The wave of protests in American cities after the death of George Floyd shouldn't come as a surprise. Despite the two-term presidency of Barack Obama, the US is still shaped by racism, says Miodrag Soric.
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Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Orange County Register/S. Reingewirtz
"A riot is the language of the unheard": More than half a century ago, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. explained why black people take to the streets in the United States.
It's horrifying to see how little has changed since then. Once more, thousands are demonstrating against racism and police brutality. And once more, they have little hope that anything will change.
Despite the protests, most black people will continue to miss out on their share of US prosperity, and go on earning less than white people. Many will still lack the chance to better themselves, and they will still be forced to send their children to inadequate schools. They will still be less likely to be covered by health insurance, have a lower life expectancy and they will be more likely to end up in prison, and for longer sentences. All of this simply because they're not white.
Black people are not protesting in dozens of cities across the US because they feel they are being treated as second-class citizens, as one commentator claimed. They're protesting because they really are second-class citizens.
On paper, every American citizen is equal before the law. But in reality, US police stop people on the street simply because of their appearance, even when they're not seen as suspects. And if they make a brutal mistake during such an arrest, as in the case of George Floyd, they often deny it. To make matters worse, the local district attorney's office is often complicit in such cover-up attempts.
Protests not enough
In the US, local authorities are not monitored by a functioning, independent body. There are too many lawbreakers sitting in police cars pretending to be guardians of the law, and too many white people who have simply tolerated the abhorrent deeds committed by these officers. King was speaking about the majority of Americans when he said: "He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
But it's not enough to just protest against evil; it must be stopped. The first black US president, Barack Obama, tried to do so but ultimately failed. During his term in office, a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri killed Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, with eight shots, triggering nationwide protests.
And it was also during Obama's presidency that the black New Yorker Eric Garner, taken in a chokehold by a police officer, forced out the words "I can't breathe" before his death. A week ago, George Floyd gasped out those same last words as an officer pressed his neck to the ground with his knee for almost nine minutes.
Helpless in the face of everyday racism
US presidents may command the world's biggest army, but they remain helpless in the face of the everyday racism perpetuated by their compatriots. Of course, they should at least be able to condemn these injustices and show compassion for the victims of police brutality, if only to avoid fueling further rage and emotion.
Miodrag Soric is DW's former Washington correspondent
But, as was to be expected, President Donald Trump has failed dismally even in this respect, showing about as much empathy as a meteorite crashing into a field of flowers. Trump only has eyes for his reelection, and believes he can curry favor among white voters with his military rhetoric. This strategy might indeed pay off in November, which reflects poorly on the US.
What happened to George Floyd is unfortunately not an isolated case; there have been thousands of similar incidents. Prejudice against blacks is harbored not just by police officers, district attorneys and judges, but also by teachers and employers. These protests are directed against this everyday racism.
But because it's so much a part of daily life in the US, it remains difficult to combat. For years, human rights activists have been calling for improved training for US police officers. For decades, they've been calling for independent monitoring of the work done by police and district attorneys, and for stricter weapons laws. But so far, little has happened.
However, much as one might sympathize with the cause of the protesters, it still must be said that violence leads nowhere. It can't be defended, let alone justified. And acts of violence just give more fodder to the prejudices held by many white people.
So what's left? As Martin Luther King Jr. said: "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Admittedly, however, that will be of little comfort to the family of George Floyd.
In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
US protests against the systemic mistreatment of blacks by police have sparked violent confrontations. President Donald Trump has said the military is "ready, willing and able'' to step in.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Cortez
'I can't breathe'
Tense protests over decades of police brutality against black people have quickly spread from Minneapolis to cities across the US. The protests began in the Midwestern city earlier this week, after a police officer handcuffed and pressed a knee on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, until he stopped breathing and died.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/C. Sipkin
A 'gentle giant'
Floyd grew up in Houston, Texas, and moved to Minneapolis in 2014 for work. Before his death, he was looking for work after having been laid off from his job as a security guard at a Latin bistro due to Minnesota's stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions. Standing 6 feet, 6 inches (1.98 meters) tall, his friends described him as a "gentle giant."
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/O. Messinger
From peaceful to violent
Protests were mostly peaceful on Saturday, though some became violent as the night wore on. In Washington, D.C., the National Guard was deployed outside the White House. At least one person died in shootings in downtown Indianapolis; police said no officers were involved. Officers were injured in Philadelphia, while in New York two NYPD vehicles lurched into a crowd, knocking people to the ground.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA/J. Mallin
Shops destroyed, looted
In Los Angeles, protesters faced off with officers with shouts of "Black Lives Matter!" as police confronted crowds with batons and rubber bullets. In some cities including LA, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, protests have turned into riots, with people looting and destroying local shops and businesses.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Pizello
'When the looting starts…'
President Donald Trump has threatened to send in the military to quell the protests, saying his "administration will stop mob violence and will stop it cold." Trump's response has inflamed tensions across the country. He blamed the rioting on alleged far-left groups, but Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told reporters he had heard multiple unconfirmed reports of white supremacists stoking the violence.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA/K. Birmingham
Media in the crosshairs
Many journalists covering the protests have found themselves targeted by law enforcement. On Friday, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and his crew were arrested while covering the story in Minneapolis, and several reporters have been hit with projectiles or detained while on air. DW's Stefan Simons was fired at by police twice as he reported on the unrest over the weekend.
Image: Getty Images/S. Olson
Going global
North of the US border, in Canada, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Vancouver and Toronto. In Berlin, American expats and other demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy. In London, protesters kneeled in Trafalgar Square before marching past the Houses of Parliament and stopping at the British capital's US Embassy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Soeder
At Trump's front door
Protests raged in the US capital, Washington, after the district began its 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on Sunday. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, with some lighting fires outside the president's residence. <i>The New York Times</i> reported that Secret Service had brought Trump into a bunker as a safety precaution.
Image: Reuters/J. Ernst
Curfews in major US cities
Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Washington D.C. and other US cities extended curfews as protests entered a sixth night on Sunday. The state of Arizona in the west instituted a statewide, weeklong curfew after demonstrators clashed with police. Around 5,000 troops from the National Guard also have been deployed in 15 US states.
Image: Reuters/P.T. Fallon
Trump threatens to bring in US military
In the face of renewed protests on Monday, Trump threatened to deploy the military if states failed to "defend their residents." As he made his remarks, security authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to force protesters from nearby Lafayette Park. Trump then walked from his residence to a church in the park, where he held a Bible aloft during a photo opportunity.
Image: Reuters/T. Brenner
Peaceful demonstrations
Many protests in the US have remained peaceful, with groups of demonstrators standing together against police brutality. In Manhattan's Times Square on Monday, protesters lay on the ground with their hands behind their back, mimicking the position Floyd was in when he was killed. Though some people have resorted to violence, several US mayors and governors have praised the protests.
