Waking up on May 26, 2020, to check my timeline on various social media and all I see is hashtags like #justice4georgefloyd, #blm, #policebrutality, etc.
Digging deeper out of genuine curiosity, I find a video of a black man being arrested by a team of white cops in the US, state of Minnesota. One having his knee pressed on George Floyd’s neck while in custody even as he kept saying, “…I can’t breathe.”

George Floyd died eventually out of suffocation. Nope! He did not die a natural death, he was murdered! Whoa! Of course, you heard me right. A white cop murdered an unarmed black detainee in cold blood with his knee.
It is sad. It is cruel and inhumane. Something a first responder should never do.

This is unfair and I ask myself if I deserve this kind of treatment just because of my skin color?
Of course not! I do not deserve to die like Ahmaud Arbery with neither of my killers being charged. I do not need to be gunned down like Philando Castile. I do not deserve to die like little George Stinney Jr. just because I am black.
Even the most hardened criminals have rights and do not deserve this form of death.
The violent behavior meted out to blacks by whites with impunity must stop.

Just like Lucky Dube sang, “…They were created in the image of God and who are you to separate them? Bible says, he made man in his image but didn’t say black or white. Look at me you see black, I look at you, I see white…”
Yes! Our skins show different colors but we are one people. Thus, no color has superiority over the other.

Dirty cops are everywhere. Police brutality is everywhere and must be condemned. In Ghana, the police they say is our “friend” but we have our “friends” abusing us on several occasions, just like in the case of the Midland financial services, The Ghanaian Times newspaper journalists being assaulted, The Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections, etc.
These are officers expected to protect us but going contrary to what is stated in The Ghana Police Service Act 350; “It shall be the duties of the police service to prevent and detect crimes, to apprehend offenders and to maintain public order and safety of persons and properties”.
If those who swore an oath to protect us are the same people abusing us, then whom do we run to in times of trouble?

We have put in place systems to protect and govern us, but we have left some parts of the system that should be checking the actions of goons who end up in uniforms dormant. Thus, they feel too powerful because they are usually not punished for the cruel acts they commit while in uniform.
Why do we still have policemen who have histories of civilian brutality serving in Ghana?

The chain of command exists to ensure that power, which has the tendency to corrupt individuals does not end up corrupting them.
Few men in uniform keep creating animosity for the police force and that is a recipe for eventual chaos.
It is high time police officers are made to face the severity of the laws for misconduct. Not just in Ghana but globally.

Any of us or our loved ones in any parts of the world could have been in the unfortunate shoes of George Floyd. It does not necessarily have to happen in one’s country to take a stance. Racism and police brutality are global pestilences. I see some of us condemning our colleagues and a couple of celebrities who have joined the “black lives matter” campaign and it is just sad to see you stand for injustice by not just deciding to be silent but also, attack the few who still want to make the world a better place.
Remember, “The world suffers a lot not because of the violence of bad people but because of the silence of good people” – Napoleon Bonaparte. The good people who have become silent oppressors!

People of different races, especially blacks are suffering but African leaders are unable to condemn these acts of white supremacy. Ghana themed 2019, “the year of return” yet our brothers and sisters are suffering in the US. Why can’t we stand up for ours?

Racism is endemic. We keep making ethnocentric statements that suggest we only have love for ours. We hear statements like “We don’t marry Ewes in our family because they love Voodoo”, “Fante women are bad, and so we don’t marry them here”, “Northerners are not fit to lead”, etc. And we usually employ and favor only people from our tribes.
So I ask myself, do we even love our own? If not, then how do we expect to be loved by others?
The Black Eyed Peas questions; “Where is the Love?” and tells us “But if you only have love for your own race then you only leave space to discriminate, and to discriminate only generates hate, and when you hate, you’re bound to get irate”

Let us find love in our hearts for all. Let us say no to the spirit of timidity and join the global fight against police brutality and racism. Black Lives Matter. Oh, yes! And all lives matter as well!
Edmund, E. Terkpernor
May 31, 2020

3 comments:

  1. No one should be above the law.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the greatest of them all, conquers this canker we face as a people of one kind.

    ReplyDelete

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