George Floyd and the face of racism
The sight of the policeman kneeling on the neck of George Floyd as he lay on the ground struggling to breathe and calling for his "Mama" sent waves of anger throughout America and the rest of the world. There were demonstrations in Australia, Europe, the UK and Canada. But strangely enough not in Asia.
In America, protests continue to take place in all major cities of America. The protestors include many races. Many of them appear to be white.
Many studies have shown that the American criminal justice system is loaded against the African-American. Nearly 40 percent of the prison population in the US are African-Americans although they are only 15 percent of the population. Studies show that blacks are more likely to be incarcerated for longer prison terms than whites for the same offences.
What happened to George Floyd was simply another incident in a long series of such incidents which have taken place in America since the days of slavery. It appears that the police forces of America – in fact, the entire criminal justice system – has a strong inbuilt bias against black Americans.
The fight against slavery was long in the coming but when it came, it was a bitter and bloody one. Early America was divided – the southern states wanted to secede to retain slavery which they considered vital to the plantation economy of the south. Brother fought brother and many died.
But even after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, the agony of the African-American was not over. First, it was the era of Reconstruction where blacks in the South were treated abysmally and denied their rights as free people especially their voting rights.
This continued until the 1960s when the civil rights movement brought legislative changes that improved things. But economic cleavages remain. A Pew Study in 2014 showed the average white household income to be 10 times the average black household income. White supremacist organisations continue to exist, sometimes encouraged by some politicians. Black lynching continued until the 1960s. Police profiling of blacks and police shooting of black suspects in suspicious circumstances continue till today.
And now the killing of George Floyd caught on video has gone around the world in all its sad and graphic detail. "I can't breathe" has become the clarion call for change and reform. There have been riots and protests following similar incidents in the past. But little was done to change things fundamentally.
Given the scale of the protests this time and given the involvement of the white establishment, real change may be a possibility. The whites were not engaged as much in the past. Perhaps there was no real appreciation for the barriers that stood in the way of black Americans. Until now.
Politics of exclusion
It has always been easy to dismiss complaints about racial prejudice and racial profiling by pointing out the problems affecting the African-American community. The incidence of single parents and black crime, the high level of black incarceration and the low level of academic achievement among black youths. These issues result in the belief that African-Americans bring it upon themselves, are predisposed to violence and cannot be educated. This attitude justifies police brutality and excuses governmental indifference to the problem.
There is a need to distinguish the symptoms of the problem from the causes of the problem. The black American has been excluded from full equality and access to the opportunities available to white Americans since the days of slavery.
Poverty, exclusion and discrimination over generations bring with it a whole train of problems affecting the community, family, self-esteem and expectations of self, of parents, teachers, employers, the net effect of which is to leave an entire community at the lowest levels of society. Many African- Americans are trapped by intergenerational poverty and exclusion and discrimination. The problem feeds upon itself.
At the heart of this exclusion is the belief in racial supremacy. It is a shameful indictment of American democracy and their Christian faith that African- Americans are not accorded their full rights as citizens today and given the full protection of the law.
Racism is not limited to the US. The Boers of South Africa justified apartheid citing biblical sources. The entire colonial process was premised on the belief that non-white and non-Christian people were subhuman, inferior even in the eyes of God and therefore not warranting the respect and consideration required and accorded to human beings.
The Spanish parliament debated the question of whether the inhabitants of South America had souls for 40 years before reaching the conclusion that they had souls. Why such a long time? Because the right conclusion would have meant not being able to treat them like beasts of burden.
The Native Americans of America were deliberately weakened by alcohol, divided by guns and the machinations of the white man, defeated in battles by better trained and better armed white soldiers, starved of their food by the decimation of the buffalo herds as part of the strategy of war, herded into reservations which were the aridest and least hospitable of the lands of the US, where they languish even today. Remember the Opium War with China?
The slave trade
There are few countries in the world that have a good record of how they treated their subjects or their minorities in their early history. Africans and Arabs were active participants in the slave trade along with many people from the countries of Europe. Many members of the British aristocracy and ruling class made fortunes from their participation in the slave trade. African slaves helped build the plantation economy of the southern states of America. The history of colonialism also shows how greedy, exploitative and cruel the colonialists were.
They "discovered" countries already occupied by their inhabitants and overcame them either by force or by subterfuge. And thereafter claimed the lands as their own and exploited the natives for labour and took from their lands whatever they could. The colonialists shared countries they colonised with each other, arbitrarily drawing boundaries that ignored traditional boundaries, thereby setting tribe against tribe forever.
The early settlers of Australia hunted the aboriginals as if they were animals and even poisoned them. Eastern Europeans could not tolerate non-whites in their midst. The Japanese are described as being xenophobic and treat ethnic Koreans long settled in Japan and their own Ainu people badly. Chinese treatment of the Tibetans, the Uighurs and African traders in Guangdong raise questions about their attitude towards non-Chinese. India ranks high on the scale of racist countries and caste exclusion dominates Indian society.
I am afraid that Asians also have racist tendencies. This is sometimes expressed as a preference for one race and one culture as in the case of Japan and China and in diverse societies like Malaysia as a desire or preference to live, work and interact only with people of their own kind.
Oppression of minorities everywhere
A quick survey of the world today shows widespread oppression of minorities. Non-Muslim minorities are subject to exclusion, discrimination and even oppression and persecution in many Muslim majority countries. The Israelis deny Palestinians their rights and their lands. In Israel as well as in Palestine. The non-whites in France live in the worst ghettos of Paris and the big cities. The Canadians and the Americans treat their native peoples abysmally.
Today, the Native American and the Native Canadian and the aboriginals of Australia live in poverty. Today, the natives of South America are second class to the descendants of the whites who colonised them. They generally live in poverty. Today, the blacks of South Africa occupy the least fertile lands of South Africa and generally live in poverty. This despite the dismantling of apartheid and the empowerment of the blacks. Why is this so?
Of course, most nations of the world are independent today and it may be said that most of the current problems of former colonies are self-inflicted. Corrupt administrations oppress their people and rob their people blind. They continue to hold "Independence Day" parades and continue to blame colonial administrations for their problems. There is also the unequal distribution of wealth. A small percentage of people hold the bulk of the wealth of each nation. Scandinavian countries appear to be the exception.
Hopefully, the killing of George Floyd which has sparked off protests throughout many countries will mark a turning point in the lives of the dark people of the world who live in white-majority countries. It will cause all people to look at the racism in their hearts and in their societies. And it will tell them that doing nothing is not good enough.
There are many lessons that can be learnt from this Covid-19 pandemic and from the killing of George Floyd. That we all share this planet and have a common humanity despite not looking the same and having different skin complexions
As for Malaysia - things here are not as bad as in many other places. But there are parallels. Racial profiling and stereotyping take place. Politicians stir up issues affecting race and religion. There are some who believe in the domination by the majority race and the exclusion or limited participation of minority races in government.
The Orang Asli or aboriginal people of Peninsular Malaya have been all but abandoned and the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak are incredibly poor. And police treatment of detainees is a big issue requiring attention.
DAVID DASS is a lawyer, a Malaysiakini subscriber and commentator.
✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH
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