'For those of you who don’t experience racism, be publicly anti-racist
As protests sparked by the death of George Floyd unfold across the US, David Mayeda has a message for NZ: 'For those of you who don’t experience racism, be publicly anti-racist - support those of us who do'.
Monday evening in Washington D.C. shortly before a 7pm curfew and just before President Donald Trump made a White House speech, police “fired tear gas, flash-bang shells, and rubber bullets into a crowd of peaceful protestors”.
By now, most of us are aware of the protests unfolding across the United States, sparked by the recent murder of George Floyd at the hands (well, knee) of former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.
Floyd was an African American man. Chauvin is white, as are two of the officers who watched passively as Chauvin drove his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, ultimately killing him. A fourth officer who stood idly by is Asian American.
As has become increasingly common, bystanders captured on video another example of excessive police force inflicted upon African Americans turned lethal. Those of us who watch these events unfold from afar may watch with horror, anger, frustration, and a range of other understandable emotions. But none of us should watch with surprise.
To understand racism requires us to calculate a range of systemic power inequalities that fester over time, such that we come to accept – disparaging as this may sound – that tragedies like the death of George Floyd reflect an inexcusable social norm.
The link to the full article: https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news...
