Sorrow over the killings at Columbine High School crossed continents Saturday with the arrival of J.J. Rawlings, president of Ghana.
“I bring sympathy from my fellow Ghanaians on the loss of your loved ones,” Rawlings said after arriving at Denver International Airport. Rawlings is in Denver to speak at the National Conference of Black Mayors. “Something must be done to stop this thing, this stretch of conditions,” Rawlings said.
“Yesterday it was in Scotland. Today it was Colorado. I am hoping we are not waiting for it to happen someplace else”. Three years ago, a former scout leader shot and killed 16 school children in Dunblane, Scotland. Rawlings was greeted by about 100 fellow Ghanaians including Ghana’s Ambassador to USA H.E. Koby Koomson.
“We want to show support for what he’s been doing in Ghana.” said Francis Agbeke, who left Ghana to be a computer programmer in Aurora Colorado. Ghanaians at the airport credited Rawlings with bringing stability to the West African nation and for improving its economy, which slumped in the late ’70s. One held sign noting that Rawlings brings akatamanso, which means “umbrella.” That means we’re all together, “Agbeke said.
