THE last few weeks have been trying for us all, not least the black community which has once again witnessed the murder of one of our own at the hands of the State. The resultant protests, marches and riots have spurred a global revolution of sorts. Incensed individuals of all colours and creeds have taken to the streets and social media in order to express their disdain for police brutality and racism. The #blacklivesmatter movement has been at the forefront of the revolution, calling for marches and other demands to be met whilst we work towards the eradication of systemic racism.

Since the uprising, a number of States in the United States of America have signed into law legislation aiming to curb incidences of police brutality and systemic racism. For instance, Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a number of police reforms, which include making the use of chokeholds by police, which cause injury or death, a crime. The reforms also prohibit false race-based 911 calls, and appoints the State Attorney-General as an independent prosecutor when an unarmed person is killed by police. Additionally, there has been a repeal of a measure known as ‘50-A’, which shields police disciplinary records from the public. Cuomo has also promised to withhold funds from local cities and police departments which are not taking reformative actions.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C, the Mayor, Muriel Bowser, renamed a section of a street ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’, and has painted in yellow, ‘black lives matter’ on a street in the city.

Also in the USA, the mainstream media has done a wonderful job of showcasing cases of ‘white guilt’ and virtue-signaling in numerous ways. I have seen Nancy Pelosi ‘taking the knee’ whilst wearing some Kente Cloth in order to protest racism and police brutality in a moment of silence with other Democrats. She has also called for the removal of several Confederate statues from around Washington, D.C as part of the structural reforms’ Democrats want to see undertaken.

Over ‘The Pond’ in the United Kingdom, protestors have also found novel ways of  revolting against police brutality and racism. Several statues of persons who have been linked to slavery and racism have been pulled down, damaged and defaced. The message coming from the movement is that no one wants to see someone edified who has contributed to the proliferation of racism in our world. Most interestingly, the proven racist and now Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has come out in defence of Winston Churchill, another known racist, as calls for his statue to be taken down are now circulating, following its defacement during the recent protests.

On our very own shores here in Guyana, the #blacklivesmatter protest, which was scheduled to take place has been postponed, presumably as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 emergency measures which prohibit gatherings of this sort. Nonetheless, there have been growing expressions amongst Guyanese that the statue of Queen Victoria be taken down from its place at the High Court, for it represents a part of our history we would like to forget, such as slavery, indentureship, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

None of this, however, is good enough, and it is certainly not what persons who genuinely want to see change have asked for. Firstly, yes, Cuomo’s police reforms are long overdue, and will go some way in protecting citizens against nefarious State police, however, it is laughably insufficient, once you have truly analyzed what is needed in order to stem systemic racism. And, let us not be fooled, we all know exactly what is needed in order for the system to be fair. A complete overhaul is necessary; a drastic reshaping or law enforcement is needed, not just in the USA, but globally. We must start to ask ourselves why we need law enforcement, and how best we can police our communities without the intervention of these State agents.

Secondly, no one asked for a street to be named ‘#black lives matter Plaza’, or for that slogan to be painted on the road, a place where people walk, drive, spit, urinate and pay scant regard to what lies beneath their feet. In my opinion, this represents precisely what black people have been complaining about; that their rights are being trampled on, disrespected and not taken seriously. It is even more insulting that we must remind ourselves and the global community that ‘black lives matter’ in this regard.

Thirdly, and this is a lesson most black people in the post-Atlantic slave trade diaspora know all too well: The reason why these western countries have erected statues of persons who have raped, pillaged, tortured, enslaved, experimented on and colonised people is because they recognise the value in what they have done, and how they are some of the original architects of the current system. It is like a badge of honour for them, as these individuals built the wealth and riches of these nations because of the egregious crimes they committed against black people, and human beings in general. They chose to erect and maintain these statues because they see no problem in what these people have done in order to secure wealth and power, which is why the same systems of oppression they used then, have been modernised and rebranded to continue said oppression now.

Finally, the problem with group mobilisation and collective rebellion is that more often than not, it is sadly co-opted by shadowy figures working from behind the scenes to quell genuine revolution. I suspect the same has happened, or is happening with the #blacklivesmatter movement. We all know what is necessary in order to create the Utopian Earth so many of us dream about, and it is not going to come about by seeking to prop up the archaic and broken systems which are responsible for keeping us in our place. I will only be convinced that real change is possible, once the old system has been completely dismantled. Anything less does not capture my attention.