COMMENT | George Floyd and the face of racism

COMMENT | The sight of the policeman kneeling on the neck of George Floyd as he lay on the ground struggling to breathe and calling for his "Mama" sent waves of anger throughout America and the rest of the world. There were demonstrations in Australia, Europe, the UK and Canada. But strangely enough not in Asia.

In America, protests continue to take place in all major cities of America. The protestors include many races. Many of them appear to be white.

Many studies have shown that the American criminal justice system is loaded against the African-American. Nearly 40 percent of the prison population in the US are African-Americans although they are only 15 percent of the population. Studies show that blacks are more likely to be incarcerated for longer prison terms than whites for the same offences. 

What happened to George Floyd was simply another incident in a long series of such incidents which have taken place in America since the days of slavery. It appears that the police forces of America – in fact, the entire criminal justice system – has a strong inbuilt bias against black Americans.

The fight against slavery was long in the coming but when it came it was a bitter and bloody one. Early America was divided – the southern states wanted to secede to retain slavery which they considered vital to the plantation economy of the south. Brother fought brother and many died. But even after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, the agony of the ...