Black Lives Matter - Manchester

Staying at home

On another day and at another time, I probably would have gone out to join the Black Lives Matter protest in the centre of Manchester, but I had to be conversant of a number of things. I could be vulnerable given my medical history, then considering how it is said the Coronavirus appears to affect people of the Black, Africa and minority ethnic origins disproportionately, one should not take unnecessary risks. [BBC News]

Yet, once should be careful not to engage in gestures that might have no impact, though the teeming crowds around the world are sending a clear message that Black Lives Matter. It so happens that some would give the refrain of All Lives Matter. Indeed, all lives do matter, but what is important at present is when a part of the All is affected and identified, that particular part is addressed.

From a finger to the body

My whole body matters, in health and wellbeing, but if I hurt my finger, I don’t say my body hurts or my head hurts, I say, my finger hurts. At that point, my finger matters and until that finger issue is addressed and healed, I will not be thinking of anything else.

Blacks are part of the whole of the human race, we have observed the murder of George Floyd, a black man with the knee of a white officer of the law on his neck until he expired, we are reviled and outraged. His story encapsulates that many occurrences of the loss of black lives at the hands of white policemen or people with privilege acting with impunity all without any consequence.

Even with the obvious public extrajudicial killing and a good video record of the heinous act, it took four days for the law to take the perpetrator into custody with a charge.

Until it matters

Take that all together, indeed, All Lives Matter, but today, knowing and seeing what has been happening to blacks in all sorts of situations going back to time immemorial with too much to list from deprivations, discrimination, denigration, abuses, slavery, and much else, Black Lives Matter.

Until Black Lives Matter, Black Rights Matter, Black Aspirations Matter, Black Freedoms Matter, Black Opportunities Matter, Black Equalities Matter, we would always, always fall short of the greater encompassing cry of All Lives Matter. Each element of identity, grouping, or expression that finds themselves bereft of the greater goals of human achievement and actualisation make the goal of All Lives Matter less true and we cannot ignore that.

We are the hurting finger

When anyone is compelled to say All Lives Matter, they should look around to lift up those who are not standing on the same plinth as them celebrating the fulness of the comforts that gives them the laudable voice of All Lives Matter.

It is Blacks today, the hurting finger of the whole body of humanity, it could be another other group tomorrow, and to them now and in the future, we owe in our strength to comfort the afflicted, soothe their pain, recognise their yearnings and gather to give them not just the vision of better things but helping them on to the route to human prosperity.

We must strive to see that no one is left behind and everyone regardless of where they are in life or station can in honesty and truthfully say All Lives Matter because we are in the common cause to make Every Life Matter, from one to all.

Teargas and smoke in pandemic times

The root of public unrest

I do wonder if the right questions are asked that try to determine why people protest and those protests sometimes lead to the destruction of life and property in the aftermath of what the people consider is police brutality as the wheels of justice roll with lethargy and inertia if they do ever turn at all.

If there were a sense of justice that law enforcement was fully accountable for their actions in their call to duty without a seeming blanket of exculpation built into the system to exonerate working from the premise the police are infallible and the victim can never be innocent, maybe, just maybe, the frustrations of the people won't be pouring out onto the streets, they would allow the system of justice to run its course.

Weed out the rotten cops

The police forces know the bad eggs amongst their lot, sworn allegiances and unquestioned support amongst the ranks leaving the institutions operating beneath the standards of probity and integrity and they harbour the undesirables always stores up trouble for the future when for each infraction by the irresponsible crew they are assured immunity to go out to act with more impunity.

They should stop shielding the worst amongst their ranks, punish them and kick them out before they kindle the tinder of societal unrest and set in trail irreparable damage.

America is imperfect, grossly flawed, and has constantly been in a pressure cooker tensioned situation since its birth. The more we think things are improving there are many examples of where things are no better. To then be cursed with a leadership that has no facility or capacity to unify the people in a common purpose for the good is like Ichabod is enthroned on One Nation unto God.

Teargassing, smoking, and respiratory pandemics

There is much difficulty controlling violent protests, angry mobs, and riotous crowds in ordinary times. Crowd dispersal with tear gas during a global pandemic exacerbated by a possibly airborne virus that could cause respiratory distress and grave illness as we are instructed to keep safe distances between each other computes on the side of the unbelievably incredulous like no one is using their senses.

One other thing, I would hope the pandemic addresses with some determination is smoking on the streets either from cigarettes or vaping. For if the social-distancing requirement is to prevent contracting COVID-19, what should not be happening is people walking into the clouds of smoke or vapour expelled from the lungs of possibly infected people.

Ban it, treat it

I do not think it would be safe to have people trying to dodge smoke trails too as they walk the streets. It would call for designated smoking areas along with radical programmes to get people off tobacco because it would not augur well for pavement rage to develop from people taking umbrage to others who in their carefree use of tobacco products visibly pollute the air we breathe as we incidentally, walk into their smoky slipstream.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I started smoking at 14 and gave it up at 18. I cannot remember what inspired it, I just stopped, I did not enjoy it anymore. I used to smoke menthol cigarettes then. Now, my doctor considers having dropped smoking over 3 decades ago as being a non-smoker.

Police recklessness in Amsterdam

On the town as a Nigerian

It is unfortunate this piece of news did not get reported in the mainstream expatriate media and it would have passed me by without realising that certain horrible things are happening in the Netherlands.

As it transpired, the Grand Café is a successful night spot run by a Nigerian in middle of vibrant South-East Amsterdam.

On June the 15^th a popular Nigerian comic was performing to an audience of Nigerians and part of his routine included a 419 sketch "I Go Chop Your Dollars" which appears to praise practitioners of the criminal advance fee fraud activity; but one can say there are some who know irony, fewer who know satire and others are oblivious of social commentary that comic acts depict.

I go chop your dollars video

Nkem Owoh who was part of the cast of the Nollywood film Osuofia in London was the performer and as people in Diaspora settled down to a night of "Naija" entertainment the police in riot gear and all sorts of mob control paraphernalia swooped on the place and carted everyone away on the premise that they were all fraudsters, illegal aliens or criminals.

Silence of the representatives

Nary an outcry came forth about this event which was just over a week after the judicial murder of Nigerian citizen in Spain.

What gets me so incensed about this is that the police presumed a simple gathering of Nigerians automatically was a gathering of crooks and used that as probable cause to raid a social event in the name of keeping the law.

Lawless police activity

This case did not last long in court, the judge was not impressed and the Mayor of Amsterdam thought the acts of the police were suspect if not underhand, the judge has since ordered that all the detainees be released forthwith.

We basically cannot have a blanket swoop to fish out criminals whilst exercising unwarranted duress inconveniencing other legal and law-abiding people in the same gathering.

There just were no reasonable grounds for that police escapade, but the unfortunate and surreptitious fallout from this debacle would be beyond the justice that has been offered, Nigerian businesses unwittingly become pariahs as people would refuse to patronise those venues just in case they get roughed up by overzealous and stupid law enforcement agents looking for cheap thrills at the expense of ethnic minorities.

As this raid ended, some of the people arrested were driven straight to the airport [Indeed some were definitely illegal aliens, but you do not raid a pure entertainment venue to fish out criminals amongst other innocent people] and deported instantly; as I heard, some were already calling back to the Netherlands the next afternoon.

The law does need to be kept and upheld, but to use the emotive issue of asylum-seekers and the criminality of certain members of ethnic minority descent to abuse due process is beyond the pale and atrocious at best.

The stench of 419

In fact, sources indicate that this is not the first time their raids have literally closed down businesses where no crimes have been committed apart from the unfortunate pall of ignominy that others elsewhere have bestowed on the good name of Nigeria and Nigerians.

There is a serious Advanced Fee Fraud problem about and the Netherlands was at one time considered the capital of such activity.

There are a few Nigerians up to no good at all and the news wires create fantasies of their rotten exploits, but a lot more of us go about our lives in respect of the laws, as productive members of civil society and generally above reproach.

Something doing

Much does need to be done by the Nigerian government to discourage these activities, but citizens in Western countries have to realise that this fraud simply exploits personal greed; falling for these scams and acquiescing to the activities is just as criminal and should be punishable.

Unfortunately, we give too much sympathy to the fool who has so stupidly been parted from their money when both the scammer and the idiot need to be doing time - we cannot have criminals in our streets neither should we endure cretins on the same streets we walk.

References

Dutch police arrest 111 West Africans in 419 clampdown

Amsterdam: home of the 419 lottery scam

'I Go Chop Your Dollar' star arrested

Police force invaded café southeast undeserved (Dutch)

Caught on Camera and keeping an open mind

Is an open mind possible?

One desperately needs to keep an open mind about the police brutality that had a 19-year old girl who suffers from epilepsy who once subdued by 4 policemen then still gets violently punched 5 times by a police officer.

The footage

The damage limitation exercise is now being skewed towards the officer owning up to his actions and the lady bringing this upon herself.

The subtlety of it all before we begin to read racist connotations into this episode is, why would 4 fully grown men with police training who having subdued a woman pinned to the ground still need to punch her in the arm five times?

Mercifully, the girl was so inebriated she did not know what was happening to her and hence she might recover better from this episode.

And to throw a spanner in the works is the fear of black people being very vicious the subconscious reason why unreasonable force is applied as if it is reasonable to be more brutal against seemingly black brutes?

Even I am shocked that I could ask that question.

The story.