As the video of George Floyd’s death due to racist police brutality in the U.S. went viral, protests ripped through the world. The protesters were not just blacks, and their diversity reflected the changing times.
Every human born anywhere in this universe, of any skin colour, race, creed, gender or religion, is first a human being and only then the citizen of a country. Anyone who vents his inner conflicts and emotions by hurting or using violence, under the ruse of duty, on innocent humans should unlearn these tendencies.
Even if you are in law enforcement, the law of the land applies to you. The price of a white life is the same as that of a black life. Every human being matters. For somewhere out, there is someone who loves her or him. Break down the barriers, if colour of the skin is a hindrance to follow the path of justice and truth.
While teaching in Lagos, Nigeria for many years, I had felt the students, teachers, working staff and others whom I met were just the same as my people back home. Each one of us, wherever we belong have the same fears, aspirations, trepidations, wishes and hopes. We all love our family, our religion, our friends and above all our country. Every human being wants peace and happiness. Then why this differentiation between ourselves? Don’t look at the skin colour, instead feel that heart ticking in there. If only the police officer had heard his own heart telling him to stop and the victim’s cry, “I can’t breathe,” one precious human life could have been saved.
This bug is present in every country but in different forms. In some, it is skin colour, and in others, caste, gender, religion, age and disability, to name a few.
All lives matter
This bug has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, be it education, housing, employment, social life and workplace. Innocent people are wrongfully oppressed, hurt and even killed brutally in broad daylight by the so-called law-enforcement officials themselves. It is high time we built deeper relationships with one another. To achieve this, we have to put pride aside and have a candid dialogue, have an open mind, educate ourselves and vow never ever to discriminate against any human being because all lives matter.
asvijnit@yahoo.com