Equality : An Excuse

Hi guys! Welcome to my fourth blog. Hopefully you all are safe and healthy during this pandemic and after the deadly cyclone. This year is kinda turning out to be one whole chapter of History with all kinds of incidents happening across the globe. Recently, the brutal murder of a Black person named ‘George Floyd’ in Minnesota, United States of America by a white Minneapolis police officer named ‘Derek Chauvin’ has rightly gained massive criticism, rage from all around the world and protests in the States. Regarding that a hashtag attached with online petitions and fundings for stopping Racial discrimination has been trending. In response to celebrities taking a stance in support of the protests and using this tag, some people have come up with messages of “All lives matter”. In today’s blog I’ll be writing about that and how the title is valid for oppressors…

Firstly, let’s dive into the actual incident and how it happened.

It began with a report of a fake $20 bill. A report was made on the evening of 25 May, when Mr Floyd bought a pack of cigarettes from Cup Foods, a grocery store. Believing the $20 bill he used to be counterfeit, a store employee reported it to police. According to the shop owner Mike Abumayyaleh, Floyd was a regular at Cup Foods, a friendly face, a pleasant customer who never caused any trouble. But Mr Abumayyaleh was not at work on that day of the incident. In reporting the suspicious bill, his teenage employee was just following protocol.

The employee called at 911 at 20:01 and narrated the incident to the operator and also said “he (Floyd) doesn’t want to do that” on demanding the pack of cigarettes back. According to the employee, Floyd appeared “drunk” and “not in control of himself”. Shortly after the call, at around 20:08, two police officers arrived. Mr Floyd was sitting with two other people in a car parked around the corner.

After approaching the car, one of the officers, Thomas Lane, pulled out his gun and ordered Mr Floyd to show his hands. In an account of the incident, prosecutors do not explain why Mr Lane thought it necessary to draw his gun. Mr Lane, prosecutors said, "put his hands-on Mr Floyd, and pulled him out of the car". Then Mr Floyd "actively resisted being handcuffed".

It was when officers tried to put Mr Floyd in their squad car that a struggle ensued. At about 20:14, Mr Floyd "stiffened up, fell to the ground, and told the officers he was claustrophobic", according to the report. Mr Chauvin arrived at the scene. He and other officers were involved in a further attempt to put Mr Floyd in the police car.

During this attempt, at 20:19, Mr Chauvin pulled Mr Floyd away from the passenger side, causing him to fall to the ground, the report said. He lay there, face down, still in handcuffs. That's when witnesses started to film Mr Floyd, who appeared to be in a distressed state. These moments, captured on multiple mobile phones and shared widely on social media, would prove to be Mr Floyd's last.

Mr Floyd was restrained by officers, while Mr Chauvin placed his left knee between his head and neck. "I can't breathe," Mr Floyd said repeatedly, pleading for his mother and begging "please, please, please". For eight minutes and 46 seconds, Mr Chauvin kept his knee on Mr Floyd's neck, the prosecutors' report says.

About six minutes into that period, Mr Floyd became non-responsive. In videos of the incident, this was when Mr Floyd fell silent, as bystanders urged the officers to check his pulse. One of the other officers, JA Kueng, did just that, checking Mr Floyd's right wrist, but "couldn't find one". Yet the other officers did not move. At 20:27, Mr Chauvin removed his knee from Mr Floyd's neck. Motionless, Mr Floyd was rolled on to a gurney and taken to the Hennepin County Medical Centre in an ambulance.

He was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Since then, social media has been flooded with videos and images in support of George Floyd, in demand of justice against Racism and legalized terrorism present in the system of the country. The four officers were fired from the Police department the following day and protests enfolded on streets across America and more prominently in Floyd’s Hometown Houston, Texas. The protests escalated as this time people couldn’t stand with the cruelty of the murder.

Drawing attention from all around the globe, the protests gained momentum and the brainlessness and heartlessness of the ‘Honourable’ POTUS on calling upon National Guard to stop the protests infuriated the citizens more. He even went to the extent of labelling “ANTIFA” as a terrorist group which is not even an organisation but an umbrella term for people against neo-Nazis and White Supremacists. During the protests, various violent actions and even murder carried upon by the Police on Black people at places of peaceful protests surfaced over the web, which weren’t addressed by the authorities. This drew more agitation and as of 2^nd June, 50 states of USA were protesting against the practise of Systemic Racism and Trump had declared war over its own citizens and ordered the military forces to take action.

Now you might ask that why did this incident trigger such massive outrage compelling US citizens to take to the streets in a dangerous pandemic. This incident wasn’t just about Floyd. The rallying point about the “Black Lives Matter” movement has been about the systematic racist attacks towards ethnic minorities and the violence and even death of African-Americans from civilians and Police around the country without any accountability. And there have been many similar protests in the years before. In fact, the current protests look a lot like the 2014 BLM movement after Eric Garner, another Black man, had been choked to death by a white New York City Police officer.

Some US reports have put out researchers’ data on police violence and CNBC put out one such report by a group called ‘Mapping Police Violence’ and that data shows in 2019 that more than 1000 people were killed by the police and black people accounted for 24% of those killed in spite of making up only 13% of the population. And there is no accountability. As per the reports, police have almost never been charged for excessive force violations. Between 2013 and 2019, 99% of those killings resulted in no charges at all.

On various posts or videos or photos which are being shared on social media being tagged with “Black Lives Matter” are getting replies like “All lives matter” of which some are in good spirit while some are not. In whichever context people are using this, it is wrong. If you are saying ‘All lives matter’ then stop saying it because no one said they don’t. Of course, all lives do matter. That’s, without a doubt, a true statement.

As Taylor Washington, an author and journalist, says, “the purpose of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement isn’t to exclude, but to emphasize the lack of action and attention brought to the systematic racism and violence black people are facing. In no way is the movement meant to take away from the importance of human life of any other race, sexuality, ethnicity, age or gender...”

And this is not just the case with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Be it any movement for basic human rights for a certain community, or sex, or group of people, there are people who use the subject of equality to use it as a blanket to cover up the struggle faced by those people who are protesting.

Remind me the last time a white man was killed by a black man for driving, jogging, sleeping, yelling, baby-sitting, selling CDs, selling cigarettes, opening the door, walking at night, wearing a hoodie at night, holding a toy gun, lying on the ground, being homeless, holding a cell-phone, exercising horses, having a bottle of pills,  shopping at Walmart, eating ice-cream in their own house or shopping.

These are the reasons for which Black Men have been killed in America. Yes, it’s fucked up at so many levels. That’s why it is not about you, it’s about THEM.

Remind me the last time a man was sexually harassed just for walking in his shorts and tees at night. Remind me the last time a Hindu Brahmin was held at gunpoint by the police and was made to sing the National Anthem by the police.

The tags of ‘All Lives Matter’ or ‘All genders are equal’ or ‘All religions are equal in this country’ are utopian dreams which the society uses to avoid acknowledging the struggles of unprivileged people. The purpose of these movements isn’t to exclude but to fight against the systemic discrimination faced by these communities for all these years.

By coming back at someone saying “Black lives matter” with “All lives matter,” you’re silencing black people. This is not to exclude the importance of other lives, but to focus on the prevalence of black lives being taken by people who are supposed to protect them. If you hear someone say this in response to Black Lives Matter, remind them that the All Lives Matter movement is not as harmless as they may think. It has been used as a tool to invalidate what the black community has experienced and the fears and problems they have. 

Not once during this global pandemic did the hashtag “All Lives Matter” trend, instead we had different variations of us “all being together.”  But as soon as the black community brought up the BLM movement, “All Lives Matter” started trending. 

Equality, in this case, is just being used as an excuse for cutting voices out and oppression.

Now, let’s just switch up the scene a little bit.

The online support has been there from all around the world including India which has had its own past of incidents comprising of racial hate, bigotry and police violence.

Supportive messages such as a black screen in support of “#BlackoutTuesday” and tweets with “#BLM” have been all around the social media. We have been supportive to anti-racist policies in the States whereas our own house has been crumbling down.

Cases of racism, police violence, discrimination aren’t a new thing which happen in India but it would certainly be a new thing when we all can voice against them collectively as it has been the case in the States. The institution of Arrange Marriage has a block of racism in its base. Flashback to Bhuvan Bam’s video regarding matrimonial ads with “preferable skin colour for bride/groom”, this thing hasn’t really stopped yet and neither gained much attention because of our ignorance. Incidents like domestic violence, killing, mental and physical torture on darker skinned wives isn’t a thing which escapes from the coverage of our media. A panel of politicians, actors, news-readers, common people condemn it. Then there’s an ad-break.

I shall not get into the fairness cream endorsement by superstars and etc. bullshit. That has already been talked about in a while and the discussion is pointless. No matter how we talk more the issue doesn’t end until we the people stop buying such products.

What is more pathetic is the selective outrage from both celebrities and the common masses regarding issues in the west just for good PR. Very few celebrities in the industry have the audacity to voice out their opinions regarding Police Brutality and issues of communalism in our Country and even when they speak they face outrage from people like “anti-nationals”, “supporting left-propaganda” or even death threats from extremists.

Remember “Goli Maaron Saalon ko!”? Instances of people supporting this statement and supporting “#BLM” have been recorded over the last week as well. Hypocrisy isn’t a thing limited to people belonging to the glamour industry or field of politics. Police beating up Muslim youth, University students (even by breaking into their libraries), minorities and people belonging to the lower economic block has been often supported by many in our country and most celebrities have just turned a blind eye towards those issues for playing it safe.

The idea of hostile police treatment isn’t even very clear to much of our middle-class society than that of a poor or minority citizen. Thus, they see no reason to come out on streets and even if they did like the poor- as we saw during the mass migration from the cities to the villages- they would be beaten up. Media as well, has been critical of the incidents of racism in US but when it comes to people protesting in our own country, no one hesitates for once before calling them out as anti-nationals, as we saw during the anti-CAA protests.

Things like these should shake up all of us, even if we may not have personally faced it. These are things about our system that have to change and only public opinion, expressed jointly and forcefully, can do that. Because, “If not us, then who?”

Otherwise, the knee will be on your neck and you will choke to, “I can’t breathe”.

Please share your opinions in the comments and share the blog if you liked it. Thanks for reading. Stay Safe : )