Did All Those Peaceful Protests Do Any Good?

They lasted for weeks or months in some places

Racism came to the forefront

The people living in the United States of America have experienced a year of turmoil. Not only was there the coronavirus pandemic which affected the world with millions of positive cases of the virus and so many deaths, but the USA faced issues of racism head-on during the year. There were all too many cases of needless deaths of Black people at the hands of the police and ordinary citizens. Racism seems to have been a major factor in most of those deaths.

After George Floyd died when a Minneapolis police officer held his knee against his neck until he could no longer breathe, peaceful protests erupted throughout the entire country. Large cities and small towns alike became the scenes of demonstrations by people protesting against racism. Although most of the protests remained peaceful, some turned into violent encounters with demonstrators confronted by riot police. There was looting along with other criminal activity and arrests which resulted from what started out as peaceful protests.

George Floyd was not the only one who suffered from racism and died. There were many cases before and after his death where Black people were killed seemingly due to racism. Although none of the protests which occurred after the Minneapolis killing lasted as long or were as violent, there were similar incidents still happening because of racism.

The gratifying thing about all the uprising against racism was that White people and people of other races joined with Blacks to protest against racism. People became outraged that Black people still had to endure such brutal attacks simply because of the color of their skin. Black Lives Matter became an important issue.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed because he was vocal in working hard to end racism. He tried to do it without violence. Congressman John Lewis was beaten brutally by the police in the 1960s when he was a young man trying to fight against racism. There has been some improvement in race relations but not enough.

Will all those protests and demonstrations bring about any good? Has some change happened since then?

Some people say that good changes have been made in various police departments. The general public needs to embrace the fact that racism is wrong in order for meaningful change to come about in the nation. Some members of Congress and local government leaders are trying to make changes for the better to end racism.

Is it enough and is it working?

After Donald Trump continuously blamed China for the coronavirus, American citizens started to take it out on Asian Americans. There were many incidents of hate crimes and racist rants against people of Asian backgrounds since Trump started making those remarks. A resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to condemn racism against Asian Americans which was happening because of COVID was passed with all but eleven Republicans voting against it. They were unwilling to say that racism was wrong against a segment of the American population. They may say that they are against racism, but it speaks volumes that they would not vote to condemn racism. The eleven Republicans who were brave enough to vote yes are to be commended.

Racism is an injustice which has been going on for so many years that it is accepted by some of white society as the norm. Even some racial minorities accept it as their fate in life. They try to endure it and not make too many waves.

George Floyd became a symbol of the systemic racism in the United States. He and others whose lives were taken unjustly because of racism should be remembered. The type of racism which caused their deaths should not be tolerated. Hopefully, some good will come out of the protests which were held after the death of George Floyd.

Let’s not forget these people who died unjustly because of racism. Change needs to come.