George Flood's brutal killings are the latest link in an unprecedented chain of events against the African American population

From the birth of the American nation to the present day, it has been accompanied by a dark shadow and a gloomy issue of discrimination against the African American minority, which has not faded in the present era. This, although the Legislature and the judiciary were to hermetically block any expression or pattern of action intended to eradicate and harm this minority, thus undermining the value of equality, which is one of the cornerstones of American democracy.

Riots in Minneapolis // Photo: Reuters

George Floyd's brutal killing, unarmed, last Monday by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who followed a wave of riots across the city that has not yet waned, was the latest in an endless mask of violent events against the Afro community's construction -American, dating back to slavery, and the epoch in the age of discriminatory legislation and degrading interracial segregation, which allegedly legitimized the repeated attacks against this population.

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For example, the 20th century was interwoven with a continuous chain of aggressive actions against neighborhoods, institutions and individuals, who became victims only because of the color of their skin. The shocking massacre of dozens of residents of the Greenwood neighborhood of Oklahoma in 1921, which was destroyed to the ground; The lynching was done in the southern villages and towns, such as, for example, the shocking murder of the 14-year-old in August 1955 of the 14-year-old boy, Truth Till, in the town of Mani, Mississippi. This was after he was charged with a false charge of sexual harassment and, like nine years later, the three human rights activists in Nusuvah County, Mississippi, by the Co-Clax clan, who served in the local law enforcement system and were initially acquitted by a local court.

In addition, there have been ongoing damage to churches where members of the congregation prayed (for example, the Birmingham Baptist Church blast of Alabama in 1963 that took the lives of four girls), as well as its prominent leaders (such as Marathon Luther King, who was shot dead in Memphis on April 4). 1968, by a white assassin, James Earl Ray) - it was just the tip of the iceberg of this violent pattern that was to be etched into American collective memory as a dark stain and a bright warning sign.

However, it was precisely after the federal government forced the South, in the 1950s, after a strong fight, to actually implement the principle of integration in the education system, and after President Lyndon Johnson successfully enacted the principle of political equality, it became clear that violent racism Not yet gone from the American being.

Prominent proof was given in 1992, when the four white police officers, who brutally attacked the African-American Rodney King in the center of Los Angeles, were acquitted of all guilt even though the incident was fully filmed. The same is also true of the many shootings that occurred in the current century, in which African-American civilians were shot to death simply because they appeared to be suspicious of the shooters.

For example, eight years ago, the 17-year-old boy of 17-year-old Trevor Martin in Sanford, Florida, was killed by a white volunteer in the local Civil Guard. Although Martin was not a felon and did not commit any offense, the court accepted the shooter's claim that he felt threatened by him and decided to his credit. Indeed, to this day, the courts of the Southern states give a broad interpretation of the principle of self-determination, through which they continue to avoid the conviction of cold-blooded murderers and without any provocation.

Against this bleak background, it is not surprising that violence against the African American minority has not yet disappeared from America, and it continues to characterize law enforcement agencies today in quite a few cases as occurred earlier this week in Minneapolis, and as occurred earlier this month in Brunswick, Georgia. , When "concerned citizens" shot dead Ahmad Arberry, who was out on his daily run. Also, the attacks against African American churches have not subsided, and chilling evidence of this in recent years has been the shooting attack on Baptist Church in Southern Spring, Texas, in November 2017, and backing the lives of 26 civilians.

Although the deep roots of racial discrimination are anchored on the nation's far side, the question arises as to what are the immediate causes that led to this murky wave's outburst toward the African-American minority in the present century? Of all the factors responsible for this, one fundamental feature stands out: American society has undergone a process of sharp ideological and political polarization in recent decades, which has sharpened the contrasts between the conservative camp and the liberal camp, thus making American political culture more rigid and detached from the establishment, Which was its central characterization at the end of the last millennium.

Barack Obama's attempt, sworn in to the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, to nurse the tears, was unsuccessful. For, for quite a few social groups, his entry into the White House revealed deep, and sometimes repressed, resentments of resentment, prejudice, stereotyping, and suspicion of the other and the different.

For him, Obama missed a golden opportunity to dramatically improve the situation of the African-American minority through far-reaching legislative measures in the style of President Johnson's "Great Society" vision in the 1960s. His decision to avoid sectoral measures of affirmative action, and instead of trying to rule from the state center, seemingly further aggravated the economic plight of broad African Americans (especially in light of the deep crisis that hit them on the eve of his election), further exacerbating their frustration.

His successor in the White House, Donald Trump, has added a flurry of flames on his part (which he tried to put to other meaningful content in retrospect), such as his remarks in Charlottesville, where he argued that members of organizations whose flag the racial message of heart-race supremacy is emblematic are worthy people. At the same time, the fact that Trump's internal agenda included a massive investment in rehabilitating physical and educational infrastructure in America's capitals - which will, when exercised - provide new opportunities for many of the African-American minority members, should not be overlooked - economic.  

What is clear is that there is no magic formula that, at one go, will completely eradicate the ugliness of ugly racism and the threat it poses to the resilience and cohesion of American society. As for the political implications of the tragic affair - the impression now is that Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who enjoys broad support from the African-American community, will make every effort to leverage the event to actually raise this segment of votes.

Since voting percentages in the community are generally relatively low and since the issue has already emerged, as a result of the Corona crisis, that in some key countries the majority of the vote will be by post, the focus of the Democratic campaign on this level will be the attempt to encourage political participation even remotely. In five months, it will be clear whether this strategy has produced the hopeful results for the Democratic camp.