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Sit-in protest and concert in solidarity to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement
14/06/2020 Amerikis Square, Athens, Greece
“No to Racism-Black Lives Matter” was the message sent from Amerikis Square by hundreds of neighborhood residents who participated in the successful protest that followed an online call by second-generation children of the African community.
the AfroGreeks project and its protagonists were powerfully involved in organizing a peaceful protest in the square where most African refugees take shelter when they arrive in Athens. The occasion was the murder of George Floyd, and the problems that still exist in Greece regarding the way black people are treated.
Tony Tsamouras, DJ and protagonist of the project, organized a musical program especially for the event where the protagonists of the AfroGreeks spoke to the local residents who participated in the protest: Michael Afolayan – musician, artist, and founder of the ANASA Cultural Center of African Arts and Culture, Grace Nwoke – anthropologist, Nikos Odubitan – activist and founder-managing director of Generation 2.0 for Rights, Equality & Diversity, Loretta Macaulay – president of the United African Women Organization and Elias Tzogonas – iconographer and teacher.
Grace Nwoke’s speech that got the crowd going:
We are experiencing discrimination in this country, there is not only racism in America, there is racism here. This is the most appropriate time to activate the second generation. These kids took the initiative without knowing us and look how many people they got together. All of us here have grown up in this Athens, we have gone to the same schools. Let’s build a movement of our own where everyone is involved. We are not only the second generation, we are not only black, we are not only refugees, we are all together and we have the same demand: that there should be no discrimination.
