Racial relations and reconciliation
The name George Floyd might just reverberate throughout all history for the same reason Rosa Parks’ name does, “I can’t breathe” may also be one of the most iconic catchphrases in the struggle for racial equality since the ‘ Am I not a man and a brother” catchphrase of the anti-slavery movements in the early 1800s.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African American was brutally slaughtered in Minnesota by a white police officer who asphyxiated him to death by pressing down his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 10 minutes. In the very distressing and heart-wrenching video, Floyd is heard pleading and begging for his life uttering the phrase “I can’t breathe” about 16 times, then finally calling on his late Momma before losing consciousness. The Floyd video conjures painful feelings of dèjà vu, only 6 years ago, Eric Garner (you guessed right, an African American) was choked to death by a white NYPD officer,
Garner was also heard squealing the very same phrase -”I can’t breathe” for nothing less than 11 times.
Cases of police brutality towards people of colour in the US is rife, in 1999, an unarmed Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, West Africa died after he was riddled with 41 bullets by 4 NYPD officers, Philando Castile was shot over 12 times and killed in full view of his girlfriend and daughter in Minnesota. Atatiana Jefferson was fatally shot right in front of her nephew by a police officer in Texas; Breonna Taylor also died after being shot at eight times in her apartment in Kentucky; 7- months pregnant Malaika Brooks was subjected to three Taser stun gun shocks till she was unconscious and dragged face down on the streets of Seattle by police officers with her 11 yearold son looking on helplessly. In all cases, the victims were black and unarmed, the police officers who shot at them, white.
There are also many instances of white people calling the police on people of colour for frivolous and outright racist reasons, two years ago, fellow compatriot, Lolade Siyonbola during her time at Yale University filmed a video that went viral of a white student calling the police because she felt Lolade wasn’t supposed to be at Yale, even after Lolade had shown her student ID, opened up her apartment with her key card to prove that she was indeed a student of Yale, the police officers kept heckling and harassing her. In May, Amy Cooper (a white woman) after been cautioned by Christian Cooper (an African American and no relation of Amy) to abide by Park rules in New York called NYPD, stating that Christian was threatening her life and that of her dog.
The unnecessary and tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin at the hands of ordinary white citizens go to show that racism in America isn’t just institutionalised but very well internalised by Caucasian citizens of America, this has manifested itself in micro-aggressions by white folks against people of colour, a phenomenon that distinguished Professor Carol Anderson terms “white rage”.
One of the pictures of Mr. Floyd that has stuck with me is one in which he is seen holding up his Bible amidst other friends, he was a man who helped organise Christian outreaches in the hood and assisted in the water baptism of folks in the name of Jesus. Now, I couldn’t care less if he was gay, Hindu, Buddhist, Nihilist, Muslim or of any other conviction, he was a fellow HUMAN BEING!
My Bible tells me to love and respect my neighbour as myself (doesn’t matter the skin pigmentation, sex/sexuality or religious beliefs). Some of my deepest friendships and connections are with people of other faiths, we don’t subscribe to the same divinity, but we certainly share the same humanity.
Yes, I’m irrevocably Christian, nothing in heaven and on earth can change that; I’m Christian not because my parents are Christians or I was born into a Christian family but because I exercised my sovereign and inalienable right to choose to be Christian.
And shame on me if I go around telling people that JESUS loves them and I’m silent about JESUS hating injustice and loving justice. Justice needn’t always be retributive, sometimes, it should, justice could also be restorative, and one way restorative justice should be served to the people of colour is through REPARATIONS.
The question of reparations came up during the 2019 Democratic Presidential Primaries, while most candidates supported the idea in principle, even pledging to support a reparations research bill, they all fell short of committing to any genuine policy plan. Bernie Sanders, who was one of the Democratic frontrunners tried to side-step the issue by always seeking the definition of reparation, one interviewer bluntly answered “money to the descendants of slaves” to which Sanders replied “I think there are better ways to do that than just writing a check”. While it is true that reparations could take on more than direct cash handouts, Sanders’ unwillingness to back reparations, a race-specific policy plan that addresses the peculiar problems imposed by slavery/ racism on African Americans isn’t unusual, Senator Kamala Harris, an African American who also vied for Democratic nomination for President of the United States shied away from any bold policy statement/plan on reparation for obvious political reasons. However, a recent INSIDER poll found a majority of voters who identify as liberal, 54%,
2020 Democrats have started to clash over slavery reparations, but a new...
John Haltiwanger, Walt Hickey A majority of liberals and black Americans supported reparations for descendants of slaves — a hotbed issue in t...
support reparations for descendants of slaves.
Some people think the mention of reparation in race relations a taboo, others believe that reparations are not feasible, they are both wrong!
Those who think reparations a taboo are obtuse because they refuse to accept the reality that the almost 500-year legacy of slavery/segregation/racism has exacted unjust and inhumane systems, structures and arrangements on people of colour while white folks have been expropriating all the benefits and profits of such systems. It is only sensible and a show of good faith if arrangements for reparations are put in place.