”So this is the statue of King Tomislav, our first Croatian King,” I said to the visiting American when we arrived at Zagreb’s ”Tomislavac” (King Tomislav Square). He ruled back during the 10th century and he reigned over the biggest territory that encompassed today’s Croatia, as well as what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
”How did you say you pronounce his name?” asked me the American.
”Tomislav” I repeated, noticing he had a bit of an issue pronouncing the name, so I broke it down the best way imaginable.
”So, it’s Tomi, you know like the name Tommy, and slav, like slavs, as in Slavic people, so its Tomislav,”
”So… Tomi-slav?” he asked.
”Exactly. Basically, he’s a Slavic Tommy,” I added.
”Slavic Tommy! I love it!,” said our American visitor to the capital. 
Professor David Marshall with TCN reporter Ivor Kruljac in Zagreb
Croatia: Expressing solidarity and understanding global problems
Dr. David Marshall is Professor and Chair of the Department of Strategic Communication in the School of Global Journalism & Communication (SGJC) at Morgan State University in Baltimore, USA.
He worked on an assignment for WEAA, a radio station that, under the slogan ”Voice of the community”, brings its audience a programme of jazz, gospel, reggae, and public affairs. In the sea of many interesting issues WEAA covers, they collaborate with Morgan State University on a project entitled ”WEAA on assignment”. One of these assignments takes a look at the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement around the world, which brought professor Marshall to Croatia.
With TCN writing about the 2020 protest in Zagreb in support of BLM triggered by the horrible death of George Floyd which shocked the world, it was only logical to partner up with WEAA on their story in Croatia. Check it out yourself in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=NGYfEuD5RZk
The BLM movement in Croatia may come as a bit of a shock to those who know that Croatia is the most racially pure caucasian country in the entire world (with 99.3% of the population being ethnic Croats). That said, the country still has a black community.
With Total Croatia News being totally about Croatia, we even covered what it’s like for black people living in Croatia and listed some unfortunate incidents that black people have experienced in the country. For example, the case of Nigerian students that participated in World InterUniversities Championships who were exiled from Zagreb to Bosnia, as they were thought to be refugees, or the case of two black members of the US Air Force that were attacked at a Nightclub in Zadar (with police reports stating that they were not attacked because of their race, but rather because they were twerking in the club, and attackers thought they were gay, which is just as awful).
Thus, the BLM support protest in Zagreb wasn’t just about global solidarity, but about associating the injustice and discrimination in the US with the discrimination in Croatia. Homophobia and the questionable treatment of refugees seeking asylum in Croatia being the most widely known issues of discrimination and inequality here.
Croatia: Full of news stories
As TCN continues to cover Croatia in the most total sense possible, encompassing both the good and the bad, we were honoured to be recognised by WEAA and we were more than glad to able to assist them in their reporting. If you yourselves are journalists and reporters coming to Croatia to cover a story, don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will help as much as we can. The best way to reach us is via e-mail address [email protected], but you can also contact us through Facebook.
Check out our new Total Croatia website that brings you detailed reports on Croatia, covering destinations, culture, history and much, much more.
For more news about Croatia in English, make sure to follow TCN.
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