The Killing of Black Americans: Violence Must Not Be Allowed

Published in Sankei Shimbun
(Japan) on 3 June 2020
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Dorothy Phoenix. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.

 

 

It has been a week since a white police officer brutally killed a black man in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The protests and riots that followed have shown no signs of ending, and have even degenerated into looting and arson.

This situation began on May 25, when a white police officer pressed his knee into a handcuffed and prone black man's neck, after which the black man died. The officer was arrested and charged with third-degree murder, which applies in cases where it is uncertain if a killing was intentional.

Minnesota was the first of a dozen or so states to mobilize the National Guard. Washington, D.C. and many other cities imposed curfews. The only way to describe this situation is abnormal, as the National Guard has not been mobilized to this degree since World War II. Protests have even spread to the United Kingdom and other European countries.

President Donald Trump's comments have only added fuel to the fire. On May 29, he tweeted, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," endorsing martial law and violence to handle the situation.

President Trump should be promoting a message of interpersonal unity and cooperation with state governments and the cities and towns to get this chaos under control quickly.

The background for these radical protests is the deeply ingrained suspicion that black people feel due to the unfairness of police enforcement, the justice process and educational system in dealing with minorities when compared to dealing with a white majority.

America has a history of slavery and racism. Efforts to end racial discrimination resulted in the Civil Rights Act, enacted in 1964. But even half a century later, racial problems have not ended.

The protests have reached a fervor previously unseen in recent years, in part due to the coronavirus crisis, which has, for the most part, greatly affected many low income African Americans and Latino Americans (from Central and South America), stirring up deep dissatisfaction. Other contributing factors include rising unemployment rates and quarantine restrictions, which have fostered an increasing despondency among citizens.

Nevertheless, looting, arson and other violent, illegal acts committed under the pretext of protest must not be allowed. In the end, the protests should be nonviolent. Former President Barack Obama, the first black president, spoke reasonably in his call for peaceful protest: "Let's not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it," he appealed.

It should also be noted that some observers have pointed out that far-left extremist agitators might be influencing the violence.

On June 1, President Trump asserted that the protests had been hijacked by far-left extremists, and Attorney General William Barr said that domestic terrorists "will be treated accordingly." The background connection between extremist agitators and the protests must be thoroughly investigated and sorted out.




【主張】米黒人暴行死 融和に徹し暴力を許すな
米中西部ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで白人警官が黒人男性を暴行し、死亡させた事件が発生して1週間がたつ。

 事件への抗議デモと暴動はいっこうに収束する気配をみせず、略奪や放火にまで発展した。

 発端は、5月25日、黒人男性が拘束時に白人警官から膝で首を地面に押し付けられ、その後死亡したことだ。警官は確定的な故意がないときに適用される第3級殺人などの疑いで逮捕、起訴された。

 ミネソタ州をはじめ十数州が州兵を動員し、首都ワシントンなど多くの都市が夜間外出禁止令を出す事態となった。異常と言うよりほかない。これだけの州兵動員は第二次世界大戦以来だ。抗議デモは英国など欧州にも広がった。

 トランプ大統領の発言も火に油を注いだ。5月29日にツイッターで、「略奪が始まれば銃撃も始まる」と投稿し、武力による制圧を支持すると受け止められた。

 トランプ氏は、人種間の融和に向けたメッセージを発信し、州政府や地方都市と連携して混乱を速やかに収拾すべきだ。

 デモが過激化した背景には、警察権行使や司法の過程、教育現場で、少数派の黒人が多数派の白人に比べ不当に扱われているという黒人側の根深い不信感がある。


 奴隷制の歴史を持つ米国は人種差別撤廃を求める運動の結果、1964年に公民権法を成立させた。しかし、半世紀以上たった今なお、人種の違いを原因とする問題が絶えない。

 抗議活動が近年にない規模となったのは、新型コロナウイルス禍により低所得者の多い黒人やヒスパニック(中南米)系が最も影響を受けたことへの不満がある。失業率の上昇や長引く外出制限で市民の間に鬱屈した感情が高まっていたことも背景にある。

 だからといって、抗議活動に名を借りた略奪や放火などの暴力的な違法行為が許されるものではない。抗議はあくまで非暴力で行われるべきだ。黒人初の大統領となったオバマ前大統領が、「暴力を正当化してはいけない」と呼びかけたのは当然である。

 注意すべきは、極左過激派勢力の扇動が指摘されることだ。

 トランプ氏は1日、デモが極左勢力に乗っ取られたと主張し、バー司法長官も「国内テロにはしかるべく対処する」と語った。背後関係の解明も欠かせない。
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