Transatlantic differences in the common cause
THE appalling murder of George Floyd, a black man whose life was brutally taken away by a white officer who knelt on his neck, rightly outraged not just America but the rest of the world too.
The video of his unimaginable arrest is difficult for anyone to listen to let alone watch.
For five minutes Mr Floyd is seen begging for his life, pleading “I can’t breathe”, but even when he falls unconscious, Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin refuses to take his weight off.
It was the latest in a long line of black deaths at the hands of white cops I have covered in the seven years of living in the States.
People like Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice are just a few of those who, if not for the inexcusable actions of police, would still be here today.
But, although Mr Floyd’s death is no more serious that theirs, it seems finally a movement has come together that is so strong, change will come. Whereas before the public have been deprived of the full picture through lack of evidence or police lies, the 46-year-old’s murder is clear and unequivocal.
There is no get-out. There is no justification. We see Mr Floyd’s murder for precisely what it is, and the solidarity and condemnation seen across the world and in the UK cannot go unanswered.
Change must come and not only in the States.
But seeing America’s racist status quo, in which black people are confronted with potentially life-threatening altercations with police without ever committing a crime, being compared to that in the UK is hard to justify.
Since Mr Floyd’s death, many comparisons have been drawn between Britain and the US with some saying there are “disturbing parallels” between the two.
There is no doubt there are.
But while running the risk of being accused of ‘whitesplaining’ and speaking from my experience of seeing the shocking way African American people are treated here, to say black people in Britain suffer the same police brutality is difficult to argue.
Having personally spoken to the grieving families of men gunned down and killed by trigger happy white cops, to men and women brutally beaten for no reason other than over the colour of their skin by racist police it is hard to find a “disturbing parallel”.
Of course, there are disgraceful incidents in the UK. Of course, we have racism within our police. Even officers who are prepared to lie to cover up their crimes. What makes it worse is that none have ever been prosecuted.
But to argue anyone should fear death every time they are stopped in the UK downplays how bad and how brutal America has become while also doing a disservice to the thousands of genuinely brilliant officers there are.
Some have argued it is an insult to tell black British people that this is an American experience and that they shouldn’t draw comparisons too. In part, they are correct.
You only need to look at UK incarceration rates to see for yourself.
But while there are parallels between the black experience in Britain and America, there are also differences, none more so than in terms of systematic police brutality.
On both sides of the Atlantic, systemic racism exists, but it is wrong not to address them on their own terms and within the context of their own cultures.
To make a like-for-like comparison is inflammatory.
America has huge problems when it comes to racism, greater now than since the Sixties.
But we should not let their racism distract us from the issues in Britain.
Trying to inflame our cities into holding American-style disturbances is absurd.
Black people in the US are being shot dead, maimed by police bullets, brutally beaten. They are genuinely stopped here and time and time again don’t know if they will leave alive.
Are we really saying that is the same in the UK?
Looting and rioting won’t bring racial justice in the UK, only peace can bring that.
While there are parallels between Britain and America, there are also differences