By Dennis Agori
Racism-20 is just as real as COVID-19. It is not peculiar to the United States.
There is one that is brewing right now in Asia, which might be bigger, especially between the Chinese and Africans, and nothing seems to be done about it.
We have not deployed enough measures to lock the situation down and quarantine those already infected with this virus (racism). Some even constantly deny that it exists in the face of centuries of facts and evidences. We call on high ranking members of society and many others in that capacity to use their good humanitarian offices to handle this dreaded disease that we live with.
There is no sane person who will support the atrocities of racism, especially on the death of George Floyd.
Silence towards injustice, sometimes, is just as bad as injustice itself. That’s why it is important to make statements and take actions that stand against this ugly narratives that have been on for centuries.
Also, we must extend these protests and fights to local discrimination, tribalism, corruption, and any form of injustice and social inequalities in our immediate society. Public opinion is gradually becoming a great influence on government and we must utilize this to ensure the people’s voices are respected.
It is noteworthy that opposition to (and the consequent abolishment of) slave trade had major influences from organizations such as Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Evangelicals such as William Wilberforce, later became a politician. Many of these people were White. This means that in the fight against injustice, privileged people on either side of the fence need to stand up and lend a voice to say, “Enough of this; let’s give people a chance to breathe”.
We need more (financially, politically, and educationally) privileged people to act as mediators in the struggle to resolve this issue. We need influencers to implement our protests. We need pragmatic mediators. You cannot force a man to change until he makes a conscious decision to.
Spread hope not more hate. Spread solution.
