TODAY, 20:07 Black community wants to fight racism with Black Manifesto
Various organizations from the black community in the Netherlands have jointly launched a ‘Black Manifesto’. In doing so, they say they want to combat institutional black racism and promote emancipation in the Netherlands.
Not everyone in the Netherlands is treated equally and not every Dutch person has the chance of an equal existence, as stated in Article 1 of the Constitution, according to the authors of the manifesto . We can read that there is an urgent need for change in twelve social areas. For each domain, goals and concrete action points have been formulated to tackle racism and other forms of inequality.
“Institutional racism in the Netherlands takes place in all segments of our society, including in education, on the housing market, in healthcare, in the media and in education. Black LGBTQIA + persons have both anti-black racism and queer -hate “, write the participating organizations, including Stichting Nederland Wordt Beter, The Black Archives / New Urban Collective, Zetje In and Black Queer & Trans Resistance NL.
Enter into conversation
“People can view the manifesto and discuss it. The organizations that are now participating are committed to implementing the manifesto”, says Jerry Afriyie, one of the initiators and also known as an activist and leader of the Kick Out Zwarte Piet action group.
“The intention is that in the coming weeks more companies, political parties and civil society organizations will support the manifesto, to ensure that racism is counteracted in all areas of society.”
Slavery Remembrance Day
On March 25, the International Day of Remembrance Victims of Slavery, the Black Manifesto will be officially presented at an event. “That is nine months after the Black Lives Matter demonstration on Dam Square in Amsterdam. So this manifesto also feels like a child,” said Afriyie.
That demonstration caused a lot of commotion last year, because despite the corona measures, many people came and rapper Akwasi there made the controversial statement “the moment I see a Zwarte Piet in November, I personally kick him in the face”.
That led to multiple charges, but the OM dismissed the case after Akwasi renounced those statements.
Zwart Manifest
Zwart Manifest