Bumping this overlooked thread.
@The Odum of Ala Igbo @MyopicEagle
Yall thoughts?
I'd say the relationship between BLM and the diaspora/Africa works like a one way road.
I said here Black Lives Matter have greatly contributed to the new wave of consciousness amongst black youth in the diaspora. I stand by it
Social media being a game changer, they perfectly managed to use it and propagated ideas that were new to a lot of young black people across the world: white supremacy, black identity, black community, etc. This podcast is a great example of it:
LE TCHIP | ARTE Radio
And it doesn't stop there.
At least this is what happened in France. We do terrible in English but thanks to internet we're getting better and better, and because AfrAms have a huge presence in media their ideas get through to us.
Now did it happen the same way in Africa?
I'd say a similar phenomenon occured but maybe in a less intense way and differently according to the regions.
BLM's prints will of course be less visible in francophone Africa for obvious reasons. But as soon as we're talking about connected people, even in these regions, this happens:
So it's really a matter of exposure and age.
Now if I take the thread like it was intended to be, the other way: do African voices matter/should matter in BLM?
I don't think so
I say it all the time: I got love for all of you, and we face a lot of issues, but some are shared while others differ, and we can't take the same medicine for every disease.
The situation in the United States is very particular, African Americans are in constant war against overt and covert white supremacy, on an individual but also political level. In Europe, there is what I like to call a white supremacy
de facto and both don't operate the same way even if they have some aspects in common.
That's why I find it concerning when Africans that grew up in the continent/outside of America try and speak instead of AfrAms who've been on the field. Blackness isn't a magical card that allows anybody to understand instantly all diaspora related issues, this website is the proof of it
I'd say they have a place if they're in America and grew up there since they'd be affected by police brutality all the same, but that's not for me to say, it's up to African Americans to decide for themselves.
And all that without even adressing the own issues within BLM
and I learned a great deal about them here
