GUEST COLUMN - AMERICAN UPRISING

The great American writer James Baldwin wrote an essay in 1966 in which he spoke of black neighbourhoods being “policed like occupied territory”. Since the police know that they are hated, he wrote, “they are always afraid. One cannot possibly arrive at a more surefire formula for cruelty”.

- BRENDAN O’FLAHERTY, RAJIV SETHI

Much has changed in America since then, but evidence of unspeakable cruelty continues to emerge. The latest instalment was the brutal murder of George Floyd, whose neck was pressed down by a police officer’s knee for almost nine minutes as he begged for breath, and a crowd of appalled onlookers pleaded in vain for his life.

Atrocities of this kind have led to protests in the past, eventually to subside and give way to a return to normalcy. But this time feels different. America is going through convulsions the likes of which have not been seen in decades. Hundreds of thousands have marched and chanted and knelt in the streets, in large cities and small towns alike, demanding an end to police brutality. In some instances, officers have marched and knelt alongside them.