Assa Traore has been fighting for justice ever since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police on his 24th birthday four years ago, and now she's at the forefront of a new movement for Black rights in her country.
Assa Traore, wearing a shirt that reads: “Justice for Adama, without Justice you will never be in Peace,” attends an interview in Ivry-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. IVRY-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE -- Assa Traore has been fighting for justice ever since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police on his 24th birthday four years ago. And she's determined to keep fighting until "the end," she says: until someone is convicted for his death.
The 35-year-old, who gave up her job as a special education teacher in a small Paris suburb to lead a movement demanding justice for her brother, has renewed purpose since George Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police. But now France is seeing a growing pushback against police violence, and against racism that many activists say is exacerbated by the country's official doctrine of colorblindness, which encourages immigrants to integrate and bans the government from collecting census data on race.
One gendarme initially said three officers jumped on Traore to pin him down, according to early police reports. The gendarme later denied any of them pinned him down. In June, as France was reopening from virus lockdown and videos of Floyd's killing circulated around the world, she rallied tens of thousands of protesters to call attention to French racial minorities' own problems with police.
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