Lindsay Lewis

English/ ESL consultant: Word worker, writer, teacher, mentor and poet. Author of This Won’t Hurt a Bit! on writing clear content.

GEORGE FLOYD and racism in the States

It’s impossible to ignore the latest killing of another innocent black person in the States.

I’m fortunate to be Canadian, and have never seen this kind of police brutality in my city, Victoria. I think we have an amazing police department who treat people with kindness, dignity and respect. I’ve seen them deal with horrific incidences in the most amazing manner. This is not always the case, and we all know there are some officers who are not great.

While I’m not usually a political person, I have to speak to this issue. Why is this such an inflammatory time? George Floyd is just one of hundreds of innocent people shot, beaten or killed by the police in the States. They have a history of systemic racism which can not be ignored. Why is the racism so terrible there?

The United States has a history of slavery and I think a few people have inherited this obsolete mentality. The old white guard is reluctant to change or keep up to speed with humanity. The second reason is that the States has a facist leader at the moment who promotes violence, and the police see themselves as his guard dogs. He actually said “If you loot, we shoot”, which shows the kind of mentality the country is dealing with. The United States is currently a mentally ill country because of the lack of decent leadership and people setting an example.

It’s not all bad though. I did see videos of police officers standing quietly, kneeling down, and many peaceful demonstrations.

The looting is not right- looting is always a criminal offence and there is no excuse for this. I do hope the situation is resolved with the arrests of all officers involved and that this incident will change the way there is one law for the public, and another for the police- oh, and of course, no law at all when it comes to black people.

Seo wordpress plugin by www.seowizard.org.