At the risk of setting off the cliche klaxon, it is hard to imagine a worse year in modern history for most of western civilisation. 2020 is in years to what O.J’s Bronco chase is to high speed pursuits, from the ill informed outside it may not look like much … but ultimately there is still a virus on the loose who has killed people and has yet to be contained.
Take from the above analogy what you will, I’m not saying he did it. JUICE!
To milk the metaphor until there is nothing left in the cow’s teat, in the words of the late Johnny Cockering, ‘if the glove doesn’t fit … you don’t wear your mask in public, the virus won’t acquit’. Now, if you remember the events leading up to October 1995 and that didn’t make your white privilege feel embarrassed, are you affiliated to or, call yourself Mark Fuhrman? To the Fuhrman’s out there, this is your warning. The next stop on this journey is designed to be thought provoking and challenge xenophobic behaviour. If you find it uncomfortable, maybe you are part of the problem.
For change never came easy, and boy … we needed change yesterday.
First introspective question to you my dear reader … why should asking someone if protecting people’s lives is a good or a bad thing be such a difficult question? Morally and practically? This question, in many differing forms, has had the strength of its elasticity tested on countless occasions during this year and fundamentally, I believe this is the root of all our problems.
The coronavirus pandemic has been with us now (in the western world) since at least the beginning of the year. The effects of which have been devastating and have seen the biggest loss of life in modern history (1.7 million worldwide as of writing, WHO 2020). This, however, should not be our only cause of concern and equal amount of effort should be put into riding ourselves of the world’s oldest ugliness …
First thing I must state, Covid-19 is a proficient virus that must be taken seriously, nobody should ignore its danger. Follow governmental guidelines, wear your masks, socially distance and where you can … avoid being round the elderly and vulnerable. As exemplified above, it is in-discriminatory. If you play with this fire you will burn yourself and others around you. But, as precarious of a situation this virus has put us in; mentally, physically, economically, there is now signs of a resolution. To unintentionally downplay the effects of the virus and its aftermath horribly, there is now a path to life after Covid-19. However, the few years we may spend recovering from the pandemic is nothing in comparison to the hundreds of years we have now experienced of living in a divided, xenophobic culture … which doesn’t appear to have an end.
Eight minutes and forty-six seconds, 08:46.
In the midsts of a global pandemic, May 25, Minneapolis … a man was apprehended by police officer Derek Chauvin for allegedly using counterfeit money to purchase cigarettes. In isolation, looking at this statement through a veil of ignorance, matter-of-factually this seems ‘normal‘. If, from your privileged position of ignorance however, I then tell you that Officer Chauvin ‘restrained’ the alleged by putting his knee into the back of his neck, causing the suspect to struggle with his breathing, from your position of ignorance, has your opinion wavered? Entering the third stage of lifting the veil of ignorance, what if I was to tell you that the alleged constantly complained ‘I can’t breath’ and that Officer Chauvin was accompanied by Officer Thao, Officer Kueng and Officer Lane. All of which failed to intervene at any point of the excessive force used by their colleague. Has the privilege of ignorance now turned into a curse of misunderstanding? For the final and most important part of this exercise, we are taking the privilege of ignorance away. For now you have almost enough knowledge to come to a fair conclusion. However, if you harbour any feeling of apprehension or resent, hopefully humanising our victim will eliminate these feelings.
Let’s now give our ‘suspect’ or the ‘alleged’ the respect he deserves. Most reading this probably know the name of the man, who was killed this day. 46 year old Dad of five and fiancé, George Perry Flloyd Jr.
The man, who was, for all intensive purposes, murdered for maybe using a fake note, potentially by mistake, by the agency that his tax dollars funded to protect him and his community. This is the ironic dichotomy that is all too far evident in all modern western democracy … but most prominently in the US. Caught in isolation you would hope this was an issue that could be contained. The fact that it was clear for everybody to see is what finally confirmed what many black people had thought and feared for years. That the history of violence, especially gun violence (that I will not specifically tackle here as it deserves its own examination) against black people is disproportionate and biased. This was further exemplified in the shooting earlier this year of Breonna Taylor.
‘Say her name’… in a world where the irony is lost on emergency service members killing other emergency services members, where does the senseless violence stop. Breonna was gunned down in her apartment while concealed by a door as unclothed, undeclared police officers forced entry and attempted to raid her apartment. The reason, in context, unimportant and unrelated to Breonna herself … so why does another young black person have to die? The answer, a system that disproportionately effects black people. Instead of using the veil of ignorance again, let us simply conduct a fact checking exercise and ascertain whether the incident was 1. fair and 2. unavoidable.
The infamous ‘no-knock’ warrant. The warrant, issued by a judge, allows law enforcement to enter a private premise without prior notification to the residents or owners. It is issued in the hope that it would prevent the potential tampering, damaging or removal of evidence. The application of this warrant is controversial in less tragic circumstances, consider now it’s ‘approval‘ was obtained upon falsified grounds. The Louisville Metro Police Department allegedly obtained the warrant through the verification of a ‘US Postal Inspector’ in January 2020. Come May, the US Postal Inspector in Louisville publicly announced that it had, in fact, not collaborated with law enforcement and that investigations into packages investigated going to Taylor’s property where of ‘no […] interest’ (Costello, May 16, 2020). In answer to the first question poised in the paragraph above, no, the incident wasn’t conducted fairly by law enforcement.
To answer the second part of the question we need to ask an associated question of morality. Is it moral for any legal authority to play criminal to prevent or catch a potential criminal? Taylor’s boyfriend, acting within the confines of the law, thought that intruders were entering his partner’s property. He grabbed his weapon and fired warning shots away from those entering the apartment. In response, the unidentified officers shot back 32 rounds. Taylor was struck six times and pronounced dead at the scene. I will leave you to decide with the information available if this was an avoidable circumstance.
[You may have noticed, unlike in the Floyd case, that I have chosen to keep the identities of the officers out of this article. The reason for this is understandable if you are aware of recent events related to the case. Events in which I do not feel are relevant to the purpose of this article].
The existence of the No-knock warrant lives in contradiction with the right of self-defence and ‘stand your ground’ laws (the authorisation to use deadly force if the defendant believes they are at risk of serious injury in a lawful jurisdiction). These contradictions directly correlate to Breonna Taylor’s death and are an abhorrent failure of the system and do not protect anybody … civilian or law enforcement.
Though this pandemic is undoubtably tragic and has caused millions a severe amount of pain, psychologically and physically, it is now hopefully a temporary issue. With vaccines now rolling out in the UK and across the world, by this time next year we could have a very different outlook. Xenophobia, racism and generally bigotry, however, has been around, potentially since the dawn of man and has no clear end in sight. The efforts produced by those in the Black Lives Matter movement and various other outreach programmes have been effective … but much bigger steps must be taken, in infrastructure, development and attitude. Changing and ‘curing’ the ignorant behaviour of those who have held these views for years maybe a thankless and impossible task. But making sure the current and future generations are educated to be compassionate, understanding and inclusive is the most important weapon we have in wining this war.
I can’t and wouldn’t dream of speaking on behalf of anyone, especially a group of people that have been subjected to such horrendous treatment. But what I can say is that it is in everyone’s interest, no matter what ethnic background you come from, to build a global community where we eradicate the world’s oldest and most discriminatory virus.
It’s ok to dislike or not get on with people, but judge someone by their actions and character … not by where they are from, what gender they identify by or the colour of their skin. Now we have found a vaccine for Covid-19, lets hope 2021 provides us one for discrimination.
[DISCLAIMER. I wish to cause no disrespect to the many victims that have suffered under similar tragic circumstances. The rationale behind focusing on the two cases above is that they had the most impact in formulating the Black Lives Matter protests that appeared earlier this year. I pray all those effected by these events find peace, comfort and, most importantly, justice].
aJNation71 