Why has George Floyd’s murder triggered off black outrage worldwide?
For varied reasons some Nigerians
Ask why Nigerians agitate over events outside their shores whereas they are silent to the anomalies within! There is a point to the query but I think it is a myopic point of view and that these events often emphasize the brotherhood of man.
For one thing, the nose is closest to the eye, yet the eye cannot see all of it.
For another, sometimes the pain inflicted on another may hurt more than the one inflicted on ourselves. Whereas we feel the full dimensions of the pains we bear, it is often IMAGINATION that feels the full scope of it! We feel the physicality of our pain but it is imagination that often makes us feel more vividly the full emotional ambience of another’s pain!
In spite of race, religion or other differences we may have, humanity is basically one. All blood is red. Laughter and tears, joy, sorrow, pain and pleasure speak the same language.
To many Nigerians, the amalgamation of 1914 was a fraud. The diversity of tribes or tribal units or nations, as some choose to call them, indicates that ‘Nigerians’ are not one and have no business being bunched into one nation.
If that makes sense, then it also makes sense that the great nation called USA, composed of a great diversity of nations as it is, is also a fraud. And now right before our very eyes, the murder of George Floyd has shattered the U of USA into a million different pieces. It has exposed the underbelly of the America that is exported and its dividing lines become clearer for all to see. It brings into clear relief the parallel relationship between TRIBALISM and RACISM! So, if there is a sense of indignation amongst Nigerians when injustice is so vulgarity inflicted by white America on African Americans, it is because they are themselves so familiar with institutionalized injustice, the personal pains they have known and endured all their lives – a pain that has become almost second nature to them!
But is the USA nation a fraud? Really? Of course not! It remains, arguably, the greatest nation on earth – much envied, much emulated, much rivaled.
So, what is required in order to be a great nation?
A body of good laws, and a justice system that ensures that everyone within that umbrella has equal rights, and equitable shares in the commonwealth! This includes, of course, a leadership with a responsible sense of duty that is dedicated to the sworn obligation to the constitutional mandate, and to the wellbeing of all the citizenry. Also importantly, a citizenry that holds its representatives to account!
The USA prides itself as a nation of laws. The murder of George Floyd has challenged that assertion and the world is enraged because of the failings that are being exposed daily in the execution of justice and the utterances of leadership.
In times like this, technology has stood tall, enabled, and empowered a bird’s eye view on the world. InfoTech is teaching the world that justice and humanity can no longer remain business as usual, remain mere slogans and dogma glibly quoted but never adhered to. It has called on the people to be more participatory in the rituals that determine the value of their lives.
Violence is never a solution. It cannot be. You do not cut of your nose to spite your face. But you cannot afford to be a silent lamb led to the slaughter by butchers like Derek Chauvin or you will be slaughtered!
- Ihria Enakimio
