Tag: george floyd

We are in the final – another film festival success for our project. For those of you who missed it I wrote “Make America Love Again”  after hearing Spike Lee – in a moment of inspiration find those words. They inspired me and I wrote the song that night.

I have asked myself repeatedly if this ambition – to create a new American Anthem is of any value given the bigger picture, given the reality of what is happening in the USA. Can I really make a difference?

My answer fluctuates between “no” and “maybe”. In the “no” is a sense of powerlessness, at the seeming immutability of racism in the police and institutions in the US and across the world. In the “maybe” is the knowledge that change only comes when individuals have ideas, connect with others and start to agitate for change. Emma Dabiri says “linking our struggles together is the work of coalition-building, a vision wherein many people can see their interest identified and come together for the common good. We can start to tell new stories rather than fall back on fault lines that were designed to divide us”.

Thus I can and do care, I do feel connected and solidarity with George Floyd and all the other victims of brutality and violence. I have been subjected to brutality and violence in my on life. I have been bullied and picked on, scared for my life. I was once asked if I had any connection to the Holocaust. I was angry, for every Jew the Holocaust experience is ingrained in every cell and so is the fear of being singled out, that it could so easily happen again.

There is a part of me constantly vigilant, on a dark night, in a crowded bar – wondering who is out to get me, how can I be safe. WHO WILL BE NEXT? WILL I BE NEXT? If this is only a small degree of the experience of the experience of being focused on for the colour of your skin it is still too much and sometimes unbearable. Cultural trauma lives on through the generations and in our fight against racism and injustice we are looking for healing on an individual and a societal level. In Spike Lee’s film Black Klansman Ron Stallworth says “If one black man, aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open-, and liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly are, then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.”

I conclude that my efforts mean something, that they are worth it, that I can try in my own way to make a difference, to promote unity and solidarity. As Emma Abiri says “I am doing something not just saying something”. That is enough for me to keep at this for a very long time!

George Floyd’s death was absolutely preventable says a leading cardiologist, how bizarre that the prosecution was required to “humanize” George Floyd for the jury so he was not seen as an object. He was dehumanized by Chauvin, his death embodied the terrible history of the USA in it’s relationship to African Americans.

Why on earth are they required to tell the court GF was a “momma’s boy” if not for fear of the innate prejudices they might encounter in a jury? How bizarre they have to say how he was loved in the community. They want to give a “rounded” view!!!

In the end none of this is relevant, only the simple fact that Chauvin had a knee to his throat for nine minutes!! No matter who or what GF was or had done – this was the crime.

At the same moment as GF is being humanized Daunte Wright is shot dead in Minneapolis. A boy of 20 driving his car is pulled over!! He has to die. This feels endless and terrfiying. It is scarily reminiscent of the beautiful film Slim and the Queen which I recommend to everybody. https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a29993538/queen-and-slim-real-story/. IT “ follows a black couple on the run after they shoot a police officer in an act of self-defense”.  As writer Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas told OprahMag.com, the film is a love letter to the Black community. Even Rihanna gave it her stamp of approval.

This film captivated me, I cared for and loved the characters, I feel at one with them in their humanit. I have nothing in common with Chauvin or any racist person or policeman. Yet, I feel ashamed, not for the first time in my life. I take all this personally. I also feel powerless. What can I do?

Emma Dabiri has written a book called “what white people can do next”! She says “abandon guilt..as a white person dwelling in either state as a response to racism is self-indulgent and white-centred, it will also dictate that you prioritise making yourself feel better rather than bringing about meaningful change”. She is so right and it is an easy trap to fall into, I put my hands up.

What can I do? I chose long ago to challenge racism and anti-semitism at every opportunity and I have occasionally put myself at risk to do so. “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” – Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime

For me Emma Dabiri’s clearest advice is “stop reducing black people to one dimension”. Black people are people with the full range of complexity, contradiction and emotion that comes with our humanity” I give myself a qualified tick for this one – but can I ever completely get rid of the shame – that is work in progress!