Racism has once again reared its ugly head in the US, with quite disastrous implications for black communities worldwide.
On 25th May, 46-year-old George Floyd was arrested in Minneapolis on the alleged charge of using counterfeit bills.
Just a few minutes later, Floyd lay dead on the street.
The stunning quickness and brutality with which four police officers murdered Floyd has utterly devastated the world. The last fatal nine minutes of his life, during which white officer Derek Chauvin essentially strangled Floyd to death, have been televised on news channels and splashed across social media.
Widespread media coverage, however, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Over the past six days, the US has experienced a nationwide uprising in protest of unlawful killing. As protestors multiply and authorities flock to the scene, some of the demonstrations have turned chaotic and violent. Law enforcement is stopping at nothing to quell the unrest – even using tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators.
This is due in part to President Trump’s edict whereby he has warned state governors to take strict action, otherwise, he will be forced to send in military forces.
In fact, as unrest peaked, 5000 National Guard soldiers were sent in to assist local authorities in 15 different states.
The protests on social media are no less fiery. The slogan “black lives matter” is being quoted by millions online – across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Users are tagging friends and urging each other to keep passing on the news. The dominant sentiment is that every voice can make a difference. To that end, people are readily signing petitions to fund the fight against racism and to urge authorities to charge the other three officers who assisted Chauvin in the murder. Donations are also being made online, part of which will be put towards bail money for protestors who have been arrested.
More than anything, people want justice. They are furious that such brutality keeps reoccurring without any accountability.
Floyd’s cousin Shareeduh Tate shared her feelings in an interview, describing how distressing it was to find out what had happened: “That one ‘I can’t breathe’ was something that just shook me to the core. I mean, I just hear it over and over again.”
The phrase Floyd kept uttering while Chauvin’s knee pressed down on his neck – “I can’t breathe” – is what perhaps cuts the deepest. What’s more, Minneapolis authorities even attempted to deny that it was the pressure on his neck that killed Floyd, instead of pointing to an underlying medical condition as the cause of death. This has been a repeated pattern in such police killings: attempting to escape blame by using a smokescreen. However, once the official autopsy came out and proved asphyxiation as Floyd’s cause of death, there was no longer anything for the perpetrators to hide behind.
Shareeduh Tate also went on to thank protestors and supporters worldwide for standing with the black community.
“It warms our hearts to know that, you know, despite the circumstances in which he died, that there are other people who are feeling the pain, and the outrage, just as we are.”
Indeed, there have been voracious support for the black community as it fights this unending war against institutional racism. The fact is, George Floyd, begged and pleaded for his life but it was not enough. But there is coming a time when this community – persecuted for centuries now – will begin to redefine their own limits of right and wrong. They will fight fire with fire. And the US may not be equipped to resist.