Black lives Matters in Europe

The manifestation began in the United States following the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to protest against systemic racism against blacks and police violence: they were largely peaceful, with some violent episodes when police brutally acted against demonstrators and when some of them ravaged and looted buildings and shops. The US demonstrations continued in many countries around the world, including Italy, where there were marches, flash mobs and peaceful rallies over the weekend. In June, in Italy, the main demonstrations took place in Turin and Bologna, Rome and Milan.[1]

The Movement for Black Lives requests:

• We are the spokesperson in the United States for the Movement for Black Lives requests:
• We demand a radical and sustainable solution that will ensure full prosperity for the lives of black people
• We call for recognition and awareness of the devaluation and dehumanisation of black people's lives at the hands of the police
• We call for an end to the systematic racism that allows this culture of corruption to proceed undisturbed, putting our lives at risk
• We demand a reduction in police budgets. Rather, we call for investment in our communities so that black people not only survive but thrive.[2]

Some information on how and why it has come to this: 

• XIII - (1865). Sec. 1 - Neither slavery nor involuntary service - except as a punishment for a crime for which the party has been found guilty in due form - may exist in the United States or in any place subject to its jurisdiction. Sec. 2 - Congress shall have the power to execute this article by appropriate legislation.
• The Thirteenth Amendment is the one that formally abolished slavery in the United States. It is the result of a bloody civil war and a complex negotiation
• The Black Codes had existed long before 1865, but they became a club brandished by the southern states to regulate and obsessively control the conduct of the now liberated men. In addition to denying the right to vote, they often provided punishment for the use of bad language, the impossibility of meeting for religious services, the prohibition of learning to read and write.
• Le Jim Crow Laws: local laws, a national shame. A few examples: In Alabama - the state of Rosa Parks- the driver of a public vehicle was allowed to assign passengers a carriage or part of the vehicle on a racial basis. In Louisiana's blind facilities, black blind people had to be separated from white blind people. In Mississippi, it was forbidden to promote equality and mixed marriages (the latter were forbidden everywhere). Any kind of statement or writing to raise public awareness of this could cost $500 fine, 6 months in jail or both
• Ku Klux Klan: created after the Civil War, initially proudly opposed any idea and activity related to "Reconstruction". Characterized by long white tunics and hoods, they terrorized the blacks of the South with violent and intimidating methods, burning property, whipping and killing many people during their night raids.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis, Missouri, provided interesting data on the wealth of American households in 2015, using race and ethnicity as the basis of the survey. Analyzing a series of data from 1989 to 2013, we see that whites are always in the first place, followed by Asians, Hispanics and blacks. Adjusting the values to inflation, the median wealth of a white family of four in 1989 was $130,102. In 2013, it was $134,008; for an Asian family, the two medians were $64,165 and $91,440; for a Hispanic family, it was $9,229 and $13,900; for a black family, it was $7,736 and $11,184.[3]

But what about Europe?

"Structural racism is as much a problem in the EU as it is in the United States. If #BlackLivesMatter in the U.S. demands to cut funding to police departments, then we have to ask the same thing in Europe with #DefundFrontex. The whole concept of this agency is to apply the racist border policy of European states. Just this week, Sea-Watch saw a Frontex aircraft coordinating an illegal repatriation operation in Libya. This is just one of many known and documented cases.[4]

[1] https://www.ilpost.it/2020/06/08/manifestazioni-black-lives-matter-italia/

[2] https://www.greenpeace.org/italy/storia/11651/black-lives-matter/

[3] https://medium.com/@noteventhedogs/black-lives-matter-or-nothing-3f5c7fba55ae

[4] https://www.adnkronos.com/fatti/esteri/2020/06/29/carola-rackete-razzismo-europa-problema-come-usa_dPex1CLfKUG45zMwReMm6L.html