African Writers Show Solidarity with Protesting Americans in Open Letter

African writers across the continent have shown their solidarity with Americans protesting police brutality in the country with an open letter, Aljazeera reports. The likes of Mona Eltahawy,Mohale Mashigo,Remy Ngamije, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Lola Shoneyin, Zukiswa Wanner, Makanaka Mavengere, Chris Abani and numerous others have all co-signed the letter which fiercely condemns the continued killing of African Americans at the hands of the police and calls on African governments to do much more to address the crisis.

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Following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man who was killed by white police officers, many Americans have since taken to the streets of Minneapolis to protest the continued police brutality against the Black community. The protests have now spread to other cities including Washington D.C., New York, St. Louis and Chicago with additional demonstrations in countries such as France, England, Australia and New Zealand as shows of solidarity.

Recently, African writers penned an open letter to the African American community as a show of support for the mass protests as well as a call to African governments to do more to seriously address a pandemic that has long preceded even COVID-19––racism.

The letter begins with, "As African writers without borders who are connected beyond geography with those who live in the United States of America and other parts of the African diaspora, we state that we condemn the acts of violence on Black people in the United States of America." The letter then goes on to condemn the killing of numerous African Americans including Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice.

The writers acknowledge the statement released by the African Union with regards to the protests but insist that it is not enough. Additionally, they call on African governments to offer "those who choose it: refuge, homes and citizenship in the name of pan-Africanism." Read the full open letter here.

While some Africans, including South African rapper AKA, have called on Africans to "return home", many others have rightly argued that America is their home and that they should not have to "return to Africa" as if they aren't rightful citizens with as many legitimate rights as their white counterparts.