PARIS — Standing on a truck, her fist clenched high and her back turned to a row of police vans, Assa Traoré galvanized the crowd before her. “You are powerful!” she shouted, to the cheers of thousands who had gathered on the Place de la République in central Paris to protest police violence and racism. “Your faces have been seen all over the world!”Until just a few weeks ago, Ms. Traoré, 35, a special-education teacher of Malian descent, was largely known as the spokeswoman for The Truth for Adama, an advocacy group that has demanded justice for her half brother, Adama Traoré, who died in police custody in 2016 on his 24th birthday. But now, with the spread of Black Lives Matter protests, she has gained wider prominence as the champion of men who have been victims of discriminatory police violence in France. Ms. Traoré said that men in minority neighborhoods are more likely to be targeted by the police than women — and as a woman, she could help defend them by taking a stand where she was least expected.

Source: New York Times July 17, 2020 22:18 UTC