America has a well-known problem with racism and police brutality, with cases coming out every few months of African American people dying at the hands of policemen, who seem to take extreme measures with only their race. Recently, a video of George Floyd went viral on social media, where we can see a policeman kneeling on his neck with hands casually in his pockets, as George struggles to breathe, asking him to take his knee off his neck. After the officer gets off his neck after seven whole minutes, George is unresponsive.
The painful video sent shockwaves around the world, and protests broke out in Minneapolis, with people taking to the streets with masks on to protect themselves from the pandemic. A similar incident had taken place in Minneapolis in 2015 when police fatally shot Jamal Clark, a twenty-four-year-old African-American man as a response to a call of a dispute. Police claimed he has resisted arrest, whereas bystanders claimed he was handcuffed and on the ground when he was shot.
As people took to the streets in Minneapolis, those around the world extended support through social media.
Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan also took to Instagram to post about it.
Her post, however, also received criticism on Twitter, where people called her out for “selective activism”, saying they do not understand how she’s only affected by “foreign” news.
As incidents like these continue to come up, the world is surely at its tipping point. The question remains: Will those who are responsible for the death of innocent helpless civilians ever face charges?
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