Hello ,
It’s Annirudh Pasari, writing from the year 2020 though it still feels like 1920 after reading about the incidents in United States.
George Floyd , a 46 year old man was murdered by the Minneapolis Officers. I am sure all of you are familiar with this , thanks to social media. Here is the series of events that lead to one of the most widespread protests our generation has seen –
On May 25, Floyd visited Cup Foods grocery store in Minneapolis to buy a pack of cigarettes. A store employee believed the bill he used to be counterfeit and reported it to the police.
The store owner, Mike Abumayyaleh, told NBC that he was not at work the day of the incident but that his employees told him that Floyd initially came into the store with a man and a woman. The man tried to use what an employee suspected was a fake bill, which the employee caught and gave back to the man. Abumayyaleh said Floyd returned to the store about 10 minutes later and tried to use a suspicious $20 bill to make a purchase. The employee didn’t realize it first, according to Abumayyaleh, but when they did, they followed protocol and called police.
Floyd was near the store, sitting in a car with two other people, when the police arrived.
The officers involved were responding to a report of a forgery in progress, according to a police department account. Once at the store, they found a man fitting the suspect’s description, Floyd, sitting in a car. The police department said a physical altercation between the officers and Floyd unfolded after Floyd got out of the car.
One of the offices , Chauvin , dragged Floyd out of the car , and in the process, he fell on the ground.
That’s when people started filming the incident. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck while Floyd screamed “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe “.
The reason this triggered the entire world is because Floyd was a black man. And for the first time the police brutality was caught on a video which immediately went viral on all platforms. George Floyd wasn’t the first man to face this , there are thousands of black people who have lost someone they loved to racial discrimination in the society and system .
No matter how much you grow or how much you accomplish , you have to face this at one point or the other , I for one am a Hip Hop fan , so seeing the black artists getting murdered and arrested , it’s very upsetting. The New York police detained a few rappers so that they couldn’t perform at The Coachella Music Festival. Racism didn’t rise , it just made its debut on the film .
No one is born a racist, a child doesn’t know the difference between the white and the black people , he is fed this , through the orthodox and non progressive society, it is shoved down the throats of young kids , through various forms . The television advertisements , the cinema and a lot of political leaders have pursued this propaganda. Martin Luther King said ” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere “.
We have witnessed racism everywhere, from schools to workplaces. And this is not only prevalent in the United States but everywhere on this earth. The slavery is abolished , but the essence is still alive.
” Riots are the voice of unheard” , the protests in USA, are an example of how the level of tolerance has been surpassed by the governmentsnd federal authorities. It’s time to speak up. All of us can contribute to the cause , we can end racism. Education is the key , teach people about the trauma the black community has faced , preach them ethics and morals , after all morals maketh man.
It’s high time we understand that all lives are priceless, irrespective of the skin colour, caste , origin, gender , religion .
If there is someone , who can bring a change , it’s our generation , hence we must learn to respect.
I am disappointed and traumatized by the sufferings but as an author, I managed to find hope. It’s never too late to bring a change.
Thank you
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