Tini Cafe and Bar held a fundraiser this weekend after three African-American men were shot and killed by police officers last week.
The shootings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Delrawn Smalls, during the week the United States celebrates its Independence Day, prompted widespread protests across the US and a renewed call for better, less lethal, police practices.
Tini co-owner Daniel Mattes said any money the bar made from 8am on Saturday morning to 11pm on Sunday will be matched by the bar’s owners and distributed to two organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which has taken the lead in protests against police brutality over the past three years.
The bar made $500 from the fundraiser and $140 in donations. Mr. Mattes said all of the money will go to the official Black Lives Matter organization and Campaign Zero, a more-policy oriented group working alongside other protest groups.
“The idea came to me after seeing the videos of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile’s murders. After the Philando Castile murder, I was so disturbed and feeling incapable of doing anything from so far away. Unable even to join my friends at home at protests in the street or something,” the 26-year-old San Francisco native said.
“I thought okay, at the very least I’ll donate to BLM and to Deray McKesson’s organization Campaign Zero, but then I thought, wait, maybe I could use Tini as a vehicle to fundraise more and also give others the chance to participate and join as well.”
He added that black rights and liberation movements have a longstanding history of expanding their efforts beyond US borders, citing the ceaseless efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm and James Baldwin to speak out against America’s bombing of Vietnam and Cambodia during the 1960s and 1970s.
The fundraiser was also attended by filmmaker Kavich Neang, whose 2013 documentary ‘Where I Go’ focused on skin tone biases in Cambodia. The film, one of the first to discuss the issue, focused on Paticca San, a Cambodian-Cameroonian orphan raised in Phnom Penh.
Mr. San’s insights on racial bias as a person of mixed heritage showed the discrimination he faced in Cambodia because of his skin color.
Mr. Mattes wanted protesters in the US to know there are people worldwide supporting their efforts, and hoped the bar’s event would give both Cambodians and foreigners an outlet to express themselves and show solidarity.
“One of the main political points was [to show] that fighting racism in America can be relevant or poignant here in Cambodia as well,” Mr. Mattes said.
Additional reporting by Sotheavy Nou
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27058/bar-supports-blm-after-us-police-shootings/