8 Things You Need to Know About the Mistreatment of Black People in Spain

Spanish Guardia Civil watch as would be immigrants from Africa sit atop a wire-meche fence after scrambling over two other border barriers on Spain's tiny north African territory of Melilla on August 13, 2014.  Some 600 people tried to scale the triple-layer six-metre-high (20-foot) razor-wire barrier that separates Morocco from Melilla in a pre-dawn assault today, said Irene Flores, spokeswoman for the Spanish government in Melilla. More than 60 of them had perched on the top of the border fence, she told AFP. AFP PHOTO / JOSE COLONJOSE COLON/AFP/Getty Images ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

JOSE COLON/AFP/Getty Images

Spain built a barrier to keep Black people out.

According to a 2014 article published by The New York Times, “ten years ago Spain spent more than 30 million euros building up the barriers around Melilla and Ceuta, its two enclaves surrounded by Morocco on the northern coast of Africa, which offer the only land borders between the promise of Europe and the despair of Africa.” In fact, as citizens of Africa try to migrate to the European country, Spanish military police violently bring their efforts to an end. One victim, Abbdol Cisse, told The New York Times, “They had metal bars, and they hit our legs while we were climbing.” Moreover, patrolled barriers on the country’s borders with Portugal and France are nonexistent.

via illumination.missouri.edu

via illumination.missouri.edu

Black people in Spain are subject to hate crimes.

Black people of Spain are often inhumanely harmed simply because of the color of their skin. While Black people account for less than 10 percent of the population in Spain, a 2015 article published by expatica.com states that racially motivated hate crimes accounted for 37 percent of last year’s criminal activity. Just last December, a Spanish man set a warehouse that inhabited African migrant workers ablaze in Barcelona. A 2014 article published on thelocal.es, claims that the man demanded that they pay rent although it was not yet the end of the month. When the 14 Africans were unable to do so, the 24-year-old man returned with five individuals and proceeded to set the warehouse on fire. Upon his arrest, he “shouted racist insults and smashed the window of a police patrol car.”

Back to top