Spotlight on racism

Floyd's death is a new bloody proof of racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States. More than half a century has passed since Martin Luther King, the leader of the American civil rights movement, shouted "I have a dream", but racial tragedies such as "I can't breathe" still occur frequently. The violence suffered by black Americans by the police has made this social discrimination appear before the world in a visible and fierce way. In 2014, African American youth Brown was shot and killed by police in Missouri; in 2018, African American man Bradford was shot and killed by police in Alabama for his bravery; in March this year, African American woman Taylor in Kentucky was shot and killed at home by police who mistook her for a suspect's residence...

      As the Floyd incident fermented, many black people posted videos on social media, telling about the fear and depression brought by ubiquitous racial discrimination: being randomly stopped and checked on the road, being expelled without reason in the supermarket, being framed and reported to the police in the park... Sadness and anger were also expressed on the Internet. Gu Xuewu, director of the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn in Germany, believes that the root cause of the turmoil caused by Floyd's death is the systemic and cyclical problem of racism. Racism has been deeply rooted in the American political system and will erupt every once in a while. The outbreak time is often when social contradictions, contradictions between the rich and the poor, and regional contradictions are intensified. American politicians have not found a way to resolve this deep-seated social contradiction.

 

      Kenyan activist Wanjeri Ndru told reporters that the Floyd incident exposed the systematic discrimination and abuse of people of color in the United States, showing that racial equality is still a fantasy in this superpower. This has long been a major stain on the United States.

      Chen Wanjie, former president of the University of the Philippines Diliman, wrote that racism runs through the development of the United States. Not only black people suffer serious discrimination, but also other people of color such as Indians. "I have lived in the United States for many years and have endured insults and attacks. Those of us who have suffered racial discrimination feel very strongly about the slogan 'I can't breathe'."

      A magnifying glass on social injustice

      After the tragic death of 46-year-old Floyd, the media's coverage of his life experience was touching: he had received drug rehabilitation treatment, worked as a truck driver and security guard, and became one of the more than 40 million unemployed people in the United States during the epidemic. The forensic identification after his death showed that he tested positive for the new coronavirus... He who "cannot breathe" is a symbol of the current struggle of black Americans to survive in multiple social injustices such as politics, economy, law, and welfare. Malaysian scholar Chandra Muzaffar wrote that the Floyd incident shows that most African Americans are still marginalized and at the bottom of society. The current economic situation in the United States highlights the economic vulnerability of this group. The COVID-19 epidemic also shows that vulnerable groups in the United States, such as blacks, are more likely to become victims, and the United States cannot protect the well-being of these people. An Bingzhen, a professor at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, said that relatively poor black Americans have formed an isolated group, with economic difficulties, lack of employment security, and insufficient investment in education. "Under the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic, racial differences are more prominent."

      The distorted values of "money first" and "capital first" in American society can also be seen in the media reports surrounding Floyd. On the 6th, the conservative American media Fox News was widely condemned for a chart comparing the killing of black people and the rise of the stock market in its program, and was forced to apologize to the public. Evandro Carvalho, a professor of international law at the Vargas Foundation in Brazil, told reporters that the Floyd incident showed that there were serious problems with the economic and social development model of the United States. The phrase "I can't breathe" is a concentrated reflection of the suffocation, oppression and anxiety of the lower-class American people.

      Roman Huret, director of research at the French Institute of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, wrote that the video of Floyd's death reminded people of the "dark side of American democracy" and his unjust death made people see the deep crisis in the United States in terms of public security, health, and society.

 

      The magic mirror of double standards

      The Floyd incident is also a "mirror" that clearly reveals the serious double standards of some American politicians and media on human rights and other issues. In response to Floyd's death, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif slightly modified a US statement accusing Iran of human rights issues on Twitter, replacing all "Iran" in the original with "US" so that it reads without any sense of disobedience. Analysts pointed out that Floyd's death and a series of subsequent events show that the United States has always been selectively blind to issues such as human rights and public security.

      Irwanxia, a scholar at the University of Indonesia, said that the US authorities' tough stance on peaceful protests by the domestic public is undoubtedly a serious double standard compared to its stance when similar scenes occur in other parts of the world. Faisal Mekdad, Deputy Foreign Minister of Syria, told reporters that African Americans have long been deliberately attacked by racists. The United States has violated human rights so obviously, but it has attacked other countries' human rights at every turn, and even abused force under this pretext, such as sending troops to Iraq, Syria and other countries, bringing chaos and turmoil to these countries and peoples. "This is a naked double standard and a violation of the human rights of other countries."          Nourhan Sheikh, a professor of political science at Cairo University in Egypt, pointed out that the political and human rights situation in the United States has been deteriorating in recent years, and the risks it brings to the world have caused concern to the international community. However, some Western countries and media, out of prejudice and arrogance, only use these issues to suppress and interfere in developing countries.