Yvette Jarvis: Voice of Immigrants

Glamour and a gifted activism for the cause of migrants

Yvette Jarvis is a talented Athens-based artist and politician, who is one of a kind. Since she arrived in Greece from the United States in the 1980s, she has quickly become the voice of immigrants,   particularly those of African origin. A sports champion, model, singer, TV presenter, and  feminist activist, Jarvis left the limelight behind to become a municipal councillor for the city council. Originally from Brooklyn, she graduated magna cum laude from Boston University and is without doubt the most well-known Black personality in Athens, if not in the entire country.

In the 2002 local elections, Yvette Jarvis ran for political office and was comfortably elected as a municipal councillor to the Athens city council while her party, PASOK (Greek Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party) lost. When this mandate ended, she became the new mayor’s advisor in the field of new immigration even though not of the same political sympathy as the mayor. Alongside her active cultural, political and sports lives, she is Vice-President of the interim council of FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) www.farenet.org, President of BEWE (Black European Women’s Council) www.bewnet.eu and Vice-President of WIN Hellas (Women in Need Hellas) www.winhellas.gr, all organisations for which she has lobbied European institutions.

HG: What is your story with Greece?

YJ: My story with Greece goes back to the 1980s. I played with a Greek college’s basketball team in Boston, Massachusetts. I married a Greek basketball player, and we came to live here. I first played professional basketball while gradually getting involved in other activities.

In the early 90s, the situation of immigrants began to change, with the emergence of vocal racism against Albanians and Africans. Up to that point I lived in another world, one of fashion and glamour. As an American, I was not considered to be an ‘immigrant’. I was the most well-known Black personality in the country. I started to participate in chat shows on racism and met Africans and discovered the challenges they were facing. I was expecting a child and did not want it to have to deal with the same issues that Blacks in the United States face.

HG: How did you decide to run for election?

YJ: Touched by these first signs of segregation, I started lobbying Parliament and Ministers about the situation of immigrants. Following this, I decided to run on the PASOK ticket, becoming the first Black woman to do so. I am the first Black person to have been elected to any form of office in this country.

HG: Does this reflect an openness of spirit on behalf of the Greek political classes?

One might think so but, in reality, it’s not entirely the case. I was able to put the question of immigration at the forefront of people’s minds. After the end of my mandate in 2006, I became a counsellor in the field of immigration at the behest of the new Mayor, Mikitas Kaklamanis. I helped him to put diverse programmes in place for immigrants, in terms of access to education and to administrative jobs. But the Papandreou government that pledged to bring about progress in terms of automatic access to Greek nationality for children of immigrants, stalled in the face of difficulty. The problem with politicians here is their ability to procrastinate. They only deal with issues when their backs are against the wall. Progress has been made, of course, but much still needs to be done.

Hegel Goutier