The making of a European Black Caucus gets closer

When 15 thousand African Americans gather annually in Washington DC, the White House, and perhaps more importantly corporate America has to take notice.

This year at the 46th annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation was no different. During the final event- a fund raising gala dinner- the would-be President Hillary Clinton and present Commander in Chief President Barak Obama both attend, along with a who’s who of African American senior politicians - Senators, Congressmen and women - the business elite, and the Black civic world including the NAACP and BlackLivesMatter. For obvious reasons – and not his political persuasion - Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump was not invited.

For business leaders, they have been forced to recognise that their business interests lie in being more inclusive and representative particularly at senior levels - although there’s still a mountain to climb there. For five days straight no subject is off limit. From gang violence to HIV to start up businesses, if it’s of key interest to African Americans they’ll discuss, and if necessary vociferously argue about it, but in a safe space.

Every year for the past two years I’ve been involved in having a Black European voice there. This has been part of a growing trend since we established a Black European Caucus at the US State Legislator Black Caucus conference in Miami back in 2014.

This year the European Delegation was nearly 20 strong and included 7 elected representatives including: Mayor Marvin Rees, Helen Grant MP, Karamba Diaby MP (Germany) Christiane Taubira , former Minister French Minister, Said Abdu MP (Sweden ) Azize Tank MP (Germany) and Jallow Momudu (Swedish Legislator) .

The rest of the delegation was made up of BME civil society activists who fight for racial justice.

For us Black Europeans this was also a good space to have. I’ve spoken about Mayor Rees punching above his weight , commanding respect amongst a gathering of US Black Mayors. And Helen Grant MP, given powerful lectures at the historically Howard University in DC . But during dinners that we had amongst ourselves it was clear that we wanted and demanded a space in Europe to call our own.

I desperately hope it happens sooner rather than later. Our communities in our respective countries need along with Black European unity. As you all well know, bringing our kaleidoscope of communities politically together will not be a walk in the park. Some politicians of colour barely want to acknowledge their ethnicity, much less champion its challenges or even celebrate its existence. But that’s okay, for now. The goal is work across Europe with those politicians and activists who get our mission for unity, support and collaboration on shared interests.

Then sometime soon we’ll have our own political European Black Caucus, with thousands of attendees coming from all over Europe. One year it’ll be in Berlin, another Bristol, another year Malmo and so on. We’ll invite our African American brothers and sisters, as we will our African family too. Big business will follow the money and the potential we’ll generate from such an event. It’ll be a global beacon of how we do things together.

Right now it’s aspiration, but believe me we are already making plans. As I write to these activists in Germany, their politicians are busy talking about Germany’s role in this exciting project.

Whilst we think about our role its worth watching this video of President Barak Obama speaking to delegates of the CBC during the gala dinner. It offers a glimpse about what we can do closer to home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKbY9wONBeI

I also want to thank those who supported this year’s delegation including Open Society Foundation in Europe, European Network Against Racism, and the German Marshall Fund.

Simon Woolley