Racism in International Context: Challenging Racial Profiling in Europe

This is a remarkable story about racism, and steps to fight it, in an international context from the Open Society Institute (OSI). Rachel Aicher of OSI interviews Rosalind Williams in this short (about 1 minute) video clip:

The story she tells is one of a brisk winter day in 1992, when she, Rosalind Williams—an African-American woman and naturalized Spanish citizen—stepped off the train at a railway station in Spain and was immediately asked to produce her ID. When asked why she was the only person being stopped, the police officer explained that he was following orders: it was because of the color of her skin.

Williams brought her case of ethnic profiling to court, culminating in a landmark decision by the UN Human Rights Committee after 15 years of litigation. Despite this victory, it seems that racial profiling is still going strong in Spain.

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