I read this headline today in the Truthout news report that I receive everyday. I re-tweeted it, and have posted it here on this page.
It’s important. It’s extremely important. The movement against police brutality directed especially a black men is not a riot. Yes, there has been looting and people hurt. But if you do a quick check, millions of people are walking and talking in cities across the world. Of these millions of people, very few have been arrested, and charged with any crime. Truth be told, several police officers have been fired, and charged with assault in several cities, including Atlanta.
My Soviet Friends Visit the King Center
In 1981, I began a more than a 20 year research project involving hundreds of university colleagues, researchers, middle and high school teachers and students not only from Georgia, where I was professor of science education at Georgia State University, but from the then Soviet Union, and present day Russia.
In 1987, we invited a delegation of ten Soviet professors from Moscow and Leningrad to Atlanta. They were here for two weeks to visit schools, stay in our homes, and participate in cultural and social events.
When I asked them what they would like to see in Atlanta, they all said they would like to go to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. You have to remember that Soviet citizens were living under a totalitarian regime. For example, Jewish citizens who wished to emigrate, especially to Israel, were often denied or refused. They became “refusniks” and often lost their jobs, and had to live a life that was highly stressful and dangerous.
The Soviets that were in my company related strongly to Martin Luther King. They wanted to see first hand, the King Center. They wanted to visit and experience the man who led the nonviolent civil rights movement in the United States. We spent the day at the Center.
At about this time, Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union made changes that led the USSR toward social democracy. He introduced new ideas: Perostroka (political movement of restructuring) and Glasnost (openness). I traveled to the USSR during all of the years that these transitions were happening, and experienced first hand the changes that took place in the lives of Russian people, especially my Russian friends. Some suggest that this was a second Russian revolution.
Mr. George Floyd
Thirty-three years later, there is a revolution taking place in the United States caused by the murder of George Floyd, a black man living in Minneapolis. This revolution is marked by mass demonstrations and protests that are not going to end soon. They shouldn’t. Change is required if the “American experiment” in democracy makes any sense. People have to be treated equally, and be afforded the same opportunities as the privileged have. All people need access to health care, education, financial stability. People need to feel safe anywhere they walk or jog. All of us need to be respected. We need to be accepted.
This uprising is being led by people across the nation, as well as in many countries across the world. They need to be heard. They need seats at the tables of U.S. officials and leaders at all levels of government. Businesses need to step up and make clear that they support organizations such as Black Lives Matter.
Taking a knee was never about the Flag or National Anthem. Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the anthem to protest against racial injustice, police brutality, and systematic oppression in the country. He initiated a movement which resulted in a wider protest movement within the NFL. It waned, but this uprising is affecting what happed to Colin Kaepernick. As we see today, Trump reacted to the players in the NFL by saying that they should be fired. Kaepernick was frozen out of the league because of his political and social action. Yet today, he is still at the center of the uprising. People at many of these protests are “taking a knee,” mimicking Colin Kaepernick’s bravery.
In an article in the Washington Post, Peneil E. Joseph compares what has and hasn’t changed after the uprisings after the assassination of Martin Luther Kiing, Jr and the murder of George Floyd. There have been massive and multiracial uprisings not only in the United States, but in other countries around the world. We’ve also seen the massive use of military style force to try and quell the protests. The White House surrounded itself with thousands of troops, now, and when Dr. King was assassinated. One of the differences that Mr. Joseph points out in his article is that George Floyd’s killing sparked an uprising far move extensive that when Dr. King was killed. As Joseph says, progress has been made “in the fact that an ordinary black man’s public execution has sparked so many white Americans to join in demanding racial justice. He puts it this way:
The Floyd protests are evidence of a racial progress in national understanding of the depth and breadth of white supremacy and institutional racism. Americans of all colors and backgrounds have taken to the street in demonstrations that reflect an understanding that black life is inextricably connected their own. This movement recognizes the long journey ahead to achieving genuine racial justice in this country. Outside of the bubble of black success, talent and genius that we see scattered across America, institutional racism and white supremacy have flourished rather than diminished.
Joseph, Peniel. “Perspective | Protests in the Wake of MLK’s Assassination and George Floyd’s Death Show What Hasn’t – and Has – Changed since 1968.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 June 2020.
Uprising, Not Riots
According to reports from around the world, the vast majority of protests about police killings have not resulted in violence or looting.
As pointed out in this Truthout article, the protests that have emerged after the killing of Mr. Floyd have not only involved African Americans, but they’ve been joined by white, Asian and Latinx protesters.
Yet, in summary, there is a deep, pressing problem that these demonstrations have unearthed, and that is that the U.S. might be a country that violates human rights as we so often claim about other countries.
These demonstrations are bringing to the surface the whole notion of human rights. Martin Juen, Sepa Media provides a context that the uprisings are bringing up, and should be on the table for not only discussion, but action. He says
U.S. officials, whether Democrat or Republican, pretend that only other countries violate human rights. Every year, the State Department issues a report on worldwide human rights with the heaviest criticism aimed at enemies du jour such as China, Russia, and Iran.
Human rights, as defined by U.S. officials, include freedom of the press, maintaining an independent judiciary, and civil rights. But most of the world, the United Nations included, goes further, saying human rights include the right to a job, health care, and housing, among other things.
Not surprisingly, U.S. leaders never mention authoritative international reports detailing U.S. human rights abuses. In 2017, the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights issued a report sharply criticizing U.S. human rights abuses. It noted that the United States has the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries.
“The persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power,” the report stated. “With political will, it could readily be eliminated.”
Joseph, Peniel. “Perspective | Protests in the Wake of MLK’s Assassination and George Floyd’s Death Show What Hasn’t – and Has – Changed since 1968.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 June 2020,
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