He’s leading the conversation about changing Asian views of black people. As a refugee he lived rough in Hong Kong
- Innocent Mutanga fled Zimbabwe’s secret police for Hong Kong, lived on the streets, won the right as a refugee to study, and now works at Goldman Sachs
- He co-founded the Africa Centre, where he led a recent discussion about US racism after George Floyd’s death, and says blackness deserves a rebrand in Asia
It’s a Sunday evening and the Africa Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui is packed, the crowd’s chatter competing with techno beats pumping from a club on the floor above.
The Hong Kong centre’s co-founder, Innocent Mutanga, is about to mediate a discussion: “George Floyd: Racism & US Police Violence on African Americans.”
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, had been killed in the American city of Minneapolis days earlier, on May 25, by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd cried for help, an incident captured on video. The footage caused outrage and triggered widespread protests across the United States and around the world.
“I only organised this event yesterday so I’m just trying to sort in my head what the focus is, but it will be discussion-based, that’s for certain,” Mutanga says.
The discussion among the diverse crowd was lively, intelligent and, at times, emotionally charged, covering issues ranging from whether violent or passive protests are more effective, to white privilege. “We’ve all come from different backgrounds, but this issue has brought us here today,” Mutanga says.
For many in the room, racism is an issue that’s usually swept under the carpet. “I’m a Hongkonger, but I’ve never had a discussion like this with my family or my friends,” one young man says.
