Black Lives Matter

A Strong Driver of Change!

Satabdi Datta

By this time we are more or less aware about the horrific incident of the death of African-American George Floyd under police custody followed by widespread protest against police brutality and racial discrimination in USA. Although the 'Black Lives Matter' protest got triggered by the death of George Floyd, but it has got it’s root further deeper down the history of oppression and a chain of incidents of discrimination in the continent. It is also supplemented by the recent economic struggles and malfunctioning administrative actions to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been observed that the 'black' population in USA have been physically affected more by COVID-19 compared to the 'white' ones. Thus, apart from the common threat of the virus the 'black' population is more vulnerable due to the history of racism and discrimination in this 'developed' country. It has been evident that this disproportionate vulnerability of the 'black' population compared to that of the 'white' has been primarily due to the historical discrimination against the African-American community who are disadvantageously positioned in the society and economy in terms of living conditions, access to education, healthcare and other facilities, job discrimination, income inequality, racial discrimination in case of public and private investment through 'redlining', lack of political representation, racially biased treatment by the authorities and a portion of fellow citizens and the list goes on. For example, it has been seen that higher proportion of 'black' Americans are wrongfully convicted for a crime that they have not committed compared to their 'white' counterparts. It naturally imposes an enormous physical and psychological stress on this section of the society.  It is no less severe than the caste and religion based discrimination that are prevalent in other parts of the world. The COVID-19 scenario has magnified and exposed all these discrimination to a large extent. 

The present socio-economic status of the African-Americans in USA and the 'systemic racism' is rooted in the dark history of slavery in the continent. According to a detailed database on the trans-Atlantic slave trade (https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database#tables), USA has been one of the major destinations of slave trade that continued during 16th to 19th Century across the world. The highest volume of slave trade occurred in USA during 1751- 1825. But this slave trade and slavery continued till further later. The originating region of slave trade had been mostly African countries. This history of long term slavery in USA formed the base of the current state of the society in USA where even after slavery was stopped, the traces of that are reflected in ownership of property, access to social benefits, means to strengthen economic status (i.e. health and education) and mis-treatment by the authority and a portion of the society. Hence opportunities to long term success have been biased and it continues over generations for the African-Americans in general. For example, according to a study on Atlanta real estate market (The Atlanta journal report 'The colour of money') it was found that in 1980s (years after the abolition of slavery), the banks were more likely to sanction loans to lower income 'white' families than the middle or upper income 'black' families. The biased system of 'redlining' was found to be persisting even in 2017. All these manifested in the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.

In spite of the biased treatment of the African-Americans by different stakeholders of the country, it is a sign of hope that the spread of the protest against the death of George Floyd and the 'Black Lives Matter' movement is enormous. A section of the 'white' population of USA is also an active part of the movement along with the African-Americans and it is expected to be a strong driver of change against 'systemic racism'. Equity of opportunity and inclusivity is the need of the hour.