Why racism persists in America and what’s next?

Faizul Islam
Published : 12 July 2020, 00:31 AM
Updated : 12 July 2020, 00:31 AM

On May 25, 2020, the world was horrified to witness the graphic 8 minute and 46-second video, which showed Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, choking an unarmed and non-resistant black man, George Floyd, by forcing his knee on Floyd's neck. Floyd was heard saying, "I can't breathe…." Chauvin did not remove his knee even after Floyd lost consciousness.

Without this impeccable graphic video evidence, there would have been a traditional and official statement that Floyd had died resisting arrest, and the rest would end in the oblivion. The May 25 event has also rekindled the mindset about the racial prejudices that have for generations victimised the blacks. The outrage subsequently led to demonstrators chanting "Black Lives Matter", and "I Can't Breathe" all over the United States and other parts of the world.

Racism and slavery have been intertwined on this continent dating back to 1619 when chained and shackled slaves first arrived on its shores. When the United States of America gained independence in 1776, the country inherently imbibed slavery and racism.

For long 244 years, slavery and racism were prevalent on the continent. Slavery was abolished in 1863. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Reconstruction Amendments to the United States Constitution granted emancipation and constitutional rights of citizenship to all African Americans, most of whom had recently been enslaved. For some time, African Americans voted and held political office, but they were increasingly deprived of civil rights, often due to Jim Crow laws, and subjected to discrimination and sustained violence by whites in the South.

On Dec 1, 1955, a black American, Rosa Parks, was seated in the front row of the "coloured section" of the bus. She was jailed for refusing to yield her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws. A Montgomery Bus Boycott took place from Dec 5 through to Dec 20, 1955, organised by a young Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK). This boycott is regarded as the first large-scale US demonstration against segregation and the beginning of the civil disobedience movement.

MLK became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement (CLM) from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He is best known for advancing civil rights through non-violence and civil disobedience. He helped organise the historic Aug 28, 1963, march on Washington D.C., where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The protracted CLM resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the movement. First proposed by John Kennedy, the legislation was then signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. In subsequent years, Congress expanded the Act and passed additional civil rights legislation such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment.

Two of MLK's calls echo even to this day, namely, "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality" and "One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."

The May 25, 2020 police brutality against a black, perhaps, reflects the climax of the first excerpt. The second excerpt is still true as evident by the following statistics. i) The typical non-Hispanic black household has accumulated only about one-tenth of the wealth of a typical non-Hispanic white family. ii) The median household income among blacks is also lower than it is for non-Hispanic whites. iii) In February 2020, the unemployment rates stood at 3.1% for whites and a near-record low of 5.8% for blacks. iv) The poverty rate for blacks was 20.8%, compared to 8.1% for non-Hispanic whites in 2018. v) The coronavirus pandemic has been more deadly for blacks than for non-Hispanic whites, who account for more than 60% of the population, but only about 53% of the deaths from the virus.

Political observers are now drawing parallels and envisioning what Kennedy-Johnson administrations were for proposing and implementing civil rights legislation in the 1960s, Obama-Biden administrations could achieve even more along those fronts in the years ahead.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has said he hopes to make a decision on his running mate by Aug 1. In light of the Floyd martyrdom, Biden is likely to choose a black woman to be his vice-president in the ticket. The highly likely candidates are Senator Kamala Harris, Florida Rep. Val Demings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, and former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams.

Three Jun 8 CNN polls' results published are very revealing. i) 84% of Americans say the peaceful protests happening all across the country after police violence against African Americans are justified. ii) 42% of Americans calling race relations extremely important to their vote for president this fall, followed by the economy (39%) and health care (39%) near the top of campaign issues. iii) 63% of Americans think Biden will be better in handling race relations. A Jun 25 Washington Post-Ipsos poll results reveal 92% of registered black voters would vote for Biden.

On Jun 25 – just a month later after the barbaric killing event – the US House of Representatives, largely on party lines (236 Democrats to 181 Republicans), passed the sweeping George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 aimed at cracking down on police brutality and recording patterns of misuse of force across the country, the first concrete legislative step as the national movement continues unabated. The narrower Republican proposal hit a procedural roadblock when Senate Democrats opposed it. The George Floyd 2020 legislation is expected to be signed into law, only after the Democrats take over the two legislative chambers and the White House on Election Day scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 3, 2020. If so, Democrats should pass as many race-related legislation before the 2020 midterm US elections.

The current movement now being advanced by protesters and the holding of banners on a daily basis nationwide and the ensuing march in Washington D.C. scheduled for Aug 28, 2020 – at the call of black activist Rev. Al Sharpton – have to be transformed into voters and ballots on Nov 3, 2020. In a democracy, changes take place at the ballot box and elections have consequences.