In the last days of May, 2020, a video clip went viral showing a white policeman kneeling on the neck of a black man with his hands in handcuffs and calling out, "I Can't Breathe."
Some minutes later, the defendant was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The film marks the onset of a nationwide uprising against oppression, racial discrimination as well as inequality in a land that claims human rights and freedom.
The wave of protests spread from the city of Minneapolis, where the murder took place, to different states, and large crowds gathered in front of the White House.
Apart from New York and Washington, D.C., which could be regarded as two significant political poles of the United States, violence also escalated in Minnesota and California.
Soon after that the shops were looted, and the American media focused more on covering the issue than covering the protest that had been started against inequality and injustice.
Numerous slogans were chanted, the most important of which was "The life of blacks is important."
The Women’s activist Tamika Mallory stated that murder of blacks is an organized activity nationwide and "we are in a critical situation, she said adding that blacks lose their lives in such an emergency".
“We can't look at the incident (the death of George Floyd) as a separate event,” she further noted.
Also, the former president of the US Barack Obama issued a statement on the incident, saying the waves of protests that have swept across the country have represented a legitimate as well as honest frustration over decades of unsuccessful efforts to enhance police performance and, more generally, the criminal justice system in the United States.
The overwhelming majority of protesters are brave, peaceful, responsible and inspiring. They deserve support and respect, not condemnation, he further noted.
Over the past few months, the mood swings of fear, sadness, uncertainty, and hardship caused by a pervasive disease (COVID-19) have been combined with a sad reminder of the prejudice and inequality that still plagues the lives of many people in the country, he underscored.
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