Films & books:

- Beloved - 1998 (film)

- Lincoln and Django unchained - 2012 (film)

- Twelve years a slave - 2013 (film and book)

- Hidden figures - 2017 (non-fiction film and book): about a group of black
female mathematicians that helped NASA win the Space Race.

- Harriet - 2019 (film): The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape

from slavery and transfomation into one of American’s greatest heroes.

- A nation under our feet - 2003 (book): Black Political Struggles in the
Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration.

- The good lord bird (book – 2013, film – 2020)

Racism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Not to be confused with Racialism.

African-American university student Vivian Malone entering the University of Alabama in the U.S. to register for

classes as one of the first non-white students to attend the institution. Until 1963, the university was racially
segregated and non-white students were not allowed to attend.

Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits
corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of
one race over another.[1][2][3][4] It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism
directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity.[2][3] Modern
variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between
peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political
systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other,
based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. [2][3][5]
In terms of political systems (e.g., apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or
aversion in discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social
aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking,
and supremacism.
 Part of a series on

Discrimination

General forms[show]

Specific forms

Social[show]

Religious[show]

Ethnic/National[show]

Manifestations[show]

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Countermeasures[show]

Related topics[show]

 v
 t
 e
Hàng loạt doanh nghiệp trên khắp nước Mỹ đang trở thành nạn nhân bất đắc dĩ của nạn cướp
bóc, đốt phá trong làn sóng biểu tình vụ việc người đàn ông da đen bị cảnh sát ghì cổ chết.

Ở trung tâm thành phố Chicago, người dân bò qua cửa sổ vỡ của cửa hiệu đồ thể thao và chạy
ra ngoài, trên tay ôm đầy túi xách và quần áo.

Trên đại lộ Melrose ở Los Angeles, người biểu tình đốt thùng rác và phá khóa các cửa tiệm
sang trọng, vơ vét hàng loạt túi xách và quần jeans thiết kế.

Và khi màn đêm buông xuống ở thành phố Minneapolis, tâm điểm của làn sóng biểu tình
những ngày gần đây tại Mỹ, các chủ cửa hàng tuyệt vọng đứng ngoài cửa, cầu xin nhóm
người kích động đừng phá hoại công sức họ dành cả đời để gây dựng.
"Tôi đứng bên ngoài và nói 'Làm ơn, tôi không có bảo hiểm đâu!'", Hussein Aloshani, người
nhập cư từ Iraq, thất vọng kể lại với New York Times bên ngoài quán ăn do gia đình anh sở
hữu.

Những ngày qua, các doanh nghiệp trên khắp nước Mỹ đã phải chịu tổn thất do làn sóng biểu
tình bạo lực lan rộng. Người dân đổ xuống đường do bất mãn trước cái chết của George
Floyd, người đàn ông da đen 46 tuổi bị viên sĩ quan cảnh sát da trắng tên Derek Chauvin ghì
đầu gối lên cổ, dẫn đến tử vong.
Một cửa hàng ở Manhattan đã bị cướp phá hôm 30/5. Ảnh: New York Times.

Nạn nhân bất đắc dĩ

Ởmột số nơi, người biểu tình vẽ nguệch ngoạc ngoài mặt tiền các cửa hàng với nội dung lên
án sự tàn bạo của cảnh sát đối với người Mỹ gốc Phi, hoặc viết lại những lời cuối cùng Floyd
nói trước khi chết.

Ở một số nơi khác, người biểu tình quá khích ném xà beng và búa vào cửa sổ, sử dụng xăng
để phóng hỏa các tòa nhà.
Các quan chức cho biết họ đang điều tra xem liệu các vụ cướp bóc và đốt phá này có phải do
những kẻ kích động vì mục đích chính trị xúi giục hay không. Tại một số thành phố, những
người biểu tình ôn hòa bị các nhóm kích động chèn ép, trong đó có cả người da trắng có xu
hướng phá hoại hơn là muốn lên tiếng phản đối vụ việc của Floyd.

Dù kẻ thủ phạm là ai, nhiều chủ cửa hàng cho biết họ cảm thấy mình đang trở thành nạn nhân
bất đắc dĩ. Do đại dịch Covid-19, doanh nghiệp của họ đã gặp phải nhiều khó khăn và giờ đây
có thể sẽ không phục hồi lại được.

"Rất nhiều người không biết chúng tôi đã phải hy sinh máu, mồ hôi và nước mắt để có thể sở
hữu cửa hàng như hiện tại", Kris Shelby, chủ cửa hàng quần áo xa xỉ tại North Atlanta, nói.
Ông thức giấc lúc 1h sáng hôm 30/5 do tiếng súng nổ bên ngoài căn hộ, gần cửa hàng có tên
Attom của ông.

Ông Shelby và đối tác kinh doanh ra mắt Attom vào năm 2016 với mục tiêu đưa các thương
hiệu xa xỉ đến thành phố của họ. Họ thành công thu hút các khách hàng nổi tiếng như nhạc sĩ
Migos và Justin Bieber. Cửa hàng này cũng cung cấp phục trang cho bộ phim bom tấn "Black
Panther". Đây cũng là điểm đến của nhiều người dân thuộc đủ các tầng lớp của Atlanta, ông
Shelby nói.
Kính cửa sổ một nhà hàng ở Louisville bị đập vỡ trong cuộc biểu tình. Ảnh: New York Times.

Nhưng khi trở lại cửa hàng vào khoảng 5h sáng 30/5, ông Shelby nhận ra tất cả hàng hóa của
mình đã biến mất. Các video trên mạng xã hội cho thấy nhiều người trẻ đeo khẩu trang lao
vào từ cửa sổ vỡ và lấy đi quần áo, phụ kiện trị giá hàng trăm USD mỗi món.

Ông Shelby thể hiện niềm tiếc thương và đồng cảm với người dân trước cái chết của Floyd,
nhưng ông tin rằng việc cướp bóc không phải là cách để ngăn chặn vụ việc tương tự như của
Floyd xảy ra trong tương lai.
"Vụ việc của Floyd thật đau thương, thực sự đau thương. Là một người đàn ông da đen, cũng
là chủ một doanh nghiệp, đây cũng là điều đáng buồn. Thành thực mà nói đây là trái đắng mà
chúng tôi đang phải nếm trải", ông Shelby nói.

"Chỉ nhìn thôi đã thấy khủng khiếp"

Cuối tuần qua, thay vì được ngủ nướng, Ricardo Hernandezy đã ở trên một chiếc xe tải bên
ngoài cửa hàng kem Mexico do anh và vợ làm chủ ở phía nam thành phố Minneapolis. Anh
đã phải thương lượng với người biểu tình bằng cách đưa kem que cho họ, đổi lại họ để cho
cửa hàng của anh được yên.

"Chỉ nhìn thôi cũng đã thấy khủng khiếp. Không thể tin được chuyện này là thật",
Hernandezy nói về đống đổ nát và thủy tinh vỡ rải khắp khu phố.

Vào chiều 30/5, các chủ doanh nghiệp người Mỹ Latinh ở Minneapolis đã tụ họp tại bãi đậu
xe để chuẩn bị đối phó với một đêm bạo loạn nữa. Hầu hết họ có cửa hàng trên phố Lake, nơi
hàng chục tòa nhà đã bị phá hoại trong hai đêm trước đó.

Họ chia nhau canh gác và theo dõi khu phố theo ca suốt đêm, chia ca làm việc để đảm bảo
rằng khu phố sẽ được theo dõi suốt đêm. Các chủ doanh nghiệp được khuyến cáo không nên
sử dụng vũ khí chống lại người biểu tình, và họ cũng có kế hoạch đặt áo có in logo của lực
lượng an ninh đường phố để tránh bị người biểu tình tưởng nhầm với cảnh sát.
Tình nguyện viên thu dọn khu phố bị đốt phá ở thành phố Minneapolis hôm 30/5. Ảnh: New York Times.

Maya Santamaria cũng đến tham gia buổi họp ở bãi đậu xe nhưng bà dự định ở nhà vào tối
30/5, vì bà cũng không còn gì để mất. Tòa nhà bà từng sở hữu và cũng là nơi ông Floyd từng
được bà thuê làm nhân viên bảo vệ, đã bị đốt cháy từ tối ngày 29/5.

Bà Santamaria cho rằng cái chết của Floyd là lỗi của cảnh sát và lực lượng hành pháp cũng
không nỗ lực hết sức để bảo vệ các doanh nghiệp trước làn sóng biểu tình.
"Chúng tôi đã gọi 911 và chúng tôi đã gọi cho Sở cảnh sát, nhưng không có phản hồi", bà nói.
Bà chia sẻmình không muốn cảnh sát sử dụng bạo lực chống lại người biểu tình, nhưng "họ
không thể không xuất hiện và để mặc người biểu tình đốt phá được".

"Tiền có thể kiếm lại, nhưng mạng người thì không"

Doanh nghiệp in ấn mới thành lập của Kester Wubben ở Minneapolis vừa bắt đầu đi vào hoạt
động khi đại dịch bùng phát. Cuối tuần qua, doanh nghiệp này đã bị cướp phá. TV, iPad và xe
tải đã bị đánh cắp.

Ông Wubben phải hy sinh rất nhiều - từ việc rút tiền tiết kiệm khỏi tài khoản hưu trí và làm
việc ca đêm 7 ngày/tuần - để kiếm tiền thành lập doanh nghiệp của riêng mình.

Trong chưa đầy một năm kinh doanh, ông đã có nhiều khách quen. Ông Wubben, cũng là
người da đen, cho biết ông sống cách nơi Floyd bị cảnh sát bắt khoảng 5 tòa nhà. Khi được
hỏi liệu doanh nghiệp có thể phục hồi lại sau tổn thất hay không, ông trả lời mệt nhọc:
"Chúng tôi phải buông xuôi mọi thứ và thử lại vào khi khác thôi".

Ông Wubben hiểu sự phẫn nộ của người dân trước cái chết của Floyd. "Người đó đã có thể là
tôi, và đó là cách tôi nhìn nhận vụ việc. Thật vô nhân đạo", ông nói.

Người đàn ông da đen này cho biết ông đã suy nghĩ về những mất mát của ông với tư cách
một chủ doanh nghiệp có là gì so với mất mát của gia đình Floyd hay không. "Khi bạn đánh
đồng mạng sống với đồng tiền, cái nào có sức nặng hơn? Tôi có thể kiếm lại được tiền, tôi có
thể mở một công ty khác, nhưng chúng ta không thể khiến George Floyd sống lại. Cuộc sống
của anh ấy đã kết thúc rồi".
911 Call Transcript Incident Number:  20‐140629  May 25, 2020; 20:01:14. It is available via
the Minneapolis government. 

Operator:  911 what’s the address of the emergency? Caller:   This is ah 3759 Chicago AV. 

Operator:  How can I help you? 

Caller:  Um someone comes to our store and give us fake bills and we realize it before he
left the store, and we ran back outside, they was sitting on their car.  We tell them to give us
their phone, put their (inaudible) thing back and everything and he was also drunk and
everything and return to give us our cigarettes back and so he can, so he can go home but
he doesn’t want to do that, and he’s sitting on his car cause he is awfully drunk and he’s not
in control of himself.  

 Operator:  Okay, what type of vehicle does he have? 

Caller: And…. um he’s got a vehicle that is ah…ah he got a vehicle that is ah…one second
let me see if I can see the license.  The driver license is BRJ026.    

Operator:  Okay, what color is it? Caller:  It’s a blue color.  It’s a blue van. 

Operator:  Blue van?

Caller:  Yes, van.  

Operator:  Alright blue van, gotcha.  Is it out front or is it on 38th ST? 

Caller:  Ah it’s on 38th ST.     

Operator:  On 38th ST.  So, this guy gave a counterfeit bill, has your cigarettes, and he’s
under the influence of something? 

Caller:  Something like that, yes.  He is not acting right. 

Operator:  What’s he look like, what race? 

Caller:  Um, he’s a tall guy.  He’s like tall and bald, about like 6…6‐1/2, and she’s not acting
right so and she started to go, drive the car.   

Operator:  Okay so, female or a male? 

Caller:  Um… 

Operator:  Is it a girl or a boy? 

Caller: (Talking to somebody else)—he’s asking (inaudible) one second. Hello? 

Operator:  Is it a girl or a boy that did this? 

Caller:  It is a man.   

Operator:  Okay.  Is he white, black, Native, Hispanic, Asian? 

Caller:  Something like that. 

Operator:  Which one?  White, black, Native, Hispanic, Asian?

Caller:  No, he’s a black guy. 

Operator:  Alright (sigh).  

Caller:  How is your day going? 

Operator:  Not too bad. 

Caller:  Had a long day, huh?

 Operator:  What’s your name?

Caller: My name is__

Operator: Alright_, a phone number for you?

Caller: redacted. 

Operator: Alright, I’ve got help on the way. If that vehicle or that person leaves before we get
there, just  give us a call back, otherwise we’ll have squads out there shortly, okay?

Caller:  No problem. 

Operator: Thank you. 

Nguy hiểm và không cần thiết
Động tác đè đầu gối vào cổ để trấn áp nghi phạm đã bị nhiều đơn vị cảnh sát cấm sử dụng. Dù
vậy, sở cảnh sát Minneapolis vẫn cho phép các sĩ quan thực hiện động tác này nếu nghi phạm
chống cự hoặc có hành vi hung hăng, không thể khuất phục bằng cách nào khác.

Trong đoạn video ghi lại vụ việc, George Floyd không có vũ khí và bị còng tay. Thông cáo
của sở cảnh sát Minneapolis sau đó nói: “Floyd có vấn đề sức khoẻ trước khi bị bắt giữ”. Do
đó, động tác trấn áp này là nguy hiểm và không cần thiết, một số chuyên gia hành pháp nhận
xét.

Phó giáo sư Seth Stoughton của Đại học South California cho rằng tư thế này có thể gây ra
tổn thương nghiêm trọng, tuỳ vào vị trí đầu của nghi phạm và trọng lượng của người bắt giữ.

Là tác giả của cuốn sách “Đánh giá việc sử dụng vũ lực của cảnh sát”, ông Stoughton chỉ ra
ba yếu tố khiến hành động trấn áp này có thể gây nguy hiểm cho sức khoẻ của nghi phạm.

Đầu tiên, nghi phạm phải nằm sấp, úp mặt xuống đường và bị còng tay ra sau lưng trong một
khoảng thời gian dài. Ở tư thế này, nghi phạm không thể hít thở đủ lượng oxy và có nguy cơ
ngạt thở dẫn đến bất tỉnh.

Ông Stoughton khẳng định nhiều sở cảnh sát chỉ cho phép giữ nghi phạm ở tư thế nằm sấp để
khống chế. Sau đó, các sĩ quan phải đổi tư thế cho nghi phạm như yêu cầu nằm nghiêng, ngồi
dậy hoặc đứng lên.

Bên cạnh đó, áp lực đặt lên cổ nghi phạm cũng tiềm ẩn nhiều rủi ro. Nếu phải chịu lực lớn từ
người nặng cân, vùng cổ có thể bị trấn thương nghiêm trọng và gây ra tử vong.

Ông Stoughton cho biết: “Các sĩ quan không nên đè vào cổ nghi phạm vì lực mạnh có thể làm
rạn xương và gây chấn thương cho cột sống cổ”.

Cuối cùng, phó giáo sư Stoughton khẳng định hành động trấn áp phải đi kèm với việc theo
dõi tình trạng sức khoẻ của nghi phạm. Việc đè đầu gối vào cổ trong một khoảng thời gian dài
có thể dẫn tới tử vong.

Chất lượng đào tạo cảnh sát

Sở cảnh sát Minneapolis cho phép sĩ quan thực hiện hai kiểu trấn áp vùng cổ khi bắt giữ nghi
phạm. Song chỉ những sĩ quan đã được huấn luyện cụ thể mới có quyền thực hiện các động
tác này.
Cái chết của George Floyd đã châm ngòi cho nhiều cuộc biểu tình và bạo loạn ở các thành phố lớn.
Hai động tác được áp dụng trong các trường hợp: khi muốn khống chế nhưng vẫn giữ nghi
phạm tỉnh táo và khi muốn khống chế để nghi phạm bất tỉnh.

Đối với trường hợp đầu tiên, sĩ quan được dùng tay hoặc chân để gây áp lực nhẹ lên cổ nghi
phạm mà không làm ảnh hưởng đến đường hô hấp. Đối với trường hợp còn lại, sĩ quan có thể
tác động một lực đủ lớn khiến nghi phạm bất tỉnh nhưng không gây tử vong.

Cả hai phương pháp này chỉ được áp dụng nếu nghi phạm chống cự quyết liệt. Đáng chú ý,
phương pháp bất tỉnh chỉ được thực hiện nếu nghi phạm chống cự hung hăng và không thể
khuất phục bằng các biện pháp khác.

Song chuyên gia Stoughton nhận định sĩ quan Chauvin không áp dụng phương pháp cụ thể
nào dựa theo lý thuyết trên: “Đây không phải phương pháp khống chế theo quy định, đây là
một hành động rất nguy hiểm”.
 Chủ tịch Hiệp hội Cảnh sát Da màu Mỹ, bà Sonia Pruitt, nhận xét: “Sử dụng lực để khống chế
nghi phạm là cần thiết. Song nạn nhân Floyd đã bị còng tay và nằm sấp xuống đất nên việc
tiếp tục khống chế là lạm dụng vũ lực”.

Vài năm trước đó, bà Pruitt đã đặt câu hỏi cho nhiều sĩ quan cảnh sát về các động tác khống
chế vùng cổ. Hầu hết người được hỏi đều không sử dụng các động tác này vị mức độ rủi ro
cao.

Các chuyên gia giám định pháp y vẫn chưa công bố nguyên nhân khiến George Floyd tử
vong. Theo báo cáo của đơn vị cấp cứu, nạn nhân không còn mạch đập và phản ứng khi được
đưa lên xe cứu thương.

Cảnh sát và người biểu tình của quỳ gối để tưởng nhớ nạn nhân. Ảnh: Instagram.
Trong đoạn video về vụ việc, nhiều nhân chứng đã nhắc nhở cảnh sát kiểm tra mạch đập của
Floyd khi nạn nhân ngừng chuyển động. Theo các điều tra viên, một cảnh sát đã thông báo
không thấy mạch đập của Floyd ở thời điểm đó.

Báo cáo cũng nêu rõ sĩ quan Derek Chauvin đè đầu gối lên cổ nạn nhân George Floyd trong
vòng hơn 8 phút và tiếp tục thực hiện động tác này thêm 2 phút 53 giây dù Floyd không còn
phản ứng.
(the Guardian)
Monday night saw continued peaceful protests and violence in many major US cities.
Here’s an at-a-glance guide:

 Washington DC: Peaceful protesters were teargassed to make way for a 17-

minute photo shoot of Donald Trump in front of St John’s church. The Bishop
of the Episcopal Diocese the church belonged to said she was “outraged” by the
president’s actions.

 Minneapolis, Minnesota: In the city where police violence sparked unrest

across the country, protesters were peaceful a day after pleas from George
Floyd’s brother.

 New York City: Heavy-handed police tactics over the weekend in Brooklyn

gave way to peaceful protests on Monday night. But stores were looted in the
Midtown and Soho neighborhoods of Manhattan.

 Chicago, Illinois: Protesters were peaceful in much of Chicago, but looting

marred protests in the suburb of Naperville. In the suburb of Cicero, two
people were killed.

 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Police fired rubber bullets and teargas on

protesters who blocked traffic.

 Baltimore, Maryland: Thousands of people protested in this city, which just

five years ago was roiled by the death of Freddie Gray, who was black, in police
custody.

 Oakland, California: Thousands of peaceful protesters gathered in the city.

 Las Vegas, Nevada: A police officer and an armed man were shot amid
protests near the famous “Strip”. At least 338 people have been arrested in Las
Vegas after protests through the weekend and the week.

 Atlanta, Georgia: At least 55 protesters were arrested in Atlanta when they

blocked a roadway. It is the fourth day of protests in that city.

 Nashville, Tennessee: Peaceful protesters cheered when national guard

troops laid down their shields.

 St Louis, Missouri: A peaceful protest devolved into looting, and four

officers were later shot. All are expected to recover, and it is unclear who fired
shots which injured the officers.
  Louisville, Kentucky: Peaceful protests refocused on loss within the
community, after two police officers shot and killed a local business owner
during protests, but failed to turn on their body cameras. The mayor fired the
police chief as a result.

 Buffalo, New York: Two police officers were injured when they were struck

by a vehicle amid protests.

Looting and violence continues in New York

City despite unprecedented curfew
People smashed their way into shops including Macy’s while Mayor Bill de
Blasio says curfew would start earlier tonight, at 8pm

 Stores are looted Monday night despite curfew following a protest over the death of George Floyd.
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

An unprecedented curfew in New York City on Monday night did little to prevent

destruction, as people smashed their way into shops including Macy’s flagship store,
grabbed merchandise and fled.

Police said more than 200 were arrested and several officers were injured, following another
day of peaceful protests throughout the city over the death of George Floyd, an African
American man who died on 25 May after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee
on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

One officer was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the Bronx and was taken to a hospital in
critical condition, police said.
“Some people are out tonight not to protest but to destroy property and hurt others and
those people are being arrested,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted. “Their actions are
unacceptable and we won’t allow them in our city.”

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It was the fourth instance in a row of mainly peaceful daytime demonstrations followed by
violence and arrests after nightfall.

De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, announced an 11pm curfew late
on Monday afternoon. De Blasio said Tuesday’s curfew would start earlier, beginning at 8pm
and ending at 5am.

Roving bands of people struck stores in Manhattan and the Bronx, even though many stores
were boarded up pre-emptively as merchants feared more destruction.

Video posted on social media showed piles of rubbish on fire on a debris-strewn street and
people smashing into stores. Another video showed a group of men hitting a police officer
with pieces of wreckage until he pulled his gun and they ran.

People rushed into a Nike store and carried out armloads of clothing. Store windows were
smashed near Rockefeller Center.

The violence threatened to overshadow anger over the death of Floyd.

On Monday, a federal judge agreed to release on bail two lawyers accused of throwing a
molotov cocktail into a police van during protests in Manhattan on Friday.

Urooj Rahman, 31, and Colinford Mattis, 32, were each released on a $250,000 bond,
according to local media reports. They were expected to be confined to their homes as they
await trial. Prosecutors had strongly argued against their release on bail.

“We don’t believe this is the time to be releasing a bomb-thrower into the community,” one
prosecutor said of Rahman, according to a Pix11 local news report.

Defense lawyers argued that the government was alleging a “property offense” and
highlighted the heightened risks of contracting Covid-19 in the Medical Detention Center in
Brooklyn.

Rahman, a human rights lawyer who studied at Fordham University School of Law, and
Mattis, who works for a Manhattan law firm and was educated at Princeton, were charged
with causing damage to a police vehicle by throwing a homemade incendiary device into an
empty NYPD van outside the 88th precinct.

Some police officers in New York City and around the nation have sought to show solidarity
with demonstrators while urging calm.

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New York City’s highest-ranking uniformed member, Chief of Department Terence
Monahan, clasped hands with protesters and kneeled on Monday in Washington Square
Park, in Manhattan.

“The people who live in New York want New York to end the violence,” Monahan said.
 The Guardian view on the death of George
Floyd: a turning point?
Editorial
The nationwide protests following the brutal suffocation of an unarmed black man
in Minneapolis could be a defining moment in America’s racial politics
Mon 1 Jun 2020 19.04 BSTLast modified on Tue 2 Jun 2020 09.30 BST





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 ‘The sheer scale of the protests over Floyd’s killing – breaking curfews and
defying national guard troops, over six days and across nearly 40 American cities
– suggests that this death may prove a turning point.’ Photograph: Denise
Truscello/Getty Images

“Ido not want to see him on a shirt just like the other guys.” Those were the words
of George Floyd’s brother, Philonese, during a phone call last week with Joe
Biden, the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Every African American will have known instantly what he meant. Trayvon
Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott and now Floyd: the litany of
names of black men who died as a result of encountering the wrong law officer at
the wrong time continues to lengthen. Video footage, in the cases
of Garner and Scott, revealed to the world the casual, unconscionable brutality
with which their lives were taken from them. The shooting of 17-year-old Martin
by a Florida community watch officer, and the decision of a jury to acquit his
killer, led to the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement. But last week it was
still possible, in America, for a white police officer to kneel for nearly nine
minutes on an unarmed Floyd’s windpipe – in broad daylight – crushing the
breath and life out of him.

The sheer scale of the protests over Floyd’s killing – breaking curfews and defying
national guard troops, over six days and across nearly 40 American cities –
suggests that this death may prove a turning point. Attempts to dismiss those
participating as merely lawless rioters, or out-of-state “anarchists”, in the words of
President Trump, wilfully misrepresent what has been a mass expression of
revulsion and fury.

 'It's about time we stand up': the voices of the George Floyd protests – video

Against the backdrop of a Covid-19 death toll of more than 100,000, a defining
and dangerous moment for America now looms. Long before Mr Floyd’s death,
Covid-19, which disproportionately affects the less well-off, had brutally exposed
the racial fault line still running through the social landscape of the US. The
pandemic, chaotically mishandled by Mr Trump, has killed African Americans
at almost three times the rate of white Americans. The economic devastation
wrought by the disease has pushed the unemployment rate close to 20%, on a par
with the Great Depression. Again, the fallout has disproportionately affected
African Americans.

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It is the United States’ great misfortune at such a time to be led by a president who
sows division as a matter of political strategy. Bunkered down, now literally, in the
White House, the president tweeted last week: “When the looting starts, the
shooting starts.” The words echoed those of a notorious Miami police chief during
racial unrest in 1967. They were unworthy of a politician holding any office, let
alone that of the presidency. From his defence of far-right marchers in
Charlottesville to the abuse of black football players who refuse to stand for the
national anthem, Mr Trump has exacerbated racial division and exploited it to
shore up his white voter base. Between now and November, there is a danger the
president will attempt to act on the authoritarian undertones of his inauguration
speech in 2017, when he talked of stamping out “American carnage” in the
country’s inner cities.

Americans must hope that the protesters of recent days do not respond in kind to
any such provocations. The Atlanta rapper Killer Mike has urged those marching
across the US to take on prosecutors, mayoral offices, police chiefs and deputy
chiefs in the voting booth, and to challenge those local structures of judicial and
civic power, where systemic racism still thrives. A new generation of politicians,
informed by the culture and insights of movements such as Black Lives Matter,
will be required to follow through successfully on such a strategy. They may find
allies in police officers such as those in New Jersey who have marched with
protesters, or the police chief in Atlanta who condemned the use of Tasers by her
officers and went out into the street to listen to demonstrators. But they will need
to access the levers of power themselves; for America they cannot come of age
soon enough.

Vid: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/the-guardian-view-on-the-death-of-
george-floyd-a-turning-point
(the Washington post)

Why the U.S. protests matter to the

world
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other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today’s
WorldView newsletter.
George Floyd art in Idlib, Syria. (Mohamad Jamalo/Reuters)
The United States is increasingly seen as a nation turning in on itself. As protests
against police violence and systemic racism rocked dozens of American cities, British
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke of the crisis across the pond in language more often
deployed when discussing intractable conflicts elsewhere in the world.
“We want to see de-escalation of all of those tensions and Americans come together,” he told
the BBC on Sunday.
Raab wasn’t alone. A spokesperson from the European Commission emailed an unusual
statement about American affairs to reporters, indicating that officials in Brussels hoped
that “all issues” related to the protests “will be settled swiftly and in full respect for the rule
of law and human rights.”
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This followed a Friday statement from Moussa Faki Mahamat, the head of the African Union
Commission, who condemned the killing of George Floyd and lamented “continuing
discriminatory practices against black citizens of the USA.”
On Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the U.S. protests were both
“understandable and more than legitimate.”
He added: “I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to
violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United
States.”
Thousands came together in a global display of solidarity on May 30 through June 1 to protest
the death of George Floyd and police brutality. (Alexa Juliana Ard/The Washington Post)
The unrest in American cities has drawn global attention for reasons both
familiar and new. The dramas of the world’s sole superpower captivate audiences
elsewhere far more than the obverse, with the intrigues of other countries only occasionally
penetrating America’s oft-insular news cycles. In some instances, the outpouring of anger
over Floyd’s killing — intensified by social media videos shared around the world of the
incident and the diverse demonstrations that followed — emboldened existing movements
over racial violence and discrimination against minorities.
AD

The family of David Dungay, a Dunghutti man who said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he
died while being restrained by five prison guards, say they want the NSW DPP to investigate
whether charges could be laid against prison officers, via Lorena Allam
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/01/family-of-david-dungay-who-died-
in-custody-express-solidarity-with-family-of-george-floyd?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other  …

Family of David Dungay, who died in custody, express solidarity with family of George Floyd
Aboriginal man said ‘I can’t breathe’ 12 times before he died while being restrained by five guards in
Sydney jail
theguardian.com

In Australia, where fresh solidarity protests are planned this week, the upheaval in the
United States has revived conversation around police actions against the country’s long-
marginalized indigenous communities — and, in particular, a 2015 incident that saw David
Dungay Jr., a 26-year-old Aboriginal man, die while in Australian police custody.
“We’re outraged about what’s happening in Minneapolis, but really us guys home in
Australia need to take a stand together here … because they can actually see the racism and
injustice against our people,” said Paul Francis-Silva, Dungay’s nephew, to Australia’s ABC
News.
In France, too, Floyd’s death rekindled memories of a 2016 incident in which Adama Traoré,
a 24-year-old from the suburbs of Paris, died of asphyxiation after being detained by police.
Traoré's case triggered, as my colleague James McAuley put it at the time, France’s own
Black Lives Matter movement.
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“How can one not think of Adama’s terrible suffering when he had three police officers on
him and he was repeating, ‘I can’t breathe,' ” a Traoré support group wrote on Facebook last
week. “His name was George Floyd, who just like Adama died because they were black.”
This sense of grievance and solidarity gave voice to protests in Toronto, Berlin,
London and other Western cities. “People all over the world understand that their own
fights for human rights, for equality and fairness, will become so much more difficult to win
if we are going to lose America as the place where ‘I have a dream’ is a real and universal
political program,” Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to Washington and
the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, told the New Yorker. “Let’s hope the
demonstrations all over the world will help remind Washington that U.S. soft power is a
unique asset, setting America apart from other great powers — from China, Russia, and even
from Europe. It would be tragic if the Trump Administration turned a huge opportunity for
the U.S. into a moral abdication.”
Demonstrators assemble at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
A dimension of the global reaction also taps into long-standing left-wing attitudes
toward American imperialism abroad and hypocrisy at home. They’ve only been heightened
by widespread antipathy toward President Trump.
AD
“Part of it is about anti-Americanism, part of it is about the gross injustice,” Marcel Dirsus, a
nonresident fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University, told Today’s
WorldView in reference to solidarity demonstrations in Berlin. “But it’s also about Trump,
who is so unpopular in Germany that it makes many people dislike America as a whole. I
think a lot of people assumed that America had already hit rock-bottom over the last couple
of years but then Trump proved them wrong in the way he is handling the pandemic and
these protests.”
Then there’s the fact that Trump’s brand of ultranationalism more readily maps onto the
growing divisions in other countries, with the U.S. president having explicitly made common
cause with far-right movements in Europe. Animus toward Trump’s America can be a
vehicle for domestic grievances, too.
“It’s significant that Trumpism is part of a broader transnational movement,” said
Georgetown University political scientist Daniel Nexon during a webinar on Monday. “U.S.
political polarization is now aligned with politics elsewhere.”
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But the protests abroad may also reflect an abiding admiration for the United
States. “Those marching seem to show just how morally magnetic the idea of the ‘good
America’ continues to be in Europe,” Ben Judah, a British journalist, told Today’s
WorldView.
He added that the weekend’s protests in places like London’s Trafalgar Square or at Berlin’s
Brandenburg Gate could reflect the coalescing of a new kind of transatlanticism. “Ironically,
just as the old ideological West, of the G-7, transatlantic intellectuals and NATO-focused
think tanks is breaking down a new kind of transatlantic experience, born out of a common
virtual Instagram and TikTok world, is coming alive,” said Judah.

Images: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/06/02/world-george-floyd-protests/
how to end institutional racism
by Grad Team | April 7, 2016
Politicians make promises during campaigns. Sometimes – sometimes – they end up not
following through. But even then the promises can help move things along, if they help focus
people’s efforts in a positive direction. So, what sociologist wasn’t happy to hear this from
Bernie Sanders on March 6?
And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear.
We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system.
Of course, ending institutional racism isn’t something we can do over night. But if the
president, or some other powerful people, really want to try, sociology is here to help. The
Contexts Grad Team put together this research brief of ideas that might help. Also, hiring
sociologists.
Race and the criminal justice system
As Bernie suggests, a good place to start. When people of color are disproportionately
targeted by police and incarcerated, this leads to disadvantages in other arenas of life, such
as health, family life, employment, and political power. Here are four targets for policy
change:
Police stops and arrests. Controlling for suspect demeanor, offense severity, presence of
witnesses, evidence at the scene, prior record of the suspect, and other factors, minority
suspects in one study had a 30% higher chance of being arrested than white suspects. In
predominantly White neighborhoods in St. Louis, traffic stops were more likely to include a
search in stops of Black drivers than of White drivers, especially by White police officers,
controlling for characteristics of the officer, driver, and stop.
Punishment outcomes. A study using data from New York, found that Black and Latino (but
not Asian) defendants are disadvantaged compared to Whites when it comes to pretrial
detention, plea offers, and sentences of incarceration. This effect is particularly strong for
Blacks charged with felony violent crimes and drug crimes.
Disproportionate incarceration of men of color. Of African American young men who
dropped out of high school, 37% were incarcerated in 2008, compared to less than 1% of
the general population. Columbia University’s Spatial Information Design Lab and Justice
Mapping Center have mapped “million dollar blocks:” neighborhood blocks that have such a
high concentration of residents incarcerated that states are spending over a million dollars a
year to incarcerate residents from a single block. (On average it costs $28,000 a year to
incarcerate someone in state prison).
Innovate policy solutions post-release. Post-incarceration, employment is a major
determinant of whether people end up back in prison. One policy solution that has been
getting a lot of traction in select states is “banning the box.” This would allow prospective
employees to make it beyond the initial application without having to disclose felonies or
misdemeanors, reducing discrimination based on prior offense history. Check out this
resource for more information on the banning the box campaign.
Health and healthcare
Institutional racism in American health care results in racial and ethnic minorities facing
disproportionate barriers to care as well as lower quality of care. Cost barriers have a
greater effect on communities of color than on Whites. Closures of hospital trauma
centers increased travel time for emergency care in areas with large Black populations more
than other areas, during a time when trauma-related mortality increased for this population.
Counties with a higher proportion of Black residents are less likely than other counties to
have substance abuse treatment facilities that accept public insurance. While a greater
proportion of Black patients live near high-quality hospitals than white patients, Black
patients are more likely than Whites to have surgery in lower quality hospitals. Majority
Black zip codes are also more likely than other zip codes to have a shortage of primary care
physicians. Black, Latina, and Native-American mothers may be more likely to have
unnecessary caesarian deliveries, racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in
clinical trials, resulting in treatments that have not been proven effective for non-White
patients. When healthcare providers hold implicit biases, Black patients rate their physicians
lower on measures of patient-centered care and communication than do White patients. The
locations of providers, cost of care, implicit racial bias in medical school graduates and
exclusion from treatment research all contribute to inequities in health outcomes for people
of color.
Housing
US lending practices in the mid-20th century built a problem we’re still living with. In 1935,
the Federal Home Loan Bank Board commissioned the creation of a set of maps to guide
investment opportunities for housing in the coming years. The maps that emerged
separated 239 American cities into 4 types of areas, ranked from most- to least-desirable for
development opportunities. The least desirable of those areas, outlined in red, were
overwhelmingly the sites of historically Black neighborhoods. Those within those “redlined”
areas found it difficult or impossible to secure loans or mortgages for housing and
development. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 aimed to correct this. But that fell far short of
solving the problem; recent court cases continue to confront discriminatory development
policies.
One potential solution is mobility vouchers. The Clinton-era Mobility to Opportunity (MTO)
program, which provided vouchers enabling low-income families (most of them headed by
Hispanic or Black single mothers) to move to low-poverty areas, has long been considered
a net failure, at least in terms of economic and performance gains. Kids who moved didn’t
have significantly greater school performance, and their parents didn’t see a lot of growth in
their incomes. A recent study, however, uses a newly available outcome measure to probe
success – the earned adult incomes of those kids who moved, versus those who didn’t –
and finds that in this longer view, the program was more successful than originally thought.
Kids who moved to low-poverty areas before the age of 13 earned 31% more as adults than
those who didn’t. Housing segregation is both a class and race issue, and this new evidence
suggests that this approach shouldn’t be dropped too quickly.
More broadly, sociologist Matthew Desmond, author of the new book Evicted: Poverty and
Profit in the American City, has suggested expanding housing vouchers to all families below
the 30th percentile of in their areas – allowing them to spend no more than 30 percent of their
income on rent – which would be “an anti-poverty effort, human capital investment,
community improvement plan and public health initiative all rolled into one.” The cost of such
a program, which would disproportionately help racial and ethnic minorities still paying the
price for housing segregation and exploitation, would be small compared with the massive
annual tax subsidy for middle-class and rich homeowners.
Education
End segregation in schools. American schools are still largely segregated by race. Even
after accounting for differences in the racial composition between neighborhoods,
schools remain racially segregated due to White students’ enrollment in private, magnet,
and charter schools. Persistent racial segregation has a detrimental effect on the academic
performance of students of color, but integration has no significant effect on the academic
work of White students.
Treat students of color better. In the classroom, students of color are disproportionately
punished with higher severity. Recent sociological literature suggests that the problem is
both more widespread than previously believed and has significant consequences that
extend beyond the classroom. School suspension explains about one-fifth of disparities in
academic achievement between Black and White students, limiting Black students’
opportunities after graduation. Disparate discipline in schools also contributes to Black
overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system.
Employment
Blacks are twice as likely to be unemployed as Whites, and the earnings of both Blacks and
Hispanics continue to lag well behind those of Whites. While employment discrimination on
the basis of race was outlawed by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, experimental audit
studies focusing on hiring decisions have consistently found strong evidence of racial
discrimination, with estimates of White preference ranging from 50% to 240%.
Discrimination plays a part in explaining the Black-White wage gap, and recent studies have
shown that racial discrimination affects college educated Blacks – regardless of what school
they graduated from. Unsurprisingly, racial discrimination has an even greater impact
on Blacks without a college degree and those with a criminal record. Discrimination even
affects workers in the same job, in the same company, and with equal scores on
performance evaluations.
There are a number of steps that can be taken to reduce racial discrimination in the U.S.
labor market. For example, the Fair Employment Protection Act, which was introduced in
2012 but not enacted, would remove barriers to workers seeking to file class action lawsuits.
Similarly, the Fair Pay Act, which was introduced in 2013 and referred to committee in 2015,
would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit discrimination in the payment
of wages on account of sex, race, or national origin. Finally, we could combat racial
discrimination in employment by increasing punitive monetary fines against discriminatory
employers and increasing funding and enforcement power for the under-resourced U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in order to more effectively enforce the anti-
discrimination laws already on the books.
Credit and debt
Ending institutional racism requires attention to reducing racial wealth inequality while also
monitoring and working to end discrimination in credit markets. Reducing wealth inequality
requires tackling debt problems. Predatory lending and unequal credit costs and debt
collection patterns are pillars of institutional racism in credit markets. While credit access
has increased for everyone, minorities pay higher interest rates than Whites for housing and
have been subject to abuse from predatory lenders. We also see that lawsuits for the
repayment of consumer debt are clustered in black neighborhoods.
Tackling student loan debt is also important. More students of color have to borrow
money to attend college than Whites, are less likely to finish, and are more likely to default.
Black wealth does not protect Black students from student loan debt in the same way it does
for Whites. (For more comprehensive policy recommendations on ending racial wealth
inequality, see work done by the researchers at the Center for Global Policy Solutions.)
Immigration
If the president is going to tackle institutional racism, he or she will need to tackle
immigration policy (and not by building more walls). Immigration law has historically been
used to classify and exclude people on the basis of race (for example, the Chinese
exclusion laws). Today’s immigration policy is no different. Federal activities have been
increased in recent years to target Latinos: for example, after the fortification of the US-
Mexico border in the 1990s, Mexicans are criminally prosecuted for illegally crossing the
border and can face prison time and felon criminal records. Recent research has found that
for Latinos, immigration law is increasingly intertwined with criminal law, resulting in greater
dangers for those crossing the border and increasing fear among immigrants that family
members will be deported. In the “war on terror” Muslims are targets for federal immigration
policy enforcement. Although post-9/11 federal policies supposedly only target noncitizens
suspected of terrorism, in practice, Arab and Muslim citizens are singled out for racial and
religious profiling and denial of due process.
Voting rights
Progress against institutional racism in the electoral system suffered a serious blow at the
hands of the Supreme Court in 2013. There is little doubt that restrictions on voter access –
especially those enacted in the last few years – are driven by Republican partisan
politics and racial politics in particular. The effect is likely to be fewer minorities voting and
more Republicans elected. One voter restriction that deserves special attention is the policy
in many states of banning former prisoners from voting. The effects are strong and
decidedly racial. One needs only look back to 2000 to see that George W. Bush wouldn’t
have been elected if former felons in Florida could have voted.