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Anna Posyniak-Dutka Every Life Matters

George Floyd was a 46‑year‑old African‑American murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. A shop assistant called the police suspecting that Mr Floyd had used a counterfeit twenty‑dollar billcounterfeit twenty‑dollar billcounterfeit twenty‑dollar bill during a transaction in the shop. Four police officers arrived at the scene and arrested Mr Floyd. During the arrest, one of the officers kneltknelt [kneel]knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck and back for nearly 9 and a half minutes. The detainee’s crydetainee’s crydetainee’s cry that he couldn’t breathe remained without officers’ reaction, which resulted in Mr Floyd’s death.

People took to the streetstook to the streets [take to the streets]took to the streets to protest against police brutality and ill‑treatmentill‑treatmentill‑treatment of citizens of non‑white ethnic backgrounds. A series of protests, which in many places turned into riotsturned into riots [turn into riots]turned into riots, spread across the United States and all over the world. The police officer responsible for the death of George Floyd was arrested and put on trialput on trial [put somebody on trial]put on trial. He was found guilty ofwas found guilty of [be found guilty of]was found guilty of murder and sentenced towas sentenced to [be sentenced to]sentenced to 22 and a half years imprisonmentimprisonmentimprisonment. For many Black Lives Matter (BLM) proponentsproponents [proponent]proponents it was not enough. They keep fighting to eradicate racismeradicate racismeradicate racism and violence against the black community.

George Floyd’s was neither the first nor the last case of a person of colourperson of colourperson of colour being an object of brutal ill‑treatment by law enforcementlaw enforcementlaw enforcement or other authorities who should be paradigmsparadigms [paradigm]paradigms of how to fight systemic racismsystemic racismsystemic racism instead of becoming part of it. The tensions and anger had been building up for years. Unfair treatment and abuse of powerabuse of powerabuse of power used against people of colour often made the headlinesmade the headlines [make the headlines]made the headlines. The BLM (Black Lives Matter) activists demand that it change and that the lives of black people are valued on a par withon a par withon a par with all other citizens.

The BLM movement originated fromoriginated from [originate from]originated from an event as dramatic as George Floyd’s case. It was the death of Trayvon Martin who was killed by an armed vigilantearmed vigilantearmed vigilante in 2012. Trayvon was 17 at the time and he was shot dead by a neighbourhood watch volunteerneighbourhood watch volunteerneighbourhood watch volunteer who found Trayvon’s behaviour suspicious as the boy was walking the streets alone in the rain. The shooter was acquittedwas acquitted [be acquitted]was acquitted. It caused a nationwide outragecaused a nationwide outrage [cause a nationwide outrage]caused a nationwide outrage. Alicia Garza, one of the activists, posted a comment on social media, part of which, namely Black Lives Matter, was further shared as a hashtag and soon started to live a life of its ownlive a life of its ownlive a life of its own. Online platforms were created where activists from all over the country connected to exchange information and support one another’s actions. People of all ethnic origins came together to express their disapproval, sometimes in silence and often in vocalvocalvocal protests.

Almost 10 years separate the cases of Trayvon and George and although numerous protests were held and some steps were undertaken to curb the unjustified use of forcecurb the unjustified use of forcecurb the unjustified use of force and to end the lack of accountabilityend lack of accountabilityend the lack of accountability among police officers, the situation does not seem to have improved much. People of colour are still wrongfully accused ofwrongfully accused ofwrongfully accused of crimes more often than white citizens. Dishonourable statisticsdishonourable statisticsDishonourable statistics clearly show that black people are far more likely to be killed by police than white people in the United States. BLM is still a call to actioncall to actioncall to action. Paying tributes to victims, manifesting support for the case or even exerting social pressure on legislators are not enough. People’s thinking about racial equality has to change in order for reality to become a safe place for everyone.

1 Źródło: Anna Posyniak-Dutka, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.