I can't breathe

Recent incident of George Floyd, has triggered violent unrest in Minneapolis, leading to a state of peacetime emergency being declared.

This incident once again brought to the fore concern over the law enforcement’s bias against the African- American minority.

Floyd’s repeated cry for help, “I can’t breathe”, while restrained prompted comparisons between the incident and the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed African-American man, had uttered the same words 11 times as he was held in a chokehold by police officer in New York City before he died.

1. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

During 2010, American society has continued to experience high levels of racism and discrimination. In August 2017, During a rally, a white supremacist demonstrator drove his car into a group of counter protestors, killing 1 person and injuring 19.

Some Americans saw the presidential candidacy of Barak Obama as a sign that the nation had entered a new , Post - Racial era. While in brazil, hundreds of people protested crimes committed by police against black people. Police used tear gas to disperse them, forcing some demonstrators to repeat Floyd’s words: “I can’t breathe”. Many Brazilians still thinks that race impacts life in their country. According to Research published in 2011, 63.7% of  Brazilians believe that race interferes with the quality of life, 59% believes it makes a difference at work.

2. INDIA

One Worlds Value Survey reported 43.55 of Indians responded that they would prefer not to have neighbors of different race. Many North-Eastern Indians face discrimination; are refused living accommodations when they travel to urban areas to study, and are subjected to racial slurs in reference to the appearance of their eyes. In 2007, the North East Support Centre & Helpline (NESC&H) was started as a separate wing of All India Christian Council. A spokesman for the NESC&H has stated that abuse and harassment of North Easterners is increasing.

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men.” - Mahatma Gandhi.

3. CHINA

Discrimination against African students has occurred since the arrival of Africans to Chinese Universities in the 1960s. In 2007, Police anti-drug crackdowns in Beijing’s Sanlitun district were reported to target people from Africa as suspected criminals, though police officials denied targeting any specific racial or ethnic group. Reports of racism against Africans in China grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland china.

4. UNITED KINGDOM

Academic Robert Ford says that Racism and racial discrimination remain a part of everyday life of Britain’s ethnic minorities. Black and Asian Britons are less likely to be employed and are more likely to work in worse jobs, live in worse houses and suffer worse health than White Britons. The Report published by the University and College Union in 2019 found that just 0.1% of active professors in the UK are back women, compared with 68% who are white men, and found that the black women professors had faced discriminatory abuse and exclusion throughout their careers. While recently after Floyd’s Death, at a gathering in Central London on Sunday, thousands offered support for American demonstrators, chanting “NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!.”

5. IRELAND, EUROPE

The Mayor of Naas Darren Scully was forced to resign on 22nd November 2011 over comments on live radio about the “aggressive attitude” of “black Africans”. Former Labour TD MoosajeeBhamjee, a Muslim and Ireland’s first non-white, non-Irish Member of Parliament, said Scully’s remarks represents the “beginning of official racism” in Ireland and described them as “enlightenment” for the “neo-Nazi following in this country.”

These all events around the globe represents the Endurance of Racism in today’s  modern century where most of the population is educated. People have been coming forward to fight against it. They are united for the safety and peace of all and one.

“No one is hurting another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the humans heart than its opposite”.    – Nelson Mandela