Racism is not more prevalent in America, the world is only seeing it clearer because of advancing technology; at least that is the popular argument. However, regardless and thanks to tech, outsiders witnessed the country declare war on its citizens.
The last time this happened, the US and the Allied Forces intervened and it became World War 2. Fast forward to 2020, months to a general election, the US government is having a hard time with its own citizens.
Swift government actions toward giving late George Floyd justice would likely have prevented the ongoing protests in the US. A lack of it is what had led to protests against the extreme actions of police officers; it also led to a nationwide call for the end of racial discrimination.
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Things are now different from the days of Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King; when the United States government was in charge of the media, the technology, and every other thing that got out.
Twitter shows us, white nationalists, responding to the #BlackLivesMatter movement with hashtags of their own. #WhiteLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter are being used to shift the conversation away from the reason for the protests. We see videos of white people looting shops under the guise of protesting while African-Americans take the blame.
In addition, the world sees some news stations consistently trying to show Balck people acting violently; as if to give the narrative that they are more unruly. But these attempts fail because for every manipulated report, there are tens of unfiltered media online.
You can’t hide, tech will find you
Technology has gone a long way in unmasking America’s racism. It is so vivid that China, whose glaring racist behavior against blacks was doing rounds on social media in the wake of the coronavirus crises, is allowed to criticise the government.
“The racial discrimination against minorities is a social ill in the United States.”
China’s foreign affairs ministry has condemned police brutality and racism in the US and says there are “serious problems” that need addressing https://t.co/slmUPL5MXU
— CNN International (@cnni) June 1, 2020
The Black community is doing more with tech against racism than the American government. The FBI will envy their ability to track and locate the address, schools, and employers of racists; leaving their organisations with a choice: to either be racist or not, which is ultimately bad for business.
How is tech helping?
We are seeing more and more truths about the protests circulating on social media for starters. We saw the truth about George Floyd’s death because someone recorded and uploaded it.
Without this proof, he could have been accused of resisting arrest. However, we heard him struggle to breathe whilst telling the officers “I can’t breathe”. We saw three police officers pin a man down with one cutting his air supply by using his knee to put him in a chokehold. For almost 9 minutes, we saw a man die with no attempts to resuscitate him.
Tech had also put pressure on the state to seek justice and not just only dismiss the accused officers. Now we are seeing the police incite violence in the face of peaceful protests like leaving bricks around for protesters.
If the police wanna leave a pile of bricks around my neighborhood, let a girl know cause I got some landscaping and gardening to do. pic.twitter.com/jNVsGHPTS4
— (@megslay27) June 2, 2020
This is the real America that we’re seeing it now. The internet never forgets, and the issues are well documented.
Worthy Mentions
It is not just the gloomy details of racism that technology is revealing during this time. We also see tech companies donate towards racial justice causes. EA, Facebook, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Intel, Apple, and many other tech corporates have made donations ranging from $250,000 to $10 million each.
Twitter and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey recently committed $3 million to NFL star, Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp. The camp works to “advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities. It plans to do this through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization to elevate the next generation of change leaders”.
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