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How Latin American Activists are Harnessing the Black Lives Matter Movement

Author: Jennifer Bitterly

In: The Progressive, 2020

The article starts with protests about police killing of an Afro-Columbian man in Bogota the same week George Floyd was killed, noting the general impact of the BLM movement on anti-racist and Afro-Latino organizations. The author also sketches in the historical background of the Spanish colonies enslaving millions of Africans, and subsequent treatment of racial issues, including the 'myth' of multiculturalism.

See also:

Valencia, Jorge, 'Black Lives Matter Protests Renew Parallel Debates in Brazil, Columbia', The World, 15 June 2020

https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-06-15/black-lives-matter-protests-renew-parallel-debates-brazil-colombia

Across the Americas police violence disproportionally targets young Black men.  The protests sparked by Floyd's death in Minneapolis shone a light on police brutality in South America and led to demonstrations in Brazil and other countries.

Available online at:

https://progressive.org/latest/latin-american-activists-harnessing-blm-bitterly-200716/