According to a series of tweets from this morning, Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes was held at the Berlin Airport and subjected to a series of searches. Hynes believes that this harassment was on account of his race.
Hynes, a UK native with European Union citizenship, was subjected to a search of all of his electronics and wasn’t let go “because [he] didn’t have receipts for things [he] bought a year ago.”
“You have to be aware and/or ready for how you will be treated based on nothing to do with your personality,” continued Hynes. “Anyway, you know all this. Nothing new, sadly.”
You can check out all of Hynes’ tweets below. Hynes is in Europe for a couple of shows in support of his 2013 album Cupid Deluxe. His encounter with German authorities comes only few days after rapper Mykki Blanco encountered racism and homophobia during her arrest in Portugul.
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Was just held in Berlin Airport even though I’m a valid EU citizen with a U.S visa.
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014
Everywhere I’ve ever been I am reminded that there are people out there holding a prejudice because of my skin colour, yes it was racial.
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014
Irony of listening to Wagner at the time of apprehension was not lost on me…
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014
People will always say to me “traveling is fun!” Or “I want to visit here.. And there etc”. Well, imagine if even before all of that…
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014
… You have to be aware and/or ready for how you will be treated based on nothing to do with your personality. Anyway, you know all this.
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014
Nothing new, sadly.
— Devonté Hynes (@devhynes) May 25, 2014