COLUMBUS, Ohio — Organizers of the first International March for Black Lives in Columbus set out to not only unify immigrants during the Black Lives Matter movement, but to mend fences between Africans and Black Americans.
People from Columbus’ diverse melting pot joined the march in an effort to send a message to leaders locally and around the world.
“The overall message I want to send is I want the United Nations to take action to countries who abused black people because of their skin in their countries.” said Harrison Poku-Yeboah, who helped to organize the march and is the founder of Black Excellence. He said he wanted the community to understand police brutality is a worldwide problem. “Maybe not physically, but verbally, because once they hear our accent, they try to scare us with deportation.”
The Italian native with Ghanaian parents has had his own bouts of dealing with racism in Italy and in the U.S. He noted that while the march was a chance for immigrants to unify and shed light on injustice everywhere, it was also a chance to make amends as getting Black Africans to support Black Americans had been a challenge.
“A lot of the older crowd did not care about it because they felt that whenever immigrants went through situations upon deportation, Black Americans did not support,” he said.
But with a resolve to make change, he said millennials chose to put the differences aside because they understood it was better to do it together than apart.
“This generation is different. And I think that we’re ready for the changes for the unity among the entire Black diaspora,” Poku-Yeboah said.
Poku-Yeboah hopes this won’t be the last time immigrants unite with Black Americans as they move forward to demand change. For now, they’ll continue conversations on a positive front to address injustice while waiting for responses to demands for reform. They’ll also begin campaigns to increase voter registration within immigrant communities.
