As Africa mourns George Floyd, we must look in the mirror and address police brutality on our own continent
As the brutal killing of George Floyd triggers protests in the US and other parts of the world for what it constitutes and represents, it is incumbent on us in our respective countries to have a much-needed conversation about these killings and other acts of violence visited on our civilian population during this Covid-19 lockdown period. These conversations should be accompanied by an outpouring of outrage.
These violations affect in particular socioeconomically impoverished people, those working in the informal sector, those living in slums and homeless people. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, the current AU chairperson, was spot on when he argued that a “process of dehumanisation is at work where those in power violate the rights of the vulnerable people in all societies”.
Regrettably, both these killings and the lack of expression of outrage about them reflect what Thiong’o calls an attitude towards ourselves as Africans: our part as Africans in dehumanising fellow Africans. This represents our states’ lack of a complete break from the colonial past, hence the racism embedded in the military and police force in Africa, which was, in the words of Thiong’o, founded on “a complete disregard of the African body”.
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