FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Nigerian Center is heartbroken by the killing of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong, a Ghanaian immigrant shot while walking to school in the Bronx. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends, his classmates, and the entire Ghanaian American community.
Javits should be alive today. He was a child walking to school, which every family should be able to take for granted. His death is a loss for his family and for every immigrant family that came to this country hoping their children would be safe and able to thrive.
“Our hearts are with Javits’s family and with our Ghanaian brothers and sisters. No parent should ever have to send a child to school and not see them come home. We owe it to Javits to come together, demand accountability, and protect every child in our communities.”
Gbenga Ogunjimi, Executive Director Nigerian Center
This tragedy also shows that we need to confront bullying, harassment, and violence affecting our young people, both in school and on the way there and back. Immigrant children too often carry these burdens in silence. We urge parents and caregivers to talk with their children about how school and their commute are going. We also call on schools and city leaders to make sure students can report bullying safely and know they will be heard.
We reject any attempt to use Javits’s death to divide the Black community. Whether our families arrived centuries ago or last year, we share roots, a struggle, and a future. African Americans, African immigrants, and Caribbean communities are branches of the same tree, and we must choose each other.
The Nigerian Center stands with the Frimpong family and the Ghanaian American community as they grieve. We recommit ourselves to building communities where every child can grow up free from fear, bullying, and violence.
May Javits rest in peace.
###
About the Nigerian Center
The Nigerian Center is a Washington, DC–based national civic institution advancing social justice, culture, and opportunity for Nigerian and broader African diaspora communities in the United States. Through legal services, financial empowerment programs, cultural initiatives, and public policy engagement, the Center works to strengthen communities and elevate the role of the diaspora in shaping U.S.–Africa relations.