Have you ever paused for a second to ask “Why people are protesting the death of George Floyd” globally. Well, it’s time to fight up against the virus which had plagued humanity for hundreds of years and that is racism and the death of George Floyd right under the watch of four police officers who were supposed to serve and protect lives and properties but turned themselves into murderers in the street needs to be called out.
While not all cops are bad, the majority of the police force are good people who live by the oath they swore which is to protect the lives and properties of their citizens. The few ones just as with the case of the the officer who obviously knelt right on George Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes until he suffered a severe heart attack after he had yelled “I can’t breath” numerous times while the remaining officers were spectators of the murder showed how inhumane abuse of power can be and the upgrade of the murder Derek Chauvin’s charges from third degree to second degree makes a good progress into the call for justice as he will serve as a scape goat and lesson for others who have the same insanity as he does.
While the entire world has united once again and this time to fight against the common enemy, Racism and oppression, Reuters in an interview with five people from different countries explained why they too are angry and seeking justice and end to systemic racism once and for all.
In London, Stedroy Cabey is a 30-years-old actor who made his voice heard in the midst of hundreds other protesters at the weekend. He said “As a black man it feels like your skin is a weapon. It feels like for some reason they feel like you’re a threat and you don’t understand why because you’ve never done anything to do that. Personally I haven’t done anything.”
- Advertisement -
“When I first moved to the UK there was an incident where … me and my cousin were on the bus and (a stranger) started looking at us in a weird way. When he got off the bus he ran up to us, he was like ‘go back to where you came from, you don’t belong here’. And I was speechless in that moment. I was a young boy, a young man coming from the Caribbean … for a better life … It was like wow. It reminded me that racism is actually real.”
While another protester in Paris, France is a U.S. citizen and economist Bokar Ture who also said while holding his child in his arm “I said that there are some people who might think less of us because we’re black, but we know that’s not true, right? We know that we’re just as smart, just as intelligent, and you’re just as beautiful as anyone, OK? … It doesn’t matter what other people think. OK? So you’re proud of yourself, OK? You can achieve anything you want and the colour of your skin, if other people are stupid enough to think that it should be a barrier, let them be stupid. You be smart, OK?”
In Brussels, Pauline Sobze is a 17 years-old high school student living in Ath, western Belgium and he made his own voice too heard by saying “The reason why I come here to protest (was) because as you can see (from) the colour of my skin, it can happen to me, it can happen to my family, my friends. And it’s important for me to come here because we … have to be together to protest for the things that matter to us.”
And in Madrid, a U.S. national Frank Bradford, who now lives in Madrid, speaking through a face mask told Reuters that “I grew up in America’s south, Mississippi. It has one of the darkest histories of racism and I’ve seen it on a day-to-day basis, growing up in school, the university, at work and I think it’s a major problem that we have to deal with.”
“I have seen it around day-to-day like in the grocery store or supermarket, on the street. It’s been something challenging. Also I’m a teacher, so I see it at the school a little bit and I try to correct students and try to teach them a better way, to recognise racism and fight against it.”
And back at Los Angeles, K.C. Coleman, a 55-year-old former police officer from Inglewood, California made it know that “I am protesting today because I’m a bi-racial woman. I have faced racism in my life. As an ex-police officer I faced racism, and now it’s time for a change. So, I’m here to support the cause for justice for all, freedom for all, equal rights for all.
“I am very optimistic about the protests and (them) leading to change, because at first it was just the black and the minorities that were out here but now you have a nation that’s all coming together as one. So, as I go out to these protests, it’s not just the African-Americans that are out here, it’s everyone out here so we’re finally united as one. So change is definitely coming and I’m feeling extremely positive about the change.”
This is why hundreds of thousands of people are protesting George Floyd death as systemic racism, power abuse and oppression must stop and that starts with you and I by taking responsibility and seeing each other as one race, the Human race.