China news agency, Beijing, June 16 - Question: Floyd case can promote racial equality in the United States do? Well-known Chinese scholars: cannot be done overnight
China News Agency reporter Ran Wenjuan
African-American George Floyd aroused the American people's voice against racial discrimination and police abuse in a tragic way. In addition to grief, people called for reform of the police system and the promotion of racial equality in American society.
Will Freud's death be a catalyst for reform? Xiong Yue, a well-known Chinese scholar and a tenured professor of political science at New York University, said in an email interview with the China News Service that whether it is to ask white Americans to correct discrimination against African Americans or to reform the American police system, there are historical factors behind it that cannot be achieved overnight. .
Xiong Yue believes that discrimination against black people in mainstream American society cannot be resolved through laws or affirmative action, but is related to the attitude of white people toward black people. It is impossible to succeed if the attitude of white people towards black people cannot be corrected.
He said that the racial problems in the United States can be traced back to the history of American slave trafficking. Since the British colonial period, there have been black slaves in the United States, and the American independent black slave system has continued. Although the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1865 after the Civil War, abolished slavery, black people still did not really enjoy the same rights as white people.
For example, black people are not allowed to attend classes at the same school as white people, and they must go to schools that are set up for black people in so-called "separation and equality". It was not officially changed until 1954. Since the civil rights movement since then, black Americans have gradually won more equal rights in writing. "However, the white people's discrimination against Afro-descendants can still be seen from the relationship between white policemen and black people who have always been in a tense confrontation."
"This Freud incident exposed all the suppressed anger and heart knots of black people." Xiong Yue said that although the struggle caused by Freud's death has swept through 50 US states, the current It is not easy to effectively change the perception and attitude of white people towards black images.
He also said that as early as 2014, a black man in Missouri, USA, was shot by the police and caused everyone's anger, and called for reform of the police system, but "after all these years, there has been no concrete results." He also believes that although reforming the US police system is difficult, it is easier than improving racial issues.
The Freud case also aroused widespread concern in the international community, and people from many countries took to the streets in solidarity and opposed racial discrimination. Xiong Yue believes that the people marching on the streets in these countries are not so much a response as a "resonance".
He cited Australia as an example. When the ancestors of Australia came to this land from Britain, the aborigines were unable to fight the strong outsiders of these ships, and as a result, the weak meat and strong food were rushed to the wild corners. Their children and grandchildren are still inseparable from the "Aboriginal" label.
After the Freud case, large-scale demonstrations broke out in Australia. In the parade on the street, the protesters not only held up the sign that read "The life of a black man is also a life", but also saw the tricolor flag "Red, Yellow and Black" of the Australian aborigines.
"Indigenous people expressed their grief over the past years of discrimination and daring not to speak out in solidarity with American Africans." Xiong Yue said that this is a kind of "resonance" with "heart and soul". (Finish)