Black lives,white lives,all lives

We have heard,in fact seen on our screens,the disheartening,horrible,inhuman way George Floyd died.He was not the first Black person, for we have also watched a decade of deaths that should never have happened. People the world over can rattle a litany of deaths at the hands of the law. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and so many more. Each lost their lives, some at far too young an age. 

An Eldery man pushed over by Cops in Buffalo, New York

Days ago, an elderly white man, said to be 75 years old was filmed on video during the end of a Black Lives Matter demo in Buffalo, New York, pushed over by Police. He was we are told, walking up to the Police in full riot gear and was unarmed. He fell down hitting his head on the concrete pavement. He lay motionless on the ground with blood running from his ear. Two Police Officers have now been suspended without pay. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo called the incident, “wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.”   

   In Sri Lanka,three Police officers were suspended by the Police authorities and ordered             investigation into an alleged assault of a 16 year old boy,later found to be with autism.There has           been a public outcry following this incident. 

    Reports since released state the young lad was stop at a roadblock riding a bicycle without wearing      a face mask on 25 May 2020.Police said he was asked to stop but the boy lost control of his bike          and collided with a fish vendor's stall and fell over. He screamed and attempted to run away

    prompting the Police to restrain him. Whether there was restraint rather than assault will be                  deemed to be ascertained after the investigation.

Human-Elephant contact

In our own country, the human-elephant conflict too is on the increase. We are informed that plans are are under way to track wild elephants, using like Coronavirus tracking devices on our mobile phones to staying alert. 

A shocking 407 elephants and 122 humans have died recently. Villagers who have lived and shared their habit with wildlife for centuries, now blame our insensitivity to nature by creating sometimes unwanted massive infrastructure projects over the recent past at the cost of destroying elephant habitats, resulting in animals forced to enter villages in search of food. 

It is easy for me to say about minimising human rights of man and animals is most important today. Life today after thousands dying of coronavirus is not only precious but equally precarious. 

Each lost life, whether man or animal is life lost, life sacrificed at the alter of what we all call, “progress”. Is it progress or is it prejudice? 

How can we help to bring back balance? 

Some may argue killing or snaring an elephant, is survival. But what type of survival is it? We destroy the habitat in nature and call it, by our own name. We destroy the environment by selling sand from our riverbeds and climate change does the rest for us to suffer? 

We do not support diversity and inclusion in society, especially the end to brutality of Black people, who are not black other than the colour of their skin. We create injustice

In society, by keeping living standards different by greed and we then use brutal force to curb a people’s riot. We use double standards, one for us, and one for the weak and vulnerable. 

I agree that some riots are “created,” organised, man-made for ulterior purpose, to disrupt civilised life?”But there is a threshold of tolerance. 

Police brutality 

Police brutality is the wonton use of excessive force usually physical or psychological. 

Police brutality is ugly, but unfortunately is a part of the necessity and most often is a nasty business called “policing”. Law and order has to prevail, but the appropriate and proportionate use of force is always a fine line and in the heat of conflict is often forgotten, but hardly forgiven.

Excessive and untrammelled brutality is never correct policing in any situation

Victor Cherubim