BIG STORY
Equality Matters The Black Lives Matter movement has created a welcome momentum for change. But the issues raised are not always simple and straightforward. By Maarten Hoffmann
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ver the years we have become accustomed to the black lives matter slogan. Depressingly, it seems that little has changed. Lip service is paid, a cop or two is fired and then everything goes back to the normal status quo. Not this time it would appear. Racism in all its forms is just plain wrong, must be punished at every turn and should be wiped out, along with sexism, ageism and all forms of discrimination and most others isms. Easier said than done and certainly in the States it would appear that direct violent action is their only remaining option - and remember, this is a country that boasted a black President for eight years who, to be frank, did absolutely nothing to ease the situation. If a black President fails to change anything what hope have we got with the current tango’d moron that sits in the oval office! The problems in the US spread around the world like a virus and we now see leakage into the UK’s colonial past, with the destruction of statues, the renaming of streets and buildings and total carnage and violence on our streets.
Regarding the shameful killing of George Floyd, some consideration should be given to the police who have to deal with the appalling street violence in so many US cities. I lived in the States for six years and l saw it first hand, time and time again. Some of the cops are stone cold racists and should be routed out, fired and, in some cases, jailed but what they go through day in, day out is eye-opening, and many are just plain terrified every single day they start up the cruiser - as would l be.
which he was jailed, resulted in him ramming a loaded gun into the stomach of a pregnant women, having broken into her home, and threatening her if she did not tell him where her valuables were. George Floyd was 6’4” and built like a professional boxer. On the day he was arrested and murdered, his system was awash with Fentanyl, cannabis and methamphetamine, strong mind altering drugs. He also had heart disease, hypertension and sickle cell disease and, ironically, was positive for Covid-19.
Take George Floyd - a man represented by his friends and family as a gentle giant who would not hurt a fly. Well, one look at his arrest record changes that.
Nothing here lends itself to justifying his brutal and inhuman death but many cops are absolutely terrified every singe day. In 2018, 47 cops were gunned down whilst in the course of their duties with an average age of 37 years.
2007 - Aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon 2005 - Assault 2004 - Assault 2003 - Trespass 2002 - Giving false details to the police 2001 - Failure to identify 1998 - Theft with violence 1998 - Theft from person And so it goes on. The 2007 case, for
Then we had another shocking murder by a cop against Rayshard Brooks the following week, who was shot in the back three times whilst running from police. Murder for sure but why did he run? He ran to escape the warrants out for his arrest. In 2014, he was arrested for a ‘vehicle incident’; 2014, a violation for an offence with a gun; 2015, he fired his weapon but no action was
“Many cops are just plain terrified every single day they start up the cruiser - as would l be.”
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