DESTINY Karakuş has spoken to Londra Gazete of her shock after being subjected to a racist heckle at a protest.
The Black Lives Matter event in Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, comes a day after the four police officers went on trial accused over the death of George Floyd in the US.
The death sparked major protests across America and Britain.
Around 200 people gathered for the peaceful demonstration held on 12 July Saturday at Portsmouth. While addressing those in Guildhall Square, university student also an Democracy & Campaigns officer, Destiny Karakuş , 21, was heckled by a passer-by, who shouted to the crowd that ‘black lives don’t matter’.
The man was immediately moved on by police, but Destiny told The News this proves a very important point.
Speaking to Londra Gazete, Karakuş made the following statement:
“As the Democracy & Campaigns Officer I’m responsible to represent 20 thousand students at the University of Portsmouth. During this protest organised last Saturday, someone across the street shouted that black lives are not important. For people who say racism does not exist in Portsmouth, this is proof that it does. Regardless of their, religion and colour, all people of the world should not be exposed to racism. Today, racism happened right in front of us, but seeing how everyone responded was so powerful. We have to carry on with the same energy because there is still a long way to go. As a Turkish or Kurdish-speaking society, we, in England, live moments when we are exposed to racism. Some of us witnessed less but some more. Therefore, it is very important and valuable that we take steps within the framework of unity and solidarity also, we must be one first in order to fight against racism.”