Black Star experience is a lifestyle, not a repackaged ‘Year of Return’ – Rex Omar clarifies

Rex Owusu Marfo, popularly known as Rex Omar, and serving as a Presidential Staffer and Coordinator of the Black Star Experience Secretariat, has dismissed claims that the Black Star Experience is merely a rebranded version of the ‘Year of Return’.

Addressing the criticisms in an interview with Amansan Krakye, the veteran musician explained that the Black Star Experience is not an event, but a year-round lifestyle designed to promote Ghanaian identity and culture.

“Those saying the Black Star Experience is another form of the Year of Return do not understand the initiative and concept,” he said, as reported by MyNewsGh.com.

Rex Omar clarified that while the ‘Year of Return’ was a specific commemorative event marking the end of the transatlantic slave trade, the Black Star Experience is a broader, ongoing cultural initiative.

“The Year of Return was just an event which celebrated the end of transatlantic slavery—that’s why after the celebration they also brought Beyond the Return,” he explained.

He stressed that the Black Star Experience is about celebrating and promoting Ghanaian culture every single day of the year.

“Black Star Experience is not an event but rather 365 days way of life which seeks to promote and project everything Ghanaian to the world,” he said.

“Our food, our clothes, and every time you spend on a Ghanaian product, you’re making the Black Star shine, so the Black Star Experience is a way of life.”

The initiative, according to Rex Omar, is aimed at instilling national pride and encouraging both Ghanaians and the diaspora to consciously invest in and celebrate Ghanaian culture through their daily choices and lifestyles.