Call the riots in Minneapolis what they are: black resistance
The gruesome murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, veteran officer of the Minneapolis police has unleashed fury not only in the US but worldwide, also here in the Netherlands. Now, not even days after his death when thousands in his city have taken to the streets to peacefully protest the killing of an innocent man, critics almost gleefully point out the riots and looting, that also followed, take away from the just cause. But they couldn’t be more wrong, as these riots are actually an integral part of the cry for justice.
I rarely watch or share violent video’s, but every time another black person gets killed for being black, although you might not know them, it immediately puts you in a state of distress and mourning, even across the Atlantic. Paraphrasing Comedian Quinta Brunson on Twitter. “Being black is having a good day and then seeing another black person killed for no reason, then you have to talk and think about that or numb yourself, meanwhile you still need to work and worry about everything else.”
As the day progressed, I’ve worked, written and had conversations, whilst feeling the pain we bear as black people in society. One that is always present, looming under the surface, but at times like these becomes a sinking weight that almost immobilizes.
Protests
In Minneapolis thousands were still moved to take to the streets, chanting and marching for justice, holding signs that proclaimed, ‘no more’, ‘justice now’ and ‘I can’t breathe’, the last words spoken by Floyd - and other black men, like Eric Garner - before being suffocated by police.
As the police intervened with tear gas and rubber bullets, the peaceful protests later transformed into riots, where stores were looted, and property destroyed. The destruction might not be ‘right’, yet they should be placed into historical context. As also Martin Luther King suggested in the Stanford University ‘The Other America’ speech he held.
“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.”
After King was assassinated in 1968, his death became a spark and the so-called King Assassination Riots ensued in major cities. They were deemed to be the greatest social upheaval since the Civil War. The havoc wreaked resulted in million dollars of damages to public property.
Black resistance
Which reminds me of similar instances of protests and riots by black people worldwide. For example, ‘Trinta di Mei’ on Curacao, one of the former Dutch colonies. As I visited the island, last year I went to a local exhibition, which told the story of black Shell-workers rising up on May 30th, 1969 to protest against their unequal pay and circumstances compared to their white counterparts.
They were also met with state sanctioned violence, and the protests turned into riots where again, public property was destroyed. The protestors were condemned - sometimes even by their own - for their unlawful actions. But an interesting fact to note is that most of the buildings they targeted were in some way related to the exploitation of their labor.
Or more recently, #feesmustfall in South Africa in 2015, the largest student protest since Apartheid, which started with the request for free higher education and ended with demands for decolonization, economic inequality and the elimination of institutional racism, later joined by domestic workers and other locals. When protesters were confronted with police in riot gear or denied access to buildings, they rioted.
Needless to say, I do not necessarily promote rioting, looting and destruction of property. What we must realize is that in these instances’ riots are not existing in a vacuum and aren’t void of political meaning, as is the case when it comes to hooliganism, for example.
Often these riots are preceded by grave and longstanding violence and injustices inflicted on black, brown and indigenous bodies. And they should be placed in a longer tradition of black resistance that occurs when black voices are not only not being heard, but quite literally stifled.
Throughout history critics and those in white, patriarchal power have claimed that riots do not further the cause for racial justice. Although, I think it differs per case, often the same is said about peaceful protest. I’m thinking of the peaceful, sometimes even silent protests (with black scotch tape plastered across mouths, while signs and fists are raised) yearly held against the racist tradition of Black Pete in the Netherlands, which have often ended in violence against black protesters by police or pro-pete protesters - leaving bruises and broken spirits.
Which makes me believe it is not so much about how black people protest for their lives, but more about the fact that we dare to even do so.
Racial injustice worldwide
The recent murders of black people in the United States confirm why we must keep reiterating that Black Lives Matter. We must say the names in remembrance, when we speak of those whose lives were taken too soon. Dreasjon Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and the latest Tony McDade in Tallahassee (who as a trans man will probably get less public outrage).
I fear and shed tears of sorrow and anger for the lives of my black brothers, cousins, nephews, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. In the United States. But also, here in Europe. The murdering and profiling of black men is epidemic in but not limited to the U.S.
In 2015 the Dutch-Aruban Mitch Henriquez died after being put in a chokehold by police, because they supposedly thought he was armed (which also inspired riots in the Hague, where Henriquez lived) and in 2012, the 17-year old Rishi Chandrikasing was fatally shot by police at the train station because, again, they suspected he had a gun. There are many more instances of daily racial profiling of black men and men of color, that should not even need explanation, as they are so common.
That’s why the riots are not only a cry for justice after the immediate injustice. They are also a cry against the insidious killing by institutional racist oppression and violence. From slavery to colonialism, Jim Crow and segregation, Apartheid and racial profiling, discrimination in housing, banking and the workplace. Done by the IRS, police and legal system. Whether you live in the United States, the Netherlands, on Curacao or South Africa, as a black person ‘we got a lot to be mad about’, as songstress Solange Knowles so soulfully phrased it.
Particularly in a capitalist world where property is valued more over black human life. And where the global outrage about the violent ending of that life usually lasts as long as the next news cycle.
That is also why I wouldn’t define what is happening as meaningless riots but as radical black resistance. Resisters that are normally powerless against the system are now using what power they currently have to destroy the inanimate objects white, capitalistic and patriarchal society value so much. They are saying, maybe now you will stop killing us. Because it’s clear as day that you do not value us enough to stop doing so on your own.
Illustrator: Min Lee