*A white Red Cross worker who was filmed hugging an African migrant says she’s being harassed by racists online over the imagery.
Luna Reyes, 20, was forced to set her social media accounts to private after video/photos of her and the migrant sparked a wave of racist and sexist abuse, per MSN. According to reports, the migrant swam from Morocco to Ceuta last week. When Reyes approached the exhausted Senegalese man and offered him a bottle of water, he broke down and clung to her.
A Reuters journalist filmed Reyes embracing the sobbing man, who was among the 8,000 migrants who arrived into the territory on Tuesday in search of a better life in Europe. According to reports, most were rounded up by military officials and shipped back to their homeland.
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Emotiva imagen desde el drama de Ceuta. Una trabajadora de la Cruz Roja se abraza a un exhausto inmigrante pic.twitter.com/aH8JrKYush
— EL MUNDO (@elmundoes) May 18, 2021
“He was crying, I held out my hand and he hugged me,” Reyes said, according to the Guardian. “He clung to me. That embrace was his lifeline.”
The video caused the hashtag #GraciasLuna to trend last week but it also pissed off supporters of Spain’s far-right Vox party.
“They saw that my boyfriend was Black, they wouldn’t stop insulting me and saying horrible, racist things to me,” Reyes said, according to the Guardian.
Per the report, political figures, celebrities, and social media users were quick to defend Reyes.
“We will not allow hatred to win,” Rita Maestre, the councilor for the capital Madrid, said on Twitter. “Those of us who see this embrace as a symbol of the best of our country outnumber the others.”
Spain’s economy minister, Nadia Calviño, tweeted: “#Gracias Luna for representing the best values of our society.”
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