On the face of it, the current US nationwide riot, powered majorly by the Black Lives Matter organization, in the aftermath of the recent death of George Floyd, a black-American because of police brutality appear to have a plausible reason to justify and legitimize it.
The submission that the protests across American cities are justifiable on the face of it draws backing from a verifiable chain of unjustifiable and indefensible police violence against American blacks, with several fatal cases. These clear and evident instances are too obvious to demand or require listing or references.
On the other hand, there has not been enough open evidence of appropriate sanction against previous culprits or transparent justice for victims by the American legal and justice systems, in a manner to let everyone know and see that justice has been served to victims of what has assumed a white supremacist and black hatred syndrome in US social system.
These two scenarios have over time engendered an incensed, antagonistic and suspicious black population that perceives both the government and the whites as enemies and a threat to their rights and liberties, including right to life.
The case of George Floyd presented a shocking scenario of a pre-meditated police brutality against an American black that speaks volumes in collaboration of the widely held perception of white black hatred in America. The insensitivity and inhumanity reflected in the police officer’s defiant squeeze on his victim’s vulnerable pressure point was to say the least outrageous, beastly, inexcusable and indefensible, and can only be perceived as a deliberate intention to kill the victim, not just commit felony.
In the light of the foregoing, the eruption of protests by various black pressure groups across the US in a demand for justice against the erring policeman would be seen as a justifiable reaction to police brutality too many against blacks and a welcome message and call for action on the authorities concerned.
However, as things stand now, and looking at the dimension the protests have taken, it should be clear that the protests have gone beyond a quest for justice and an end to police brutality against blacks. From unmistakable indication, the so-called protests have crossed the margin of sanity and logic into the realm of hooliganism and vandalism propelled by a sense of beastly criminality.
The alarming groundswell of destruction and looting of property Seen across US cities which the protests have graduated, or has degenerated to can no longer in any way be subjected to any consideration of freedom of speech or expression as no responsible government should concede any citizen the right to criminality under the guise of human rights of any form, not even the First Amendment. Certainly, no reasonable or responsible government should apply any law under the pretense of human rights or First Amendment in the face of an armed criminal siege on the American society which the protests have turned into.
As it is, there is enough reason to believe the suggestion that the so-called protest has been hijacked or indeed was masterminded by vested political interest groups to get even with the incumbent administration or even to oust it from office, an effort that had been obvious since the inauguration of the present regime. The brazen attempt by an armed group of protesters to enter the White House lends credence to this suggestion and the government must take all measures necessary to stop the perpetrators and make them accountable for what has reached the perimeter of treason.
Finally, the leadership of the Black Lives Matter organization, which is the major platform for the protests, clearly has questions to answer to defend its credibility and mission from the taint of criminality that has long haunted it in the past and has now garnered strength. Black Lives Matter and its claimed mission can only make sense and draw support and sympathy if it pursues its goals with decorum, sense of responsibility and within the ambit of the law.
As long as blacks in America keep to civilized systems of resisting white domination, discrimination and injustice, so long shall the hearts of other Africans at home and the diaspora go out to them in support. But not when it portrays itself or allows others to perceive it as a body of illegal immigrants headed to America to make a living through criminal indulgence of all sorts.
That way, they will not only continue to attract hate and disdain from America and Americans but also bring shame and disgrace to mother Africa.
THE ECHO 