New Delhi: The death of Black American George Floyd following brutalities on him unleashed by a White police officer has sparked off massive protests across United States and major cities in the world.
On 25th May Floyd who was arrested outside a shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota was literally choked by police officer Derek Chauvin who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. This even as Floyd kept on saying ‘I can’t breathe’.
Later he was pronounced dead in the hospital sparking off raging protests and rallies across the American States amid the Covid19 pandemic, to seek justice for African Americans and the Black Community. On Tuesday funeral rites were held to pay respect to Floyd and lay him to rest.
The funeral ceremonies also remembered the struggles of the Black Community in America through centuries going back to the slavery era and the Civil Rights Movement. In the past few years, #BlackLivesMatter has been a rallying call across American states following similar deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown and Eric Garner too.
The fresh protests come at a time when restrictions are finally being eased out in New York which has witnessed high number COVID deaths raising fears about the further spread of the Virus through protesting crowds. And also amid the stark rise in unemployment and an economic downturn -the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Senior Journalist and Columnist Seema Sirohi who has lived in the US for almost two decades feels that the protests this time around are different and more significant.
She says that in the past instances of deaths of people of the Black community blamed on police cruelty may or may not have had clear evidence. But in the case of George Floyd, the video footage is crystal clear and painful to watch which has fuelled the anger so much more. “So far it is peaceful. What is significant is it is almost the 11th or 12th day of continuous protests.
Day after day after day in major American cities. People are no demanding some real change. There is one demand to defund the police. There is another demand to reform the police.
The Democrats have offered a bill in the US House of Representatives to tackle some of these issues. The fact that the protests are sustained means that people this time are not going to go back home.”
Read: He is going to change the world: Funeral held for Floyd
“It comes in the midst of a pandemic. High unemployment. 40 million Americans are unemployed. People are forced to reckon with what’s going on in society. And the video was just so clear in what happened that people cannot be in two minds about it,” Sirohi added speaking from Washington DC to senior journalist Smita Sharma.
One of the key demands of protestors is to ensure police reforms with US opposition Democrat lawmakers unveiling sweeping package to change legislations to address police violence and racial injustice. The package includes plans as banning the police from the act of choking suspects or racially profiling targets. There have also been extreme calls to defund the police which Trump has said a clear no to.
With protests and demonstrations that have been sustained, held across far-flung rural communities too in all 50 states and are multi-racial, President Donald Trump has faced scathing criticism for his controversial remarks and handling of the situation.
Police chiefs to the Army and former Defence Secretaries including James Mattis have questioned his leadership and criticised his use of Army troops to quell the protests- largely peaceful barring some criminal incidents of looting and theft in some places amid the chaos.
However, Seema Sirohi believes that Donald Trump could still turn the situation around in the upcoming Presidential Polls in November. To do so Trump has picked a leaf from the notebook of former President Richard Nixon- using the Law and Order card. The way Donald Trump has played this whole situation probably may work to his benefit. Because he is playing himself to be a Law and Order President now. That is what Richard Nixon did in 1968. Richard Nixon won because a lot of people in America including many Blacks do not want to defund police.
Read: Facing electoral headwinds, Trump brings back 2016 team
They want in fact more policing but better policing. How can you just not have police? There are criminals killing each other, there are thefts, burglaries. So you need police. So it is almost an absurd demand by the extreme left. What is needed is police reforms,” said Sirohi.
Images of angry protests across major capital cities in the world today in the US, the UK to France have turned the spotlight on colonial pasts linked to slavery and discriminations of communities based on the colour of their skin. The statue of 17th century English slave trader Edward Colston was toppled by anti-racism protestors into the Bristol harbour in the UK on Sunday.
The Indo-American community - a vibrant group in American political corridors too-however has been questioned for their alleged double standards by several Indians. Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra who have been vocal about the #BlackLivesMatter cause have been criticised by Indian liberals for their deafening silence on police brutalities and the alleged targeting of minorities and students across campuses in India the past few months following the anti CAA protests.
“Priyanka Chopra for saying what she is saying today about #BlackLivesMatter, she kept absolutely mum about protests in India. She has generally been on the right side of the BJP government. There will be a reckoning. The younger generation of Indian Americans is very vocal, very Democrat and very left. When they come into their own, I think there will be pressure on the government of India. Supposing the Democrats win in November, the story will be very different,” said Seema Sirohi.
When asked about the impact of these protests on conversations in the Indo-American community when it comes to the handling of protests against religious or faith based discriminations in India.
