Ugandan Climate Change activist Vanessa Nakate has said she is at the strongest point in her life at the moment after US News Agency, Asssociated Press (AP) cropped her out of an image taken with her Climate Change peers in Davos.
This is after she released a very emotional video statement saying that for the first time in her life, she understood what racism meant. Nakate accused “various” news channels including AP for racism although the latter later removed the photo saying there was no ill intent.
Ms Nakate said she is the strongest at the moment after several members of the online community sought to feel sorry for her because she is a little girl and is already experiencing the harsh realities of the world.
“I feel sorry for this child. She’s learning the hard way.” A one Silas Kodjo tweeted, before attracting the response from Nakate.
“The photographer was trying to get a picture out fast under tight deadline and cropped it purely on composition grounds because he thought the building in the background was distracting,” Associated Press’ director of photography, David Ake, said.
“We don’t deserve this. Africa is the least emitter of carbons, but we are the most affected by the climate crisis,” Nakate said earlier about the saga, “You erasing our voices won’t change anything. You erasing our stories won’t change anything.”
Ms Nakate is 23 years old and a pillar of Climate Change activism in Uganda and Africa. Her most recent activism has been calling out the powers that be about the state of the Congo Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She believes it should get the same attention as the Amazon, Australia among others.
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