No Peace Without Equality

139

March 16, 2015

Published in Frankfurter Rundschau
(Germany) on 12 March 2015
by Andreas Schwarzkopf (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.

The frightening upward spiral of violence in the United States is increasing at alarming speed. After far too many black victims in recent weeks and months, now two white police officers have been shot during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri. The fear is that they will not be the last victims. The atmosphere there is poisoned. Many now want to turn the motto chanted by demonstrators, “No Justice - No Peace,” into action. The fault lies in the structural racism that still exists even 150 years after the abolition of slavery and 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Those marked the official end of racial discrimination, but de facto discrimination remains virulent, as evidenced by the recent devastating report of systematic police brutality in Ferguson.

Americans cannot surrender to racism. Police personnel have to learn that they're not engaged in a war against one segment of the population. In addition to that, cases of police brutality have to be punished in a court of law. Finally, politicians and citizens alike have to strive to eliminate social inequalities wherever they exist. If none of that succeeds, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 threaten to happen again. In that incident, four police officers abused African American Rodney King.

KOMMENTAR ZU RASSISMUS
Kein Frieden ohne Gleichheit
Von ANDREAS SCHWARZKOPF

Marsch gegen Polizeigewalt: Amerika muss gegen den Rassismus im Land angehen. Foto: rtr
Amerika darf vor dem Rassismus nicht kapitulieren. Es braucht ein neues Bewusstsein bei der Polizei, Strafen für Übergriffe - und mehr Einsatz im Kampf gegen soziale Unterschiede.

Druckenper Mail
Die rassistische Gewaltspirale in den USA dreht sich erschreckend schnell. Nach viel zu vielen schwarzen Opfern in den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten wurden nun zwei weiße Polizisten während einer Demonstration in Ferguson angeschossen. Es ist zu fürchten, dass sie nicht die letzten Opfer sein werden. Die Stimmung ist vergiftet. Viele wollen das Motto der Demonstrationen – „No Justice – No Peace“ (Keine Gerechtigkeit – kein Frieden) nicht mehr nur brüllen, sondern auch umsetzen. Schuld daran ist der strukturelle Rassismus, der auch 150 Jahre nach Abschaffung der Sklaverei und 50 Jahre nach der Einführung der Bürgerrechte und dem damit verbundenen Ende der offiziellen Diskriminierung noch immer virulent ist. Darauf hat jüngst der vernichtende Bericht über die systematische Polizeigewalt in Ferguson hingewiesen.

US-Amerikaner dürfen aber vor dem Rassismus nicht resignieren. Polizisten müssen lernen, dass sie keinen Krieg gegen Teile der Bevölkerung führen. Außerdem müssen gewalttätige Übergriffe der Ordnungshüter juristisch verfolgt werden. Zusätzlich müssen Politiker und Bürger stärker als bisher soziale Unterschiede beseitigen. Geschieht nichts, drohen sich die Unruhen von 1992 in Los Angeles zu wiederholen. Damals hatten vier Polizisten den Afroamerikaner Rodney King misshandelt.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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