Former Sierra Leone striker and captain, Kei Kamara, has opened up on his experience growing up in the USA as an immigrant following the tragic killing of Ghanaian teen Javits Frimpong.Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian was shot and killed on his way to school in Bronx, New York, just a year after migrating to the United States.The death of Frimpong has reportedly been linked with bullying in school after his heartbroken father revealed to the media his son complained of the incident three days before his killing. According to Thomas Frimpong, the father, the principal disclosed to him the bullies had been suspended after his son reported the unpleasant experience.Frimpong’s passing has received widespread attention with Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, speaking to President Donald Trump to ensure the mother of the teen travels to USA to say her final goodbyes to her late son.Several other celebrities including Grammy award-winning rapper Cardi B, a native of New York, have all shared their views on the painful episode.Kamara, who moved to the USA in 2000 as a refugee from Sierra Leone, revealed her suffered similar abuse when he first arrived in the US, and sports became his escape route.”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.”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.”Kamara enjoyed a glittering career in the MLS, playing for several clubs including Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati. He remains one of only 13 players to score 100 goals in the MLS. He retired from the game in 2026 at 42.By Lukman Abdul Mumin



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