Jun 20 , 2020
On May 25, a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, arrested George Perry Floyd, a black American, for allegedly using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes. In the course of the arrest, he handcuffed Floyd face-down and knelt down on his neck for approximately nine minutes, leading to his death.
Floyd’s struggles to get out of the officer's hold and his final words “I can’t breathe” have since become a rallying message for the global Black Lives Matter movement via which they have continued to spark important questions about race relations in America.
Black Lives Matter.
Background
The Black Lives Matter movement is not new; the gruesome murder of George Floyd has only further accentuated it. Originally founded in 2013, from inception, the eponymous organisation has been committed to using non-violent civil disobedience to register displeasure against police brutality particularly against the Afro-American people.
Floyd has not been the only victim of this. On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown Jr., a black man, was fatally shot by a 28-year-old white police officer Daniel Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Also, on November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy, was shot by Timothy Loehmann, a white police officer, in Cleveland, Ohio, for carrying a replica toy gun.
Walter Scott, another unarmed African-American, was shot in cold blood on April 4, 2015 in North Charleston, South Carolina, by Michael Slager, a white police officer for a non-functioning brake light.
Two white Baton Rouge Police Officers shot dead Alton Sterling at close range on July 5, 2016. Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African-American man was also fatally shot by a Hispanic-American police officer, Jeronimo Yanaz during a traffic stop.
Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Ezell Ford, Willie McCoy, and Rayshard Brooks, among others, are other names on the long list of Afro Americans who have been victims of the unfortunate police brutality against blacks.
The Black Lives Matter Movement Matters
The Black Lives Matter Movement did not grow out of thin air. It was a legitimate product of long-term race-based inequalities that have continued to plague America. These inequalities are in different facets; biased and violent policing is just one of them.
Education, health, and job opportunities are some other facets where black Americans are being systematically oppressed. For blacks in the American educational system, from preschool all the way to college, racism is a sad fact of life.
For example, black students in preschool are more likely to be criminalized for their misbehavior, without any benefit of the doubt. As a result, despite making up just around 18% of total enrollment, they make up to 48% of students that get suspended. College-educated blacks are also more likely to have discrimination experiences than their fellow blacks who have not been to college.
In addition, black Americans have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. They face higher rates of hospitalization as well as death. Thus, despite being responsible for just 13% of the population, black Americans, as of June 3, account for 23% of all covid-19 deaths. On the other hand, Whites, representing 76% of the population, account for around 53% of all coronavirus deaths.
Black Americans are also underpaid compared to whites. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the first quarter of 2020, the median income for the black male worker between the ages of 25 and 54 was $891 per week. For a white man within the same age bracket, during the same period, the average pay was $1,128 per week.
Evidently, the coronavirus pandemic has brought this financial disadvantage to greater attention. Little wonder that a poll by Ipsos revealed that 33% of black Americans reported they are in dire financial straits while it is only 18% of white Americans that have reported the same.
Obviously, the United States, as a country, needs social justice reforms. George Floyd’s event is not an isolated one; instead, it is representative of the untalked-about systemic racism that subtly pervades America. Indeed, the Black Lives Matter Movement, so long it is able to protect itself against hijackers, can play pivotal roles in peacefully bringing justice and freedom to black people in America and even all over the globe.
George Floyd: The Aftermath
George Floyd's murder has helped to intensify the Black Lives Matter movement. By sparking global anti-racism protests, from Australia and New Zealand to Japan and South Korea, there have been calls from numerous bodies and organisations to put an end to systemic racism and for a more inclusive economy where blacks are equally represented.
Many famous celebrities have also galvanized their support and resources towards the movement. Ariana Grande, Halsey, J. Cole, Tinashe, Kali Uchis, Kendrick Simpson, and Kehlani are examples of them that have joined in with the Black Lives Matter protesters. These artistes have also leveraged their different platforms to criticize George Floyd's murder and address America's racial inequalities.
The outrage, in its different forms, has been somewhat productive. For instance, it has been forcing most of Europe to reexamine their colonial histories. Also, it has successfully inspired moves, from different quarters, to initiate policing reforms. On Wednesday, June 17, on the request of African countries, the United Nations' top human rights body debated on racism and police brutality in the US.
Earlier on June 8, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats, had revealed plans to overhaul the police through the promotion of a new bill, The “Justice in Policing” Act. This police revamping legislation would lead to the ban of chokeholds and the proscription of no-knock out tactic in the arrest of drug offenders.
If passed into law, it would require local police departments to collect and send data on cases of brutality directly to the Federal Government. The law would also make possible an arrangement that checkmates the excesses of the police and prevents their violation of people's civil liberties.
To understand that we live in an unjust world can be as simple as an acknowledgement. We need to stop the implicit bias. If you are not in the fight with us, you are against us. We need justice and we need change!