nappy, my English being so bad to them because it is not American-English.
“I found something that saved me which was sport. I ran away to play soccer, I was closer to the Hispanics. I ran away to play volleyball, I was closer to the Asians that played volleyball and the Samoans.
“But I guess Javits Frimpong did not have that means to run away through sports like I did. I don’t know what to say to a family that’s grieving at this moment. I want to share my experience growing up in America. I wasn’t bullied by whites, Hispanics, Asians, I was bullied by my own kind. Not everyone of them because I still made friends with some.
“But this is really hard, seeing a father grieving so much and a young man who has a story like myself, going into the US as a teenager, wishing and praying and enjoying everything you’ve seen on TV or see on the news and you finally make it to America that you are going to live that better life, the life he is not going to see anymore,” he said as reported by Lukman Abdul Mumin.
