Black Lives Matter (BLM) all over the world

The cause which sparked the above movement worldwide is the death of usually Black teenagers at the hands of the police. Such indiscriminate killing is not limited to Black teenagers. A person of colour of any age is at risk in the hands of a trigger-happy police officer.

While it is the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, by the Minneapolis Police, Minnesota, USA gave birth to the BLM, countries in Europe have experienced acts of judicial executions by state police throughout Europe.

Black people must be vigilant not to be killed by the police on flimsy excuses. The lack of trust in the judiciary makes Black people's concern about policing more concerning.

The absence of legal accountability of the police when it comes to Black people, especially teenagers, is the most troubling.

As if to confirm this concern, the police in France have just executed a young man of African descent, Nahel M, in utter disregard for his life.

Days of massive protest against the Macron government coerced it to take action against the offending officer (suspension and then charge for murder).

The pent-up anger against indiscriminate police brutality against people of North and Sub-Saharan Africa has enabled the Macron government to deploy 40,000 police officers to police the raging protest, presented as a contest between order or chaos; the French government has magically avoided the perennial question, why do French police always take the lives of ethnic minorities in summary executions? And when will the killings stop? Now, we mourn our dead until the next time. (Apologies to James Baldwin, The Fire, Next Time).

Juliana Ojinaka
Chair, UCU Black Members' Standing Committee