Police violence tip of iceberg in US

Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on Tuesday on all counts in the death of George Floyd on May 25 last year. The jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and seconddegree manslaughter. He faces a sentence of 75 years imprisonment.

Floyd’s death had sparked protests against law enforcers’ racial discrimination across the United States.

US police officers have tremendous discretionary power in law enforcement, and, as statistics show, they are more prone to violence when dealing with individuals of ethnic minorities.

Among the thousands of police gunshot cases that have caused the deaths of law enforcement targets in the US since 2005, only seven police officers have been found guilty of murder or manslaughter.

That explains why the trial of Chauvin has grabbed the nerves of so many, as people worry that he might escape the punishment of the law.

In Minnesota and Washington DC, large numbers of National Guard troops were deployed on Tuesday in case the verdict might trigger large-scale protests again.

That means although the political and economic conditions of ethnic minorities in the US have improved markedly and the law prohibits racial discrimination since the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, there is still systemic racial discrimination in hidden forms in US society.

White people are less likely to be doubted, humiliated, threatened or treated unfairly by public institutions and the police. Ethnic minorities have fewer chances to access quality education, good jobs and other channels to change their fate.

It is projected that by 2040 the proportion of white people in the US population will drop to below 50 percent for the first time from the current 60 percent. And the momentum seems irreversible in the foreseeable future beyond that.

When the ethnic minorities that have been marginalized for hundreds of years account for a larger share in the national population, the racial conflicts in the country will unavoidably become further intensified, as the white people will continue to try their best to maintain their dominance in the country, while the ethnic minorities will not live up with their status as secondary citizens for ever.

The Abolitionist Movement and the Civil Rights Movement will only be a prelude to the outbreak of racial conflicts in the country, if the US cannot overhaul its social and public policies timely to realize racial equality before the change in its demographic structure.