Black Lives Matter: Barcelona

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When you hear the words “Black Lives Matter,” what does it make you think of? What images come to mind? 

Maybe it’s the horrifying video of George Floyd dying in police custody, or of peaceful protests, or of riots. Maybe it’s the “Karen” memes or the huge yellow block letters in the newly renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC. Maybe it’s the protests in Plaça de Catalunya or Plaça de Sant Jaume, right here in Barcelona.

All of this refers to events that have taken place over the past few months, but the Black Lives Matters movement has been around for nearly a decade.

Why has Black Lives Matter become a topic of international conversation at this specific moment in history? What do most of us really know about the movement’s origins? On a local level, what shape has the movement taken in our city?

#BlackLivesMatter: Origins

BLM is a non-hierarchical movement that advocates for non-violent civil disobedience in protest to police brutality against black people, and includes other measures such as reparations for slavery in the United States, government investment in public education instead of incarceration and community control of the police. It is a decentralized network with no official leadership, over 30 recognized chapters in the United States, and is partnered with sister organizations worldwide.

The movement began with the first use of the now-common hashtag #BlackLivesMatter by three community organizers—Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors—in 2013 when police officer George Zimmerman was acquitted after having shot and killed a black teenager named Trayvon Martin. The movement attracted considerable attention on social media and continued to grow. It made headlines due to protests in similar cases in subsequent years, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in New York City and many others.

According to the Black Lives Matter website, there are thirteen principles that should guide the actions of anyone involved in the movement, including empathy, diversity and intergenerationality.

There is more to the BLM movement and its history than this brief summary, but I wanted to provide a little background before asking: What was different this time?

What Was Different This Time?

After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there was a storm of social media attention and press coverage in a dozen or more languages. There were protests in the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Japan—and all across Spain, including Barcelona. Men and women of color have died at the hands of police in the past, notably in the United States, as well as in other countries. Their families and their communities mourned them all, but something about this specific death shocked the entire world. What made society as a whole, or at least a large section of it, decide that now is the moment when enough is enough? 

This is the perspective of three people on the BLM movement in Barcelona. They’re from three different countries, and have three different points of view, but they agree on one thing: something in the world has to change, and the time for that change is definitely now. 

Jonnathan Courtney 

Jonnathan Courtney is originally from the United States. He has been a Barcelona resident for five years and is a chef, nutritionist, and personal trainer. His company, Calizumos, started out as a cold press juice bar and grew into a catering service. 

It was his idea to hold a vigil in honor of George Floyd in Plaça de Catalunya, or in his words, to “create a kind of inclusive shrine showing support for black people in the U.S.” The shrine that he and others created with homemade signs, flowers, candles and other personal objects remained in place for one week.

Jonnathan doesn’t usually organize activities in the capacity of an activist: this was his very first time. 

“After watching the video of George Floyd dying, something in me snapped and became filled with rage. I said this s*** is enough and I cannot just sit here and watch and do nothing. That very next minute I took to Facebook to write in the expat groups and the American Society group asking for help in organizing a protest/vigil to stand in solidarity with our fellow brothers and sisters in the United States. From there people started reaching out and volunteering to help me,” Jonnathan says. “I didn't even know where to start, and I was nervous, but all I knew was that I was going to make this happen no matter what.”

He says that African Americans and people of color around the world are sick of paying taxes that support and fund law enforcement, only to live in fear of those same officers. In America, it adds insult to injury that the current president has repeatedly used openly racist rhetoric.

“We [in the United States] have come to a point where the people have to rise up against the institution until change happens,” Jonnathan says. “We are living in a time where we must stand up for what is right and wrong.”

Jonnathan’s brother is a police officer, which gives him a unique perspective on police violence in the context of race. “It is a very touchy conversation [in my family], but at the end of the day my brother agrees that there is no need for the deaths that have been happening at the hands of police,” he says.

The vigil, which started out small, ultimately became a symbol of hope that Jonnathan feels helps to unite the people in Barcelona—expat or not, black or white or brown—who were hurting. He said people came up to him and thanked him during the vigil. 

“They had been looking for some way to let out their emotions, and to stand up for what they believe in and this vigil allowed them to do just that,” he says.

Divaika Kiemba Dina

Divaika Kiemba Dina was born in Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in Barcelona for 21 years. He is the President of Centre Euro Africa, the representative of Gotha Noir d’Europe (GNE) in Spain and Portugal*, and a member of the Black African and Afro-Descendant Community of Spain (CNAAE). 

The Centre Euro Africa is a non-profit organization. Its mission, as stated on its website, “is to serve as a meeting point for all Euro-African initiatives to promote and strengthen social, economic and cultural relations between Africa and Europe.” It also aims to provide the African community with resources and networking opportunities, and to enhance the civic debate on diversity. 

Divaika started working with the Centre Euro Africa in 2007. “I realized that a large part of the [European] population knew nothing about the presence and influence of people of African descent in Spain and in the rest of Europe,” he says. “We organize events in different cities in Spain to actively recognize and honor the representation, contribution and knowledge of the Afro-Europeans who live and work in Europe.”

The CNAAE is a newer organization. The idea began in Madrid in late May 2020, and within only ten days, the newly-founded CNAAE created work commissions that would organize protests in ten different cities around Spain with a single slogan: Black Lives Matter. These included the demonstrations in Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia, as well as in Plaça de Sant Jaume in Barcelona, which took place several days after the Plaça de Catalunya vigil. Divaika was an advisor to the Madrid-based central commission.

“The founding members of the CNAAE are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of people of African descent born in countries other than their own, including Spain. The CNAAE's mission is to repel the oppression that Africans and Afro-descendants suffered and continue to suffer for over 450 years,” he says.

“The demonstrations were peaceful, because anything else would not have honored Floyd's memory,” he says. “Our goal is to find effective solutions against racial oppression, xenophobia and social exclusion.”

Divaika sees the recognition of the long-term effects of slavery as only one aspect of the reeducation that is a necessary part of the process of eradicating racism. “Before the fifteenth century, Africans traveled to Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Portugal as independent citizens. Not all African people who came to other countries were victims of slavery,” he says. “It is equally important to remember the contribution to society of Afro-descendants in Europe as doctors, artists, professors and scientists.”

The protest organized by the CNAAE was not only in honor of George Floyd, but also a revindication of what the Black Lives Matter movement has been saying since 2013, and black people from around the world have been saying for generations. 

Chiogor Constance Ikokwu 

Chiogor Constance Ikokwu is a journalist, and covered the demonstrations at both Plaça de Catalunya and Plaça de Sant Jaume. 

Originally from Nigeria, Chiogor is a writer, editor, news analyst, media strategist and the founder of the African Press Club. She worked as the Strategy and Communications Adviser to the Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, worked as a foreign correspondent while living in Washington DC and received her Master’s Degree in Law and International Relations from the University of Lancaster in the UK. Chiogor has lived in Barcelona since 2018 and is working on her Ph.D. in Political Communication at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB). 

“Yes, I was at the protest in Plaça de Sant Jaume,” she says. “As a journalist, I did not want the event to be narrated to me. It was imperative to be there, to witness history happening in front of my eyes.”

Chiogor spoke to people who were at the protest, interviewing them about their reactions to the events in recent days.

“The atmosphere was very different from the earlier vigil held the same week at Plaza Catalunya, which I also covered,” she says. “At Plaça de Catalunya, the vibe was calm, solemn and resembled a funeral. The organizers were mostly from English-speaking countries, living in Spain. In contrast, the leaders of the gathering at Sant Jaume were local, Afro-descendants born in Spain and South and Central America, many of whom who claim to have lived through similar injustices such as the African-Americans in the USA. For them, it wasn’t only about honoring George Floyd. It was also about drawing attention to the discrimination that they face right here in Spain, in other parts of Europe, and South and Central America.”

“It was energetic and fervent. They were not mincing words at all,” she says. “The ambiance was that of enough is enough!”

As a journalist, Chiogor’s perspective on the news coverage of the BLM movement is inherently different from that of a layman (or woman). In her view, one reason that so many people around the world reacted as strongly as they did to Floyd’s death is due to the power of social media. The mainstream media is no longer the only filter we have through which to view the world’s events. 

“What we saw was a raw video shot by an onlooker,” she points out. “We judged for ourselves based on that. In Europe, we’re also seeing alternative media coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests. With the death of George Floyd, the BLM movement has become global. Whether this will continue after the noise dies down is yet to be seen, but more and more, people are seeking out news from alternative sources.”

She says that in her personal experience, racism in Spain or Europe in general is subtle—for example, mysteriously being rejected time and time again on apartment rental applications for no discernible reason—whereas in the United States it’s a much more violent, in-your-face experience. Either way, she says, “knowing who you are is a shield that helps one thrive in such environments.”

What Needs to Be Done, and Where Are We Headed?

Jonnathan Courtney: “As a young mixed-race man from the US, I've had enough of all the killings, mistreatment and racism that exists in the U.S. today. I'm prepared to fight to the death for our freedom, for institutional change and for equal rights no matter the color of our skin. The awesome thing about this is that I know that I'm not alone, and there are thousands of others that are prepared to do the same.

As for the older generation, they have already fought so much for what has been achieved up until now. They need young people to stand up and continue the fight, demand change and not stop until we've achieved it. We need everyone one to get on board, no matter your skin color, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. We are fighting for basic human rights of all mankind so the fight must include us all.

And I would like for our ‘White Allies’ to stop saying: ‘well I don't think I should say anything because I'm white.’ We need whites, Asians, Latinos, etc. to all join forces and make this happen.”

Divaika Kiemba Dina: “We need greater support from national, regional and municipal public administrations, for example: the closure and abolition of the Foreigners Internment Centers, as they violate the principle of equality before the law by acting as de-facto prisons without a trial; the equalization of the nationalization conditions between foreigners of various nationalities, for example, in Spain with regards to Latin Americans (2 years of residency) versus Africans (10 years of residency); carrying out real monitoring, via censuses and other statistical tools, of social exclusion of African and Afro-descendant populations in order to adopt specific corrective measures; the democratization of a body such as the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination and the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia in which there must be a prominent presence of people of African descent; among other measures, including strong penalties for racist acts and racist violence.

As for society in general, I recommend knowing the history of your ancestors well. Many people do not know their own history, or their own roots. We must eradicate ignorance, and so I end with this phrase: ‘Education forms people free from prejudice.’”

Chiogor Constance Ikokwu: “We’re living in interesting times. People are responding much more freely, sometimes extremely, on social media platforms. In essence, after the marches, boycotts, social media engagements, what happens next?

It would be nice to see a Western society where people are not judged by the color of their skin. We’re more than a color. A lot of people I meet here feign being open minded and tell me they know nothing about Africa. They probably were not taught much about it in school. Yet, they’ll be the first to assume all Africans are poor, diseased, beggars and to be treated with disdain. This perception is partly from the clichéd visuals they see on Western media, and they were probably not taught much about Africa in school.

The point is: make an effort to educate yourself. Question everything you see in the media. Be critical in your thought process. We’re all humans. Let’s treat one another with respect, compassion, kindness and empathy.

As for the mural on the street leading to the White House, I was surprised to see that. Perhaps, it reveals the extent of the frustration of people, who feel that their leaders are tone-deaf. Concrete changes in policy are the only thing that will permanently alleviate the issues in question.”

More Than a Hashtag: What We Can Do

I recently interviewed Cuban-American visual artist Jorge Rodríguez Gerada for this magazine’s monthly video interview series, the Metropolitan Culture Corner. He has worked in cities all over the world and has consistently been a strong proponent of racial equality and human rights. After the interview was over, we were discussing the recent BLM protests in Barcelona, and in New York, where he had just completed a 20,000-square-meter memorial dedicated to the healthcare workers serving marginalized communities who were victims of COVID-19.

Symbolic gestures such as posting a black square on Instagram are widely seen as a way of showing at least surface support for the BLM movement; but as someone who puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to working for social equality, Jorge sees these gestures as well-meaning but empty.

“Buy from black business, contribute to non-profits working to create real change,” he said. “Whatever the color of your skin, do more. In the globalized and hyper-connected world of 2020, the color of your skin should not determine your fate. Everyone who believes that a change is necessary has to be proactive and has to simply do a lot more. Posting a hashtag on Facebook is meaningless unless you actually change how you live your life.”

In the words of vigil organizer Jonnathan Courtney, “if we want the world to actually change then we need to be that change.” 

*The Gotha Noir d’Europe is an organization that promotes exceptional artistic endeavors as well as encourages disadvantaged young people within the African-European diaspora.