A week or so ago, we acknowledged the first anniversary of the killing of a Black man, George Floyd by a white policeman Derek Chauvin.
At the recent trial of this police officer we were again shown the vivid murderous act.
The helplessness one feels by watching this grim scene, repeatedly, ends in with disbelief, forcing the question: Why?
During that period of remembrance, the U.S. Senate was voting down a motion to strike an independent committee to investigate the January insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington.
Again, it was very difficult to understand the actions of some supposedly respectable Senators.
But the Senators are not alone, the Derek Chauvins are not alone. They are simply reflecting the perception of a significant minority of white Americans.
To understand these events and the atrocities against Blacks, one must understand the perception of these white supremacists.
Slavery has done irreparable damage to Black people. As slaves, we had ceased to be human beings to become a commodity, labourers driven by ruthless white men and women.
To the oppressors, Black people are without soul, without brain, only capable of carrying out forced labour.
The stronger one is , the more work he is capable of doing and the more work he will be given. The stronger one’s back is the better it will facilitate lifting, carrying, digging, hauling, clearing and cleaning, therefore the more valuable he is.
Consequently, after slavery Blacks became synonymous to hard, menial, dirty work. That’s why today, Blacks remain over represented in these backbreaking labour.
So , if a Black person is perceived as sub-human, then killing George Floyd is almost normal, no big deal, just a way of keeping animals in check.
But don’t be fooled even the meanest white supremacist knows that Blacks are human beings like themselves. But in order to treat us as beast of burden, one has to remove from them all human qualities, a phenomenon referred to as DEHUMANIZATION.
To understand this term, we are aware of the attachment children have with their pets. For the child, the cat, dog, goat, sheep or any other animal has human characteristics and is capable of feeling pain. So the child is sad when the pet chicken becomes the Sunday dinner, or when the pet sheep or goat is slaughtered.
On the other hand, usually the killing of a fly or a mouse with no human characteristics will not cause sadness on the part of the child.
Once the soul and brain and humanity are removed from the Black or brown person, it is easy to hurt or even kill them without remorse and guilt. Oftentimes the justice system supports this action.
But he process of dehumanization is a means to an end . We know that Blacks and Whites are all humans, so how could white people carry out such atrocities?
To have Blacks working like beasts and to be treated as such is the means by which whites maintain their WEALTH, POWER AND SUPERIORITY.
RACE AND RACISM
To understand the attitude and behaviour of some Whites towards Blacks, one must understand the term race and racism.
Historians claim that before the Europeans expanded into Africa and meeting people who looked different to them, the concept of race did not exist.
Racism is a modern conception, which did not exist until the 16th century. And it was not an African concept.
While colour is real, race is a construct. Racism is therefore defined by modern social scientists as a combination of racial bias and systemic power, as whites have power over Blacks, or the dominant over the subordinate.
Often this label is vehemently denied and many are quick to say that “there is not an ounce of racist blood in me.”
But because of the difference in skin colour, facial feature and hair texture a whole group of people was categorized as non-human.
Those who think that way about Blacks are therefore racists.
It is also suggested that racism as a continuum rather than an absolute, and white people are at different points on this continuum based on the poison absorbed from the polluted social instruction they received as early as childhood.
So as a dehumanized group, very different from whites, Blacks are subjected to atrocities oftentimes meted out to keep one in his lowly position.
So is it any wonder that so many Black people are murdered by the police, many of whom see it as their duty it is to keep Blacks in their lane?
It is not to live and learn, it is to do or die. Do the master’s will.
The large minority of white people in the U.S. and elsewhere who can be classified as racists is a scary fact. The closets once filled with these racists, are now empty.
There is no more hiding, this has been replaced by the desperate effort to turn this minority into a majority by any means necessary. Even lying to achieve America’s return to its former so-called greatness.
Don’t be fooled, America’s greatness was built on the backs of Black people, slaves.
But Blacks will never be slaves again, there is no going back, so whites will have to move forward toward justice and equality…. nothing less.
