We’re people over and above race

The trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd was about much more than the legal accounting for one man’s inhumanity to another. It also put American society on trial. And it proved that the country which prides itself as being “the land of the free” is anything but for black people. For them, it is a place where they disproportionately account for more prison cells in the penal system than do white felons.

It is a place where they are still denied opportunities that many whites take for granted. It is a place where the mere colour of their skin is an assumption of criminality. It is a place where the cops will shoot first before asking them the questions they would of white suspects.

The Floyd murder – for which Chauvin was convicted – spurred a global recognition of race-based inequality and discrimination and birthed the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement… and an accompanying white backlash by people arguing “... not all white people”.

The killing and subsequent events have had diametrically different results at the same time.

In some cases, there has been a noticeable sense of reconciliation as whites realised their role in oppression and their generations-embedded privilege in society. In other instances, the protests have only contributed to increased polarisation between the races, both in the US and around the world, as BLM’s indiscriminate accusations and sometimes mindless violence alienated many in the centre.

Clearly, what George Floyd has shown us – including those of us of all races in South Africa – is that we need to respect and understand each other as equals. Our skin colours may be different, but the blood we shed is all red.

So, why, oh why, can we not just live together in harmony? We’re just people…