By Pelumi Adewumi.

“In one of his numerous speeches, I remembered the late Prof. Pius Adesanmi whom the world lost to the fate of the sky said: ” …don’t shoot o, I’m not a Black American o, I’m a Nigerian, don’t shoot o”.

In as much as I did not know what the exact speech was about, I instantly knew the excerpt was in reference to the attitude of the white American cops to African Americans. This attitude is real and subsists, and America seems “unbothered”.

The case of another African American who lost his life to a white cop in the exact way George Floyd did is a case which aptly captures the sad trajectory of the American attitude to the plight of African Americans in the hands of white cops. In the case of Eric Garner, the white cop gaged him with his elbow around his neck as he screamed ” I can’t breathe”. He did 11 times before he gave up the ghost. It took protests to have the cop fired and made to face a grand jury which eventually absolved him of any complicities. He simply was not indicted by that Grand jury.

This sad narrative is not restricted to the American policing. The American justice system has had its own share. I recently had to question the integrity of the American justice system when I consistently heard news of the release of African Americans from several jails, after discoveries not to have been complicit in the crime they were tried and found guilty for in the first place. In fact, some of these Black prisoners were said never to have been at the scene of the crime.

The sad part is that they usually were released after wasting about twenty to thirty years of their lives in incarceration. The State would simply compensate them with some millions of dollars. But what is that to the value of their wasted lives? These cases are even for the ones that were found out.
What about the “innocents” that would have died in jail, or those who never committed any crime but are just there for reasons of the faulty American justice system heavily lopsided against the Blacks? The duo cases of Bill Cosby (an 81 year old former African American comedian) and Harvey Weinstein (a 66 year old White Independent film producer) are apt in this regard.

The former who was charged with Drugging and sexual assault that occurred in his home some fourteen years back and faced a 3-10 years prison sentence had his bail revoked and further fined $25,000; while the latter charged in 2018 with rape, criminal sex act, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct for incidences involving two separate women was released on bail. No fines, and he was placed on house arrest until his eventual sentence. The world of difference in both episodes speaks volume. Not to mention Roman Polaski, Woody Alen, James Levine, and the rest.

I wonder where the African Americans could turn for a solution. The African governments would, ordinarily, have provided the succour, help and support our African brothers and sisters need in that hostile environment. But alas! the black continent still wallow under neo colonialism and servitude. Nigeria, which, for instance, still expects the promised ventilators by the American President as well as the $5.5 Billion loan from a “white” financial institution would dare not raise a dust. Or is it South Africa, which is in hot romance with the Super Powers that will speak for these Americans? Reason why Africa cannot unite in the first place.
They act as children who need their mother’s feeding bottles to survive. But of course, for their own greed and lusts. Of course, the “rulers” lusts. Rulers devoid of pride and dignity of the African race. The plight of the black man means nothing to them. No stake. Yet, they unabashedly parade themselves as African leaders. What irony.

Unfortunately, I do not see any help coming from anywhere in the world, least of all: Africa. These children of the black race in the midst of their haters and those with racial superiority complex, will just have to stand up to the occasion. Maybe someday, the world will join in. We expect more of Martin Luther King, Jnr., who started the struggle decades ago because definitely, the struggle is not over.
Let’s have more of these men, but, not just for the Black race in America, but in and for Africa, and in fact, the entire world. For now, we will just make do with the George Floyd Protests which has spread across America, and generated media concerns while we hope it will be the springboard for a lasting solution to this highly reprehensible malady the world is facing in the 21st Century.

Ces’t finis.”