Page 54 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 7
P. 54
FEATURES
features that continue to mis- supposedly alien peoples”, those of fascism, the demons
guide their current encounters constitutes the visible link to a of the latter are very present,
with ‘the Others’ who are now cultural pathology which reach- and more often than we like to
living in Europe. It is probable es into the innermost ways in admit, dominant. We mustn’t
that the present day Trump-led which British society operates forget that what Floyd encoun-
America is also misguided by today. Indeed for ages, argu- tered is deeply embedded in the
same debris of the European ments over racial divisions, over American psyche, where Derek
pathology. who is human enough to qualify Chauvin, his killer-cop felt he
for rights and recognition have was entitled to kill a black man,
Three months ago, comment- impinged upon the formation of with total impunity. We mustn’t
ing on the emerging new form epistemological and ethical as also forget that America is fun-
of racism brought about by well as historical and political damentally a country of immi-
Britain’s exit from the Euro- categories. During the 20th cen- grants, even if white Americans
pean Union (Brexit), I argued tury, these arguments became think they own it.
that over the years, some of closely connected with the com- Under the current supportive
us including the likes of Gil- plex demands for justice and global conditions, triggered by
roy, Stuart Hall and others that freedom made by Africans and the acute crisis of the capital-
have long advocated for the other colonised people bent on ist enterprise’s exhaustion of
idea that there ought to be a changing their political status by the‘general profitability’, it is
political or ethical obligation seeking liberty from and equali- necessary to appreciate the
for Britain to deal with racism ty with those who had colonised impact of the work of ‘Black
and its consequences were them. Lives Matter’ social movement
dismissed by the establishment that have done the black com-
as endorsers of victimology, Black Lives Matter munity an admirable service by
threatening Britain’s universal Black Lives Matter social move- exhaustively highlighting what
and liberal standards of justice ment has successfully managed Kwame Ture termed as ‘institu-
and governance. My argument to highlight the depth of bru- tional racism’deeply entrenched
was, and still is, that today’s tality, injustice and unaccount- in the American psyche and
socio-cultural and socio-political ability that American society, more importantly for calling out
conflicts, which characterize the especially law enforcement, loud for fundamental structural
relation between Africans and harbors toward black people. changes in America’s social,
the British political and justice The movement has brought to political and cultural structures.
establishments are firmly rooted the fore the unchecked pow-
in Britain’s imperial and colonial ers of the police, their military The struggle as they say
histories. Though that history weaponry and their capricious CONTINUES!
remains marginal and largely use of it. They have demon-
unacknowledged, surfacing strated that the problem of
only in the service of nostalgia policing in America is more than
and melancholia, it represents that of individual bad officers;
a store of unlikely connections the problem, they have high-
and complex interpretative lighted, is a culture that protects
resources. This is because the wrongdoers, tolerates mendac-
imperial and colonial life con- ity, rewards blind loyalty and
tinues to shape political life in a is fiercely resistant to change.
developed but no longer ‘Great’ More deeply, the movement has
Britain. shown that America has a law
Paul Gilroy has further posited enforcement culture that does
that whatever the immediate not regard black lives as worthy
institutional settings, the resi- of protection.
dues of imperial and colonial Stepping back historically, al-
culture live on whatever ‘race’ though America and most of the
is invoked. Race, or as Gilroy world have chosen to live by the
rather put it, “the presence of fictions of liberalism, and not
54 | heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY
