Racism has no borders.
In light of the recent events in America, it has been extremely difficult to have any form of hope for a brighter future as a black person. Hope seems unattainable because our ancestors celebrated the end of slavery, but it is becoming clear that slavery just hid behind a new uniform. I am not American so I cannot even begin to fathom the pain of those living in fear of their names being the next trending hashtag. However, this week alone I watched a black man get lynched, I also watched George Floyd murdered for an alleged fake $20 note. As a black person in the UK it is easy to assume the role of watching the news hatefully and tweeting angrily but leaving it at that because “its not happening here so what’s the point of protesting.” The point of protesting be it peacefully or otherwise is to disrupt the system in order to get the attention of the powers that be and make it clear to them that we are not satisfied with the state of a country or the treatment of a certain community.
Above all of the ignorant attitudes I have seen during this time, the mentality that you should not protest against this issue if you are outside America, is so baffling to me. I have never seen this ideology applied to any other forms of global protests. Women’s marches for example take place across the globe because inequality of the sexes is present across the globe. No one questions why women in London would protest when abortion bills are passed in America because there is power in numbers and solidarity. This principle should naturally apply for the current black lives matter protests. If there are protests about the death of George Floyd in a country that Floyd never set foot in, the police are forced to act in holding the officer accountable. When the whole world is watching and actively condemning the actions of police officers there is no room to sweep yet another black death under the rug. Just imagine how global solidarity in American race relations could positively impact the fabric of the police force in the long term. If an officer knows there will be punishment for killing any citizens INCLUDING black citizens, there wont be as many black citizens being killed by police.
Although we are protesting in solidarity with an American movement, the UK is not immune to police brutality. There is a saying by Otto von Bismarck “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others” This quote is extremely relevant right now because there is no western country that can claim immunity from systematic racism and even from police brutality. Racism exists in our justice system, education system, employment and makes up the fabric of the UK. We do not need to witness black people being murdered by police to know that this is as much an issue here as in America. It is foolish for us to act like nothing is happening here and wait until we are watching videos of police murdering on our very own streets. By protesting an issue that is more prevalent in America you are protesting an issue that is equally ingrained in our government and our society. Britain has always been masterful in hiding its racism and now is the time to remind our own governments that we will not be silent.
Just last month a black man in Manchester was tasered by police in front of his visibly terrified child. The man was not innocent however the police’s approach was unnecessarily forceful, and this is the case in so many black men’s encounters with police. As a society we have been so desensitised that we are almost relieved that at least he was not murdered. Europe faces institutionalised racism on a more hidden scale than America but that does not mean it is not happening. Akala’s novel ‘Natives’ is in my opinion a necessary book for all black people in the UK to read in order to really understand how much is hidden from us.
America’s history with race relations just happens to be more apparent and to be honest the frequency of police murdering black people is staggering. The rate at which black people are both incarcerated and murdered by police surpasses all other countries in the west. However, if the police here in the UK had guns would this still be the fact? The UK is notorious for covering up cases of police brutality and pointing fingers at America as the powerhouse of racism but if you pay attention the protests are overdue. To anyone who was asking “what’s the point?” Pay attention to the treatment of black people globally and you will see that this issue is not exclusively America’s.Black Lives Matter Whether you are in New York, Paris, Seoul, or London.
For more content visit my blog below.
