The genesis of the current protests rocking the US have their origin in the sweltering August of 2014 when thousands flocked to the town of Ferguson, Missouri ,to voice outrage over a white police officer’s fatal killing of an unarmed black man named Michael Brown. Some of the peaceful protests turned to violent unrest, looting and burning. Local police instilled curfews and called in riot squads. White America watched in shock.
Protesters, heartbroken about the recent death of George Floyd, are outraged over the lack of justice–and thus the protests started in 2020 as they did in 2014.They believe that the police officers involved should not just be fired, but punished through the same system that sweeps up a disproportionate number of black Americans. The stated aim is to see the officers arrested, tried and convicted for murder. Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck, has been charged with second degree murder.
Compounded to the historical inequities which Black Americans regularly face is the fact that the Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 103,000 Americans, registered 1.7 million positive cases and cost the country 40 million jobs. By each measure of hardship, black Americans are bearing more of the burden but getting less attention.
Most staggering is the mortality rate, which is roughly 2.4 times higher for black Americans than whites. One would think that a virus dubbed “the great equaliser” might help some Americans see the morbid risk of sustained racial inequality. But the national colloquy around the discrepancy of death rates tend to stop saying that Black Americans have pre-existing conditions such as obesity, in effect putting the blame for catching the virus back on black Americans.
Good health is something that black Americans, 22 percent of whom live in poverty, disproportionately have less means to achieve. National dialogues don’t mention that years of intentional housing discrimination, known as redlining, has relegated Black Americans to spaces with poor air and water. The conversations don’t explain that black Americans have long been subject to discrimination within the healthcare system.
The national dialogues don’t do a lot to highlight that black Americans may be more susceptible to Covid-19 because they are more likely to work service jobs, live in tightly compacted housing and rely on public transportation. Black Americans are also five times more likely than white Americans to be kept in jails, which have been the sites of the top three biggest outbreaks in the country.
I cannot breathe — the last utterance of George Floyd, a black American, before his death, has turned in to a movement worldwide for breathing free — meaning for racial equality. The whites joined the blacks to show their unity and togetherness in joining the movement against racial hatred and thus show the world that all races can breathe freely defying deaths by coronavirus and racial inequality. It sent a strong message of hope for a better world.
Protesters, heartbroken about the recent death of George Floyd, are outraged over the lack of justice–and thus the protests started in 2020 as they did in 2014.They believe that the police officers involved should not just be fired, but punished through the same system that sweeps up a disproportionate number of black Americans. The stated aim is to see the officers arrested, tried and convicted for murder. Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck, has been charged with second degree murder.
Compounded to the historical inequities which Black Americans regularly face is the fact that the Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 103,000 Americans, registered 1.7 million positive cases and cost the country 40 million jobs. By each measure of hardship, black Americans are bearing more of the burden but getting less attention.
Most staggering is the mortality rate, which is roughly 2.4 times higher for black Americans than whites. One would think that a virus dubbed “the great equaliser” might help some Americans see the morbid risk of sustained racial inequality. But the national colloquy around the discrepancy of death rates tend to stop saying that Black Americans have pre-existing conditions such as obesity, in effect putting the blame for catching the virus back on black Americans.
Good health is something that black Americans, 22 percent of whom live in poverty, disproportionately have less means to achieve. National dialogues don’t mention that years of intentional housing discrimination, known as redlining, has relegated Black Americans to spaces with poor air and water. The conversations don’t explain that black Americans have long been subject to discrimination within the healthcare system.
The national dialogues don’t do a lot to highlight that black Americans may be more susceptible to Covid-19 because they are more likely to work service jobs, live in tightly compacted housing and rely on public transportation. Black Americans are also five times more likely than white Americans to be kept in jails, which have been the sites of the top three biggest outbreaks in the country.
I cannot breathe — the last utterance of George Floyd, a black American, before his death, has turned in to a movement worldwide for breathing free — meaning for racial equality. The whites joined the blacks to show their unity and togetherness in joining the movement against racial hatred and thus show the world that all races can breathe freely defying deaths by coronavirus and racial inequality. It sent a strong message of hope for a better world.
