Black Europeans

 

Black Europeans is a new group led by European Minority Ethnic Citizens (EUROMEC). This group formed as a result of the barriers our community has been facing in the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and after the UK departed from the European Union. Specifically, we experience racism and exclusion based on assumptions that the identities of Black and European cannot coexist. 

We are raising awareness of mistreatment at the hands of the Home Office, White-Eu citizens-led groups, the EU institutions and their member states and officials post Brexit. We calling for greater representation of European citizens from  Minority Ethnic backgrounds in the Third Sector, and in conversations with the EU delegations and IMA. EU embassies have questioned the legitimacy of their nationality, which is reminiscent of how Windrush victims were treated.  We have been treated like second-class citizens or European subjects and regarded with suspicion.

Systemic racism in the EU settlement Scheme undermines our rights post Brexit. For example, studies carried out by the Law Centre Network in 2021 have found that “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) clients were substantially over-represented amongst those supported by Law Centres in the context of the EU Settlement Scheme.”

In response to the challenges, on 20th March, we collaborated with the EU Delegation to help pioneer a special initiative that has never been done before.  The conversation enriched by the contributions from different Minority Ethnic groups, with the support from the Delegation, has made the European Minority Ethnic Citizens initiative and landmark event a success.