“I can’t breathe.”
-George Floyd
Our humanity is under attack.
On Monday, 25th May, a shop-owner at a Minnesota shop called on cops to help apprehend George Floyd, a black man, based on unconfirmed fears that Floyd was issuing a potentially counterfeit bill. Moments later, as cameras will reveal, George can be seen pleading with the officers, attempting to negotiate the obvious mistaken situation. Soon afterwards, he is rendered almost motionless as one of the officers kneels on his neck. He can be heard and seen struggling for breath, as onlookers plead with the officer to release him.
“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” Floyd repeats as the officer ignores his cries, and goes on kneeling on a harmless, unharmed, obedient man’s neck, for at least 7 minutes – in a flagrant, obvious, cruel show of racism. An undisguised evil act. When the officer eventually releases the knee-hold, Floyd is unresponsive and limp. He is taken to a hospital where he is pronounced dead.
Evil used to sneak around, too scared to walk in the light. It used to creep up on unsuspecting women having a fresh, nice time in a garden. It used to hide in the shadows, silently whispering its destructive ideas into the unsuspecting ears of the listener. Not anymore. Nowadays, it walks with shoulders held high, clothes ironed crisply, confidence bolstered by how many times in the past it’s had its way; how many times it’s gotten away with the mindlessness of its perpetrators and all who do its bidding.
Our peace is being threatened.
From self-assumed “superiors” who brandish nothing more than a skin treated to a fairer shade because of genetic, migration and anthropological effects spread out over a period of time. We treat each other worse than animals. The uproar that Floyd’s death has generated in the US is incensed by the fact that this isn’t a first, and will certainly not be the last. Just across the continental divide, news of whole towns and villages being sacked, people being massacred in Nigeria has filled the airways, dominated the news all week.
“I can’t breathe. I’m about to die.”
How ironical the similarity this plea bears with our everyday lives.
Read some more of my writing here.
It so so sad. The only peace I can feel is that justice be meted out on all the perpetrators of these black killings.
Indeed, Busola.
But as far as we can tell, the only punishment the officers have gotten is a termination of their jobs. People are clamouring for more, asking that they are charged to court and tried as the murderers that they are.
It is a very sad incident but the rest of the world is getting numb to the race tensions in America. Plus we have bigger problems in Southern Kaduna that the local media is silent about. We have people in jail for “insulting” government officials paid from taxes. Our democracy feels more and more like a military dictatorship and everybody is silent. It portends dark days in the near future.
This!
Sometimes it looks like the current administration has thoroughly conquered the entire country, gagging us with threats of what may happen if we do not keep shut. Thankfully, Kufre Carter, the Akwa Ibom journalist, has finally been released after spending more than 1 month in DSS custody for “insulting” the Akwa Ibom government. What he did: criticise the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
Really sad. It’s crazy how murderers are allowed to walk away free. How did we get here? Sigh
And it’s certain to get worse if things aren’t addressed soon and appropriately.
Our humanity is truly under attack.
Thank you for this powerful piece.
I love that comments here also recognized that we have our domestic issues too. At home or abroad, anywhere injustice runs unaddressed, it tends to numb the heart of everyone. And you’re right, what used to be passive has now become a brazen affront on everything that makes us human.
I even see people cry out for blood now, who wouldn’t do that before. Clearly, when injustice thrives, people’s humane reactions begin to change. Hearts become hard…who can blame the downtrodden?
I think one thing is certain. Silence is not an acceptable response. We have to speak out no matter where we see evil rear its head.
“Silence is not an acceptable response. We have to speak out no matter where we see evil rear its head.”
This is an excellent summary of the post’s essence. We have kept quiet for too long, enjoying the normalcy of our lives assuming it can never touch us. But what touches our neighbour touches us – first remotely, and then directly.
Thank you, Moses!
I feel obliged to write this; partly because i can breathe and not about to die, and because someone, somewhere may be finding it difficult to breathe right now.
It is time we paid more attention to ‘Democide, Politicide and Police Brutality’.
These things have been happening for quite some time and will become the ‘new normal’ should we hold our breath. And guess what? It will transcend boundaries and trust me (or not), many nations of the world will copy; and copy well.
Speak up, speak more, speak now!