This wasn’t my first time watching the World Cup overseas.  I’ve watched a World Cup while in Iraq, Bulgaria, and now Ghana.  It’s an impressive thing, watching a World Cup Final in a country that actually cares about football (soccer).  It dominates the conversation in the workplace, in taxi cabs, and pretty much with every person you run into, turning casual observers into fans overnight.  My last post was about how sports unifies people, the World Cup unites the world.

Last week Trevor Noah, the South African comedian who took over for Jon Stewart as the face of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, got into hot water with a French diplomat after congratulating Africa on winning the Men’s World Cup.  His joke was referring to the fact that many of the stars on the French National Team, which defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final, were of African descent.  Many only first generation French.  Barrack Obama highlighted this same fact during his speech in South Africa, saying that many of those players “don’t look like Gauls to me.”

France has had problems lately, the subject of numerous terrorist attacks and a growing right-wing movement, many of my French friends have talked about how hard it is to be French.  It was so much fun watching these same friends post videos on their Instagram stories showing a nation coming together behind a sports team, united by sports.

Here in Ghana, many of the Ghanaians I spoke with said they would be rooting for the French team, many highlighting the fact that so many Africans were on the team.  It was a source of pride for them.  It was almost as if it was their team, a united African team playing together on the world’s biggest stage.

Immigration is a hot topic right now.  Europe has been struggling with a wave of refugees, so has the United States, followed by a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric that comes from the highest levels of many governments.  My country being a nation of immigrants (unless you’re Native American), I find the idea of keeping immigrants out to be ridiculous.  It’s our diversity that makes us stronger.

I understand why France wants to push back against the idea that this was an African team, highlighting that the players all think of themselves as French.  Proud of the home where they were born.  France needs unity right now, and hopefully the World Cup victory will help the country come together.  But I also think it’s okay to highlight the idea that immigrants make a nation stronger in many ways.

Whenever I tell people in Ghana that I’m from the United States, they seem to always tell me how much they love the US.  Many times the conversation turns to the strict policies for tourist and work visas into the USA.  As Americans, we tend to take the power of our passport for granted.  I know that I do.  When I told my co-workers I had a multi-entry three year visa to Ghana, they were shocked.  It only took me 4 days and $300 dollars to get that visa.  For them, getting a tourist visa is almost impossible.

I never understood why so many people here would ask me to help them get to the United States, I thought it was just one of those things that people said.  But then I was told about how Ghanaians almost are required to have a person in the US vouch for them, to invite them to our country.  It’s such a strange concept to me.  To have to be invited to a country.  I’ve been to so many places all over the world, and never have I needed someone to invite me.

I understand the fear.  The fear of a flood of people pouring into a country full of opportunities.  The fear that if an opportunity is given to someone else, there won’t be that same opportunity available to a person already living in the United States.  But I would also argue that if opportunity is given based off merit, maybe people need to be pushed to work a little harder.  Diversity provides different perspectives.  It makes our nation stronger.  And if someone wants to come from Ghana to my country to make a better life for themselves and for their family, maybe we can find a better way to help them do that.

I think that’s what Obama and Noah were trying to highlight.  Immigration isn’t a bad thing.  Sometimes it helps you become champions of the world for the next four years.