IF ANDREW hit me, I had to hit him back. 

Growing up as a twin, like most siblings, we both had a simple rule. If he hit me, I had to hit him back and of course vice versa. 

Until either one of us got our hit, there would be no resolution. 

White people are hitting black people, but black people are not able to hit back. Ever. 

Not in most court rooms, not in most places of work, and not almost anywhere. Being hit time and time again, but being told to stay calm, and not to react. When you do react, you’re the problem. 

This is a vicious cycle of no resolution. 

George Floyd’s death feels different. Not because it has differed to any other unjustified murder that has been carried out by law enforcement on an unarmed black man, but it feels different due to the string of senseless racial discrimination that has occurred in this very same month. Two names – Ahmaud Arbery and Amy Cooper. 

Let’s start off by saying racism isn’t getting worse, it’s simply getting captured. 

Justice

The Ahmaud Arbery murder shows the pivotal role that footage plays in bringing justice after what is basically murder in broad daylight.

Additionally, incidents like that involving Amy Cooper, the white woman who was caught on camera telling Christian Cooper, a black birdwatcher, she was going to tell the police an African American man was “threatening my life” after he asked her to leash her dog in New York’s Central Park.

Incidents like this, which most black people can relate to, are finally also being filmed. 

George Floyd’s murder and the Amy Cooper incident go hand-in-hand. Floyd was killed at the hands of racist law enforcement officers. Black people’s hopes and dreams are also being killed on a day-to-day basis by women like Amy Cooper in the corporate world and our culture is being stolen by organisations that want to profit from us but are then not willing to defend us. 

Samuel Brooksworth

No longer are these injustices simply things happening ‘in our heads’.

Instead the world can tune in front seat and view what many of us have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. 

A white person using their privilege to make a black person feel lesser. 

This particular incident angered many who saw it as Amy Cooper was an educated woman in a senior position within a top corporate organisation. 

One can only imagine how many white people like Amy are in organisations blocking black people from progressing or getting promotions through their mind-sets towards black people, only to hide behind the façade of ‘work place equality’. 

George Floyd’s murder and the Amy Cooper incident go hand-in-hand. 

Killed

Floyd was killed at the hands of racist law enforcement officers. 

Black people’s hopes and dreams are also being killed on a day-to-day basis by women like Amy Cooper in the corporate world and our culture is being stolen by organisations that want to profit from us but are then not willing to defend us. 

We are being killed on the street, in the workplace and in courts rooms. These two incidents highlight why frustration reached boiling point in the Western world due to the injustices we face every day. 

COVID-19 has further highlighted this racism due to the unjust disproportionate rate of fatalities of black people compared to white people. 

Is coronavirus racist? No. 

Are black people more susceptible to contracting the virus? No. 

What has been highlighted by this disproportionate rate of fatalities is the lack of care and attention given to those who have complained or have suffered. 

Fined

Added to this, black, Asian and minority ethnic people in England are 54% more likely to be fined under coronavirus rules than white people are, again showing the disparity between how black people and white people are treated. Why is this? 

Like everyone else, black people are at home in isolation, hopelessly watching these incidents take place around the world and seeing nothing being actioned. 

With Ahmaud Arbery’s death and Amy Cooper’s incident bitterly stacking weight, George Floyd’s murder is the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.