New Zealand Community Holds #BLM Performance Event

by Youth Reporter Seo-Jin Lee

Auckland's Basement Theatre will be holding an event next Wednesday to commemorate the Black Lives Matter movement in New Zealand.

This protest is led by a community group called Black Creatives Aotearoa (BCA), formed by Dione Joseph who is also the artistic director for the event to commemorate the moment that brought black New Zealanders and their allies together.

Joseph says the aim of this event is to make sure that people do not forget that Black people have the right not to be discriminated against.

The event is held to think the archive is very much our community using their voices to express what they felt and what they went through instead of having someone else come in and say this is how it is. Also, they tried to make spoken word performances for amazing black people, paying tribute to the murder of George Floyd in May of last year which is bringing attention to the deep-rooted and systemic racism faced by the black community.

Joseph says,

“We've also got a whole range of live performances and artistic expression to share with our community and our allies about our response and not just our reaction, our genuine, thoughtful, response to the events.”

We have to keep in mind that black people are the same as all of us; skin color is the only thing that differs.

The event was held on August 18th, 2021 in New Zealand.