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The conversation will cover how, in the early stages of interaction between imperial Europe and Africa, Africans were described as perpetual childlike beings that needed the adult Europeans’ assistance.
However, at some point in these interactions, Africans and People of African Descent became criminals until they could prove their innocence.
In a report by the United Nations Working Group on People of African Descent, black children are experiencing what some young people have called the “adultification of black children.” As the economic situations in black-led states continue to cause people to struggle in a global economic system that is based on white supremacism and whiteness, many Africans, People of African Descent, Asians and Latina/o/x make dangerous journeys in search of “greener pastures.”
The reality for most black people and other racialized communities is that they have been criminalised by a combination of historic Christian teachings and practices as they intersect with white supremacism and whiteness.
In interrogating the criminalisation of blackness, this meeting will engage with questions such as: In what ways is blackness influencing migration, law enforcement and integration policies in the global north? How can churches and people of goodwill lead a movement against the criminalisation of blackness?
It is expected that the conversation will lead to an increased awareness of the criminalisation of blackness globally; and continued conversations locally, nationally, and regionally, especially in churches and faith communities on the interface between migration and the criminalisation of blackness and how it could be countered.
Register here to join this meeting live, Friday 30 June, 3 pm CEST
