Members of the Black community rally against racism in Cologne, January 2020/ Photo credit: Anna Evgenevna Zhukovets/ Sonnenblumen Community Development Group e.V.

Migrant organisations launch campaign against anti-Black racism in Germany

Leading migrant organisations launched a campaign tagged Aktion #beiunsauch (Action #samehere) against anti-Black racism in Germany on Monday (1 June).

The campaign, an initiative of The African Network of Germany (TANG), in collaboration with the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD), Each One Teach One (EOTO), German Dream, BAGIV and more than 100 other migrant organisations, was inspired by the ongoing protests in the US over the police killing of the African-American George Floyd last week.

Dr Sylvie Nantcha, chairman of The African Network of Germany (TANG), the initiator of the campaign/Photo: Screenshot/ARD

 

“After George Floyd’s murder, everyone focuses on the United States. But we also have racism and discrimination in Germany,” the organisers said.

“We take the murder of George Floyd as an occasion to draw attention to the racism against Black people in Germany, which is often ignored or belittled.

“We call on the federal government to focus on racism against Black people and to act decisively.”

The organisers are calling on victims of racism and discrimination to share their stories with the campaign placard on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #beiunsauch.

Floyd’s death has sparked protests and anger over police brutality against Black people across the United States, with properties worth millions of dollars vandalised and many protesters injured.

Using the hashtag #beiunsauch, supporters of the campaign are expected to post the above message of the campaign on their social media channels/Photo: TANG

 

Even though the police officer Derek Chauvin who killed Floyd was arrested and charged with murder Friday morning following three days of protests, disturbances remain unabated as protesters are still in the streets in more than twenty cities in the US.

The police killing of the 46-year-old African-American man is galvanising anti-racism resistance across the Atlantic, too.

Thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday in many cities across Europe in solidarity with US protesters.

In Berlin, several hundred protesters turned out for the second day in a row, staging a rally outside the US Embassy. Demonstrators held up signs reading: “Stop killing us” and “Justice for George Floyd.”

Femi Awoniyi

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