The way the media and politicians are giving sanctimonious attention to the death of George Floyd, an African-American, in the U.S., a newcomer to the issue of race relations would believe this is a totally new phenomenon, and a first time event.
The untimely deaths of black men, outside of medical reasons, seems to be a distasteful staple in terms of what is expected to happen to black men, and women, in society today. It is yet another black man's life lost needlessly.
'Black Lives Matter' says it all. The reality is though, black lives don't matter, and have never mattered. Our lives and everything else we do is considered totally expendable. I dare any non-ethnic person to deny it. The painful fact of the matter is, we black folk must shut up, do as we are told, and work to produce profit, but not for ourselves. We should be grateful for the 'scraps' that we get and not complain, and if by perchance success comes our way, it is called in to question. If we protest against injustice we are delusional, trouble makers, and are seeking nothing more than to discombobulate society, white society that is. We are not supposed to be educated, only to achieve the bare minimum. If we are well educated we are regarded as uppity, think we know it all, and need to know our place.
The interesting part is that it's ok to use the black man/woman for what they know, and what is theirs by right for profit, and to benefit everybody else except the black race. The refusal of the black man/woman to accept societies 'expectations' of them is seen as being difficult, and God forbid if they stage a protest, and even worse, if it becomes disruptive, it is interpreted that they do not want to be governed by the rule of law.
History is testament to this form of exploitation.
The British Empire became the British Empire by exploiting the people of those countries which made up the empire, and the resources of their lands. Quite a number of these lands were predominantly of non-white natives. My parents lived the experience of Crown Colony on their Caribbean island home. The retelling of their observations of Crown Colony were very enlightening. The United States learnt from the example of Britain, but not the covert, indirect, and denial approach. Let's not forget Europe 's
jumping on the bandwagon and each scrambling for their share of Africa.
I do not believe the U.K., the U.S.A., nor Europe, has the intention of creating any true, real, and lasting change on race relations in the true sense of the word. The law(s) on race relations in the U.K., as far as I am concerned, are just a patch over to silence the dissenters. The real movers and shakers of change are those resilient, 'don't matter' black men and women with their never ending persistence and audacity to 'climb over' the obstacles set in their way to stall or erase their progress, and uses it all as motivation to drive themselves on to their eventual success. They have no time to waste with many of the bench warming orators, occupying the seats of power, and who have absolutely no understanding whatsoever of what race relations is all about.
What concerns me, is when all this pretentiousness, sanctimoniousness, self-righteousness by the media, politicians, and whoever else, for the most part, on the death of George Floyd is over - what then?
Change?
Don't hold your breath.
Peace
Grace
