The conviction of the cop who killed George Floyd was described as a “watershed” moment in American history and their civil rights movement.
Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was this week found guilty of manslaughter and murder, and faces up to 40 years in prison for the incident that shocked the world and launched the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest last year May.
There have been over 30 killings of African Americans in recent years – the US justice system somehow condones this racist police brutality.
But there was no get-out-of-jail-free card for Chauvin – video footage of him kneeling on the neck Floyd while he pleaded “I can't breathe” in his final moments gave the jury little choice but to send him to prison.
The City of Minneapolis has agreed to pay a $27 million settlement to Floyd’s family.
The ruling has been roundly celebrated by black and white Americans, politicians and celebrities across the globe.
Yet, others warn that it is merely a symbolic victory, and that there is a lot of hard work ahead to change systemic racism in America.
Indeed, the struggle is far from over – in the US and abroad.
Just days before the court ruling, a black South African man was killed by cops in Hawaii.
There is some confusion over what happened, but Lindani Myeni, a rugby player from KwaZulu-Natal, was parked outside a residence and someone called the police for a suspected burglary.
Three officers approached the 29-year-old, a scuffle broke out and the father of two was tasered and then shot. Dead.
@honolulupolice just released body-worn camera footage from the police shooting of 29-year-old Lindani Sanele Myeni. pic.twitter.com/QdUSFqXjWQ
— Mark Ladao (@krameleon) April 17, 2021
Honolulu’s police chief defended the three “brave” cops, whose lives were apparently threatened by one unarmed man.
Myeni, his American wife Lindsay and their toddlers had moved to the island earlier this year.
Now the widow is demanding answers from the authorities and wants justice for her husband, who she described a “noble” and “righteous” man.
And so she should.
Lindsay is convinced she lost her husband because he was black: “If it were a white man, he wouldn’t be dead. If it were an Asian woman, she wouldn’t be dead.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters have called on the Department of International Relations to step in.
The EFF’s Vusi Khoza said: “What the American police did, to find it very easy to shoot and kill a black person, is exactly what the police in South Africa are doing. The system, whether in America or here at home, is anti-black.”
Look, he’s got a point.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen to everyone.
There is racism – all kinds of racism – in the world. Some subtle, some more overt.
All racism is evil, but the racism against black people is next level!
To get shot dead like a dog, or have your neck crushed in the street... bloody hell.
And it’s not just in America where blacks are treated like animals.
In European soccer stadiums, fans still throw bananas and make monkey gestures at African players.
Let Benni McCarthy tell you what it’s like to be a coloured guy playing in the Champions League.
We, in South Africa, need no reminding.
Our history is synonymous with colonialism and apartheid.
This nation was not only racist in its attitudes and actions.
We had actual legislators writing official government laws designed to make black people’s lives hell.
If racism against blacks was an international sport, heck, we were reigning world champions – for decades.
We’ve come a long way since then, thank goodness.
Now the Rainbow Nation is a beacon hope for nations transitioning from a racist society to an inclusive one.
As South Africans, we shouldn’t be taking a knee for BLM, we should be taking both knees – this time for Lindani Myeni.
Rest in peace, brother.