Greetings sisters and brothers. This is Milton Allimadi. Publisher of Black Star News and adjunct professor of African History at John Jay College in New York City. I’m sitting in a park and I just wanted to reflect a little bit about the ongoing protests, all around the country and around the world indeed over the brutal murder of George Floyd on last Monday. The protests that are ongoing, yes it’s interesting that it’s multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-generational in terms of the turnout so far. The numbers have been massive, huge, you know if you combine it, hundreds of thousands of people literally allover the country showing up in the United States.
I have one question though, in terms of everybody that has been involved and participating, how far are they willing to go? In terms of the demands? Because it cannot only be over the issue of what Derek Chauvin did in terms of the murder of George Floyd. It has to address the systemic issues behind it because essentially these racist, vicious police officers, they see themselves as enforcing what the majority population in this country wants which is European American privilege and advantages.
So that needs to be part of the demand in terms of what needs to change. Black people have been subsidizing White privilege and wealth since the era of enslavement, building the wealth of this country with no compensation and then being abandoned after the enslavement regime after the civil war when 40 acres and a mule was offered and then rescinded and essentially since then, policing in this country has been a way of criminalizing Black poverty and marginalization. In other words rather than addressing the systemic marginalization of Black people in this country, economically, socio-politically, but particularly economically, the solution has been brutal policing, killings, and mass incarceration.
So yes, police violence must end. I don’t call it police brutality because as far as they’re concerned they’re doing what the system wants them to do. To maintain, and enforce European American privilege. So police violence must end and it can be ended. But beyond that we need to rectify the socio-economic disadvantages and marginalization that afflicts all the African American communities in the United States.
That should be number one on the agenda. Thank you sisters and brothers stay strong stay Pan-African, may the Creator protect you and bless you and your family.
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