We thought we have left the era where blacks are hunted, disrespected and enslaved but recent attacks on blacks has proven otherwise. African Americans are still hunted, disrespected and victimised in the very country they literally built. Yes, they might have a spirit that forgives readily but we should not forget that a soul that is being mutilated and violated repeatedly can not remain peaceful eternally. It will not matter whether the body heals or not, what will matter is the scar left on a man's soul. Yesterday, it was Ferguson; today, it is Charleston; who the victim will be and where such victim will be unfortunate tomorrow remain unknown.

However, what is not unknown is that, the victims of these victimisation and murder also have the same rights as do those who victimise and murder them. If violent act that is directed towards a particular non-combatants group based on hate to create fear and achieve ideological goal is terrorism, then how come violence against African Americans and other coloured Americans based on hate to achieve supremacy suddenly become different from terrorism. Black American rights are being violated every now and then by both law enforcers and citizens of white descent that pursue supremacy and the US government remain indifferent to such occurrence while it protects human rights of foreigners in their country by exacting pressure on their government.

Different adjective are continuously used by security personnels, the media and the US government to describe every supremacist white folk that attack an African American or any member of coloured community. Such adjectives vary from being lonely, emotionally destabilised to mentally ill for crimes that depicts pre-meditation at its core and characterised by hatred and violence. In a situation whereby muslims commit this same crime as the caucasian, they are called terrorists and when blacks commit this same crime as white, they are called thugs. The American standard in both domestic and foreign affairs has proven to be a double standard one.

This double standard by the US government at home can not but raise concerns by human rights activists whom have repeatedly criticise the attitude of the American government to this destructive events which have the tendency to further polarise a polarised country. Washington, which have persistently spread the gospel of preserving, protecting and defending human rights across the globe, is now found wanting in the same sphere at home. Human rights activists are not the only ones concerned today, as the world is watching with particular interest, how these events that raise the banner of racism will be contained.

Americans today, especially African Americans, are concerned about their safety and are afraid of a situation whereby these racial tensions will go overboard to become a nightmare to the collective security of Americans. It is therefore necessary for the American government to enact laws that will contain racism and all its manifestation in the American society. The drum might be beaten for long without complaining but no one will know exactly when it reaches its breaking point. Though the government was successful in suppressing protests in Ferguson using unconventional means, the next upset might not be able to be suppressed.

While it is glaring to all that security reactions to Ferguson protests went overboard, federal reports only recognised this almost a year after the Ferguson incident. The indifference to all these by the government is an additive to the anger brewed by racists attack from supremacist white folks. To avoid another Montgomery March or worse on the territory of the US towards achieving the same goal that the Martin Luther King Jnr-led Montgomery March seems to have failed to achieve about sixty years ago, the American government must do more to equally protects the African American community in an American society that is increasingly becoming more hostile to its citizens because of the colour of their skin.

Justice must be done and redress must be granted to those who sought it by the American Judiciary, which is currently lacking or inadequate. Reforms that will control access to guns, ban the raising of confederate flags, criminalise the application of excessive restricting measures by law enforcers in domestic violence and other measures that will ensure that racism is not being promoted and neither can it be implemented against any race, must be effected. Without these measures being implemented, we know those that will continue to suffer under this racist atmosphere in America.

We know now what the future for the African Americans will not be different from the victims of Ferguson and Charleston under this racist atmosphere until something is done. The government is the guarantor of security and it will be unfortunate to see a country that keep its armed forces ready on different territories around the globe to be unable to guarantee safety within its territory. In conditions that safety can not be guaranteed by the American government in the American society, for whom the government exists will be questioned and what the American government truly represents will be tested.


Abiola Akintunde

The writer writes via paulakintunde@gmail.com, tweets at @AAbiolat on twitter and blog on www.abiolaoakintunde.

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Indeed white americans r double standard. D r chronic racists since 17...

raayah:
The united States as a country is not racist.
Everyone in the U.S has rights.

Individuals however, could be racist.

Since we cannot control individuals and their thoughts, there is just little we can do to combat racism.

It is general knowledge that thoughts of individuals can not be shaped by the state but what an individual thinks about can be limited when such individual is aware of the certainty of the penalty for hate crime if committed and the color of his/her skin won't be a privilege before justice.

resty4:
Indeed white americans r double standard. D r chronic racists since 17...

Indeed... Though not all of them are racists since 17...