George Floyd, Trump and where we go next
In USA, racial tensions are possibly the highest they've been since the Los Angeles riots of the 60's. Protests have broken out all over the country. Some have been peaceful, some have not. There has been looting and destruction of property. President Donald Trump has threatened to bring the army in.
I do not know what will happen next. But what I do know is when this has passed, we need to look for ways to stop this happening again.
The protests and the rioting began as a response to death of George Floyd. On 25th May 2020, Mr Floyd attended a market in Minneapolis where he was alleged to have used a counterfeit $20 bill. During his arrest, he fell to the floor and the arresting officer proceeded to apply pressure to his neck for nine minutes despite his protestation of 'I can't breathe'. Floyd died on the scene.
The death of George Floyd was the spark that lit the fuse but it was a situation that had been brewing for a long time.
The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in July 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martins in 2012. Black Lives Matter has long been an outspoken voice against police killings and brutality against black people that far pre-dates its existence.
As soon as #blacklivesmatter began appearing however, it was met by #alllivesmatter. This completely missed the point and only served to attempt to further silence the black community.
In 2016, NFL Quarterback and BLM supporter Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem in protest of police brutality of black people. Many other players followed Kaepernick's lead and began to kneel or link arms during the anthem.
When the protest began in 2016, President Barack Obama recognised this as Kaepernick and his fellow professionals using their constitutional rights and getting the nation talking about the issue. By November 2017, new President Donald Trump was telling his supporters players who kneeled during the national anthem should be fired from the NFL. Despite his denials it was to do with race, the President's message for a lot of black people was: black lives don't matter.
The previous sentence may appear harsh and unfair but this is the sentiment that has fed into the riots of the last few days. A community that feels unrepresented and ignored. That has all its concerns dismissed and felt it had no other option. The Martin Luthor King quote being often repeated over the last few days is 'a riot is the language of the unheard.' Just as now, King was not condoning the actions of rioters but providing understanding of what brought them to that point.
I do not live in America but the UK. We had our own riots in London in 2011. We are potentially heading the same way again.
Acknowledging the problem isn't enough though, we need solutions. And that needs white people. No single group can stop racism without support of others. White people hold the key positions of power in society, the ones with most influence.
When black people raise their concerns we need to be prepared to engage with that. Even if we do not personally agree an incident to be race related, we need as a minimum attempt to understand why it is perceived that way. We should not dismiss it as 'playing the race card.'
We need to tackle the problem at root. It's not enough to say racism is wrong but explain why it is wrong. We should highlight black and ethnic figures that have played a part in our history but also confront the parts we'd rather forget: our colonial, slavery past.
It will take time. This generation may already be lost but maybe we can make it easier for the ones to follow.
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