A young Black Lives Matter march organiser says seeing the police armed response team out in her own community made her realise how important it is to show solidarity for those marching and fighting against systemic racism in the US.
A six-month trial of the armed police units saw officers routinely armed, and deployed 24/7 to areas of Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury.
Nele Kalolo lives in South Auckland and was part of the Black Lives Matter protest in Auckland's city centre yesterday, a solidarity march for the movement in the US.
She told TVNZ1’s Breakfast that it was a scary time for the community when the armed response trials arrived in Māngere.
“I remember when the armed response trials came into Māngere it was scary, it was an uncomfortable time,” says Ms Kalolo.
“As a Samoan immigrant who grew up in South Auckland, racism affects me everyday.”
She says she remembers walking to her school bus one day and seeing the armed officers. That was when it hit her how much worse it would be for black people in the US.
“I saw one of the black SUVs from the armed response trials and I felt so uncomfortable.
“And at that moment I realised if that’s how uncomfortable I feel just seeing it, imagine what it’s like for a black person in America who's literally in front of the barrel of a gun from the police, a person that’s supposed to protect them.
"This protest was important to me, important to my culture, and important to fighting racism for all of us."
A moment of silence was held in Auckland for US man George Floyd. (Source: Other)
Rahman Bashir was also at the march in Auckland yesterday. He says racism in New Zealand is subtle, but also systemic as it is in the US.
"Racism here is not very blatant, it's very subtle. It's a lot of ignorant racism, as if I'm not expected to speak English or hold myself up or be educated.
"At a more high level, we do have systematic racism here in the same sense."
But Mr Bashir says there is hope.
The Kiwi UFC star has joined sportspeople around the world in supporting the Black lives Matter movement. (Source: Other)
"Step one moving forward is starting these conversations."
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