Cry to the sky for justice
——The death of Floyd and the tragedy of human rights in the United States
Two years ago, on May 25, the life of 46-year-old African-American George Floyd was forever fixed on this day by the violent white American police.
The 9 minutes and 29 seconds of "kneeling to kill" caused anger to sweep across the United States and the world like a wave, triggering sharp torture and profound reflection on the systemic human rights issues in the United States.
On May 14 this year, in the African-American community supermarket in Buffalo, New York, an 18-year-old white gunman pulled the trigger at the African-Americans under the spell of "white supremacy". 10 dead and 3 wounded.
The sound of gunshots once again shattered the so-called illusion of "inalienable freedom for all" and the American illusion that "racism will gradually die out as the younger generation grows up".
The bloody gunshots of Buffalo are intertwined with the lament of the era of Freud's "I can't breathe"... People are full of anger and sorrow, but what can they do?
Looking back at these two years, we can see the 246-year history of the United States, and see the truth and reality, the surface and the inside of American human rights.
After the storms of history, the piles of American human rights on the quicksand have long since collapsed.
Racism: 'change' fails to bring about change
"Life is so hard, but I'm afraid of death, because I don't know what's beyond the dome. Although I've waited a long time, I know that change will come." The iconic song of the American Civil Rights Movement "Change is Coming" , sounded at Floyd's funeral.
Change is the main theme of reflection on the Freud case.
In the general election, Biden took to the streets to talk to African-Americans, promising to promise that he will "heal" the United States from January 20, 2021.
Change, has it really come?
Healing, have you healed?
In June 2021, Chauvin, the police officer involved in the Floyd case, was sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison, known as "one of the longest sentences ever given by a police officer".
The perpetrators of the case seemed to have been punished, giving an explanation to the angry people.
But Americans, numbed by too many similar tragedies, are powerless to applaud.
98% of the victims of police deaths charged with homicide were not as "lucky" as the "special case" in the Floyd case.
As some comments pointed out, for Freud personally, this is a belated justice, but it is more like a solitary victory: there are few precedents, and it is difficult to say that there will be follow-ups.
This judgment is not unfounded.
Biden once used the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death as the deadline for passing the "George Floyd Law Enforcement Justice Act" involving police reform, but until today, the bill has still made little progress, and police system reform still remains. Indefinitely.
In contrast, in the past two years, dozens of states that support the Republican Party or tend to support the Republican Party have passed a total of nearly 100 laws at the local level restricting the activities of protesters such as "Black Lives Matter".
Justice in individual cases did not lead to systemic improvement.
American racial discrimination and social inequality, gun violence, law enforcement violence, the gap between the rich and the poor, and many other issues are intertwined and intertwined. There are both historical continuations and entanglements of practical interests.
The United States today is built on extremely unbearable domestic race relations, and the necks of American minorities have been kneeled by whites since the founding of the country.
The American genocide of Indians, the enslavement and isolation of blacks, the anti-Chinese movement and anti-Semitism, and the exclusion of Hispanic immigrants are enough to reflect the deep hierarchical structure centered on whites in the United States, and racial discrimination is like a bone. gangrene.
For example, after the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish slavery, but it was not possible for African Americans to ride the same bus with whites until 100 years later.
In 2008, Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. history, which was once considered a sign that the United States had entered an era of "color blindness"—a truly equal life for different races and ethnicities, and race was no longer a factor affecting an individual's chances of survival.
However, the skinny reality shattered people's naivety again and again.
When evaluating the Floyd case, Obama had to admit: "For millions of Americans, discrimination based on race has become the norm, sad, painful, and outrageous."
This normality is reflected in the trajectory of Freud's life as he struggled to survive.
The Washington Post has launched a series of reports that begin with Floyd's family history and describe how persistent inequalities in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and policing have shaped his life.
Floyd's dream went high and low, from childhood Supreme Court justice to professional athlete, truck driver, and ultimately just a desire to survive in a new city.
In the meantime, there are sports, hip-hop, but also prison, drugs, unemployment...
What happened to Freud is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of the encounters of African-Americans and other minorities in the United States.
For two years, the change for good has not come, and the negative change is worrying.
The deep-rooted racist "virus" in the United States has spread together with the new crown virus, anti-Asian hate crimes have frequently occurred, discrimination against Muslim groups has continued unabated, racial persecution of indigenous peoples continues, and the racial economic divide and inequality are growing. exacerbated.
Along with it, white supremacy is on the rise.
Data from the 10-year census in the United States shows that in 2020, the white majority of the US population will shrink for the first time.
Over the past 50 years, the rising proportion of the minority population in the United States, coupled with deteriorating economic conditions and a crisis of cultural identity, have triggered anxiety and agitation among white supremacists.
They spread the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory (claiming that an elite group is seeking to replace native American whites with immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America), and brewing racial conflicts, intensifying racial conflicts, and causing systemic racial human rights problems in the United States to increase unabated.
The Washington Post concluded in a recent article that, looking back at the "Black Lives Matter" cries that rang out on the streets of the United States and around the world in the months after Floyd's death, the fascination with the phrase seems to have become A ceremonial summer bash.
But Floyd's tragic life and death didn't change the world, it just illuminated a difficult, complex story of American race.
"Fortress of Human Rights": Chaos Destroys Illusions
Looking back on the past two years, many human rights turmoil in the United States has left a "strong indelible mark" in the course of history.
The lingering anger over the Floyd case, the momentary chaos on Capitol Hill, and the momentary panic in Kabul have brought the deep crisis and human rights dilemma facing American society to the global spotlight.
Political manipulation has led to a surge in deaths from COVID-19, shootings have resulted in new highs, false democracy has trampled on people’s political rights, violent law enforcement has made the situation of migrants and refugees more difficult, and discrimination against minorities has intensified - the system of human rights issues in the United States Sexual, long-term, and comprehensive exposure.
Even American politicians themselves admit that the United States is experiencing the most severe social tearing and democratic human rights crisis in history. On the one hand, it is the ideal preached by the United States that we are born equal, and on the other hand is the cruelty torn apart by racism, American First and fear. And ugly reality.
Chaos pierces illusions.
The makeup of the "Human Rights Teacher" and "Human Rights Defender" carefully applied by the United States has withered after several rains and winds, revealing the ugliness and unbearableness hidden behind the beauty filter.
——Under the impact of historical storms, the so-called "fortress of human rights" was self-defeating.
In the twilight of May 9, the National Cathedral of the United States rang 1,000 bells for 90 minutes, which means that the cumulative number of deaths from new coronary pneumonia in the United States exceeded 1 million, and they were the victims of World War I, World War II and Vietnam War. twice the sum.
Two years ago, on May 24, The New York Times took an unprecedented full front-page listing of the names, ages and identities of 1,000 COVID-19 deaths, writing: "That's only 1% of the total. They're not only Just a name, they were one of us."
This bell is mourning: the American people have mixed feelings at the mourning bell.
There is the grief of losing close relatives and friends, the fear of facing the death of a large number of vulnerable groups, the pain of more than 200,000 children becoming "new crown orphans", and the consternation of the United States, which has the most medical resources, for its ineffectiveness in fighting the epidemic... The resulting "national tragedy" will be "in the history books forever".
This bell is a wake-up call: Talking about human rights without the most basic human right to life and health is tantamount to a mirror image.
The fact that the United States has become the largest country that failed to fight the epidemic shows that it does not think about fighting the epidemic, but indulges in political self-interest, does not reflect on itself, but is keen to "shake the blame" and blame. The United States ignores life and human rights. To the point where it can't be added.
This bell is even more tortured: gun violence, violent law enforcement, drug abuse, separation of flesh and blood... The road to human rights protection in the United States is long and difficult.
The United States is the only country in the world that has not signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the It has disappeared from a number of international human rights laws and regulations, including the verification mechanism of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons.
Fernand de Varena, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, stressed that the legal system of human rights protection in the United States is neither comprehensive nor outdated, and leads to growing inequality.
——Under the impact of the historical storm, the so-called "equality model" has been unfinished.
The United States has a set of glossy rhetoric, self-proclaimed "equality" and "tolerance", everyone has the inalienable right to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness, claiming that everyone can pursue and realize the "American Dream".
But the truth is that "all men are created equal" only exists on paper in the Declaration of Independence. Equality of rights is difficult to escape from the law, and equality of opportunity remains a slogan.
The so-called American equality is audible, but difficult to feel.
"Floyd's death tore off the seemingly beautiful veil of American society." Henry Taylor, a racial expert at the University of Buffalo, pointed out that this allows people to see the real American society.
What is the real American society like?
In March 2020, when asked the question of "rich people give priority to nucleic acid testing, but ordinary people have to wait in long lines or even can't wait", Trump said bluntly: "Maybe this is life." It is not difficult to understand According to a report released by the American Poor People's Rights Organization, the overall death rate of the epidemic in poor counties in the United States is almost twice that of rich counties, and the top 300 counties with the highest death rate have an average of 45% of the population living below the poverty line.
In addition to the rich and the poor, the unequal treatment of groups such as skin color, gender, and age has become increasingly prominent in the United States. People have to live in unease, injustice and fear. Many people are not waiting for the dream of the United States, but the broken dream America, Soul Break America.
Relevant surveys show that only 22% of Americans believe that the police treat all Americans equally; Hispanics are 2 times and 2.3 times more likely to be infected and die from the new crown pneumonia epidemic than whites; African Americans only enjoy "white 73.9" % of equal treatment”; from February 2021 to February 2022, the United States deported more than 1.2 million refugee asylum seekers on public health grounds, many of whom were disabled and those with precarious health conditions.
——Under the impact of the storm of history, the so-called "beacon of freedom" went out instantly.
Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press... The United States has always talked about the word "freedom" in an attempt to occupy the moral high ground.
The history and reality of the United States is, "Freedom, how many crimes are committed in your name"!
During the American Civil War, both the North and the South claimed to be "fighting for freedom", but deprived blacks of the right to vote in the name of improving the quality of democracy and ensuring whites' freedom; during the Cold War, the United States pretended to be the leader of the "free world", but trampled on blacks' rights and suppressed them Civil rights movement; for many years, the unrestrained freedom of guns in the United States has posed a fatal threat to the public; the United States speaks of "freedom of the press", but it can arbitrarily block the media of other countries.
Ma Kaishuo, a professor at the National University of Singapore, pointed out that if you look at the history of international law, you will find that the most paradoxical thing is that the Americans have provided some of the most wonderful ideas in international law, but the United States has committed some of the most violations of international law.
What Ma Kaishuo said can be said to hit the nail on the head.
The Democratic Dilemma: The Problem Behind the Problem
"Gun violence in the United States is an epidemic and an international stigma."
"I am dismayed at the decades-long failure to reform police enforcement and the broader criminal justice system."
"Violent violence against African-American communities comes from people who are supposed to serve and protect you."
…………
There is no shortage of reflection and criticism in American society on human rights issues such as racial discrimination, violent law enforcement, and social injustice.
However, the Biden administration, which chanted "America is back," is still unable to address the frequent human rights issues such as gun violence, and can only verbally state that "systematic racial discrimination is a stain on the American soul" and "white supremacy extremism is the American polity" "Poison", obviously unable to "heal" the sick body of the United States.
It can be seen that there are more fundamental problems behind the human rights issue.
The long-term, systematic and comprehensive human rights problems in the United States are the result of the combined effects of political, economic, cultural, social and other factors.
——How can the human rights problems in the United States be rooted out in the midst of political decay?
!
American politicians living in the "country on top of a mountain" are indulged in the illusion of "the superiority of American democracy", believing that they have a "mysterious self-correction ability", are accustomed to looking down on other countries, but are taboo against medical treatment, and ignore the alienation and transformation of the American system. Decline and failure.
At present, the United States is full of pathologies such as money politics, identity politics, political party opposition, and political polarization. There are many drawbacks such as political idling, government affairs laxity, and conformity.
Obviously, it is impossible for such politics to promote the resolution of long-term, systemic and comprehensive human rights issues.
As a result, people will see a very paradoxical scene: the related human rights issues in the United States have been intensified and magnified, but they have never actually changed.
In the current United States, the people are only awakened when they vote, and then go dormant after voting; when they listen to hype slogans during elections, they have no right to speak after the election;
Such disregard for civil rights, irrelevance of public opinion, and helplessness for people's livelihood has really brought shame to the signboard of "people owned, governed by the people, and enjoyed by the people".
The website of the Institute of Political Science at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government reported at the end of 2021 that a national poll of young people aged 18 to 29 in the United States showed that only 7% of the respondents believed that the American democratic system was still "healthy". Fifty-two percent of respondents believe that American democracy has been "troubled" or "failed."
——How can we solve the human rights problems in the United States by pursuing capital first?
!
A study of U.S. Senate voting patterns found that U.S. senators' preferences more closely reflect donor preferences than other types of groups.
Nobel laureate in economics and famous American economist Stiglitz pointed out: "American congressmen rely on 1% of money to be re-elected, serve 1% of people, and even rely on 1% of people to reward them when they leave office."
In the United States, it is an indisputable fact that capital can leverage politics by providing political donations, lobbying politicians, etc.
American-style democracy has long been reduced to a game of interest transmission. Politicians are increasingly ignoring the interests of the people, making way for capital to give way to human rights issues.
Why is populism booming in America?
Why is the elite class notorious?
This is not without its self-consistent logic.
We have seen that the issue of gun violence, which is closely related to the right to life, has always been difficult to resolve in the United States.
The United States is the number one "gun country" in the world, owning 46% of the world's guns, and there are as many gun stores as there are pharmacies.
Less than five months into the year, the number of U.S. gun violence deaths has already surpassed three-quarters of last year's.
However, the US federal government has failed to introduce a gun control bill in the past 25 years due to obstruction from gun interests.
A few days ago, gun control advocates placed more than 1,100 black body bags in Washington, forming the English phrase "Thinking and Praying", which satirizes the routine and stereotyped statements of politicians after the shooting incident.
We have seen a constant back-and-forth of the U.S. Medicare Act, which is closely linked to the right to health.
More than $3.5 billion was spent on political lobbying in the United States in 2020, with record-setting spending on lobbying by the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
In the pharmaceutical industry, senior officials who entered the government through the "revolving door" ignored the public voice that "4 out of 5 Americans think that medical prices are too expensive", and protected monopoly medical interest groups and large pharmaceutical companies, making them Use patents and monopoly medical contracts to obtain high profits.
We have seen that the gap between the rich and the poor, which is inseparable from the right to development, has not only been insurmountable in the United States, but is also growing.
The real beneficiaries of US economic policies in recent years are only a few wealthy groups.
Oxford Economics estimates that between March 2020 and January 2021, the wealth of the top 20% of the U.S. income earners increased by about $2 trillion, while the wealth of the bottom 20% decreased by more than $180 billion.
There are also surveys showing that some of the nation's top rich can enjoy an effective tax rate of 3.4% and even pay no income tax for several years, compared with 14% for the median-income household during the same period.
——How can the human rights problem be cured in the political and cultural atmosphere of "non-ethnic people, their hearts must be different"?
!
American scholar Huntington in "Who Are We?
The book Challenges Facing the National Identity of the United States states that the United States established at the peak of Western colonialism essentially took "Anglo Protestant culture" as the characteristic and core of "national identity".
This has lifted the lid on the so-called "melting pot" of American society.
In form, the United States is a multi-racial and multi-cultural immigrant country. In fact, it is just a fusion of the multi-culture of colored people into the white culture. The heart must be different."
This either-or, dualistic way of thinking has profoundly affected the United States' attitude towards human rights issues, even focusing on selfish interests rather than violating human rights as evil.
Discriminatory attacks against ethnic minorities are becoming more and more unscrupulous, and they are being made public.
Trump is a typical representative. He called the epidemic "Chinese virus" and "Kung Fu flu", stirring up anti-Asian hatred; he accused Mexicans of bringing drugs, crime, rape; he falsely claimed that the influx of Latino population was a kind of "invasion".
American politicians have an inescapable responsibility for poisoning American society and intensifying racial discrimination and hatred.
Exclusion of immigrants is increasingly extreme and lacks basic humanitarianism.
Violent law enforcement by U.S. border enforcement officers is on the rise, the notorious policy of separation of flesh and blood has not ended, and incidents of immigrant children being detained and abused for extended periods of time continue to occur. Private detention centers where a large number of immigrants are detained have poor facilities and chaotic management. Many immigrants have become Victims of human trafficking and forced labor in the United States.
In fiscal 2021, a whopping 557 immigrant deaths were recorded along the U.S. southern border, an all-time high since records began in 1998.
"Human Rights Judge": Trampling the world's human rights in the name of human rights
People can't forget the scene two years ago: from London to Brussels, from Toronto to Wellington, from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro, Floyd's death ignited global outrage, "We want justice! We want to breathe!" etc. The slogan resounded all over the world.
This is an injustice for Floyd, as well as anger and anger at the bad U.S. human rights diplomacy.
The Roman historian Tacitus once used "they make desolation, but call it peace" to satirize "peace under Rome".
Human rights are historical, concrete and realistic, and human rights cannot be talked about without the political, economic and social conditions and historical and cultural traditions of different countries.
In evaluating the human rights situation of a country, one cannot use its own standards as the sole criterion, nor engage in double standards, nor politicize, weaponize, and instrument human rights to interfere in other countries' internal affairs and serve its own hegemony and interests.
Some U.S. politicians completely ignore the appalling human rights abuses in their own countries, and instead point to other countries' human rights with the superiority of the so-called "human rights role models".
The U.S. publishes country-by-country human rights reports every year, using its own political self-interest as the judging standard and ideology as the yardstick, pointing fingers and accusing the human rights situation of many countries and regions, outright political suppression and malicious smearing of other countries.
The United States can be called "the biggest distorter of the human rights cause in the world".
The United States wields the human rights stick at every turn to suppress other countries, interfere in other countries' internal affairs, and even find excuses for abusing sanctions and force against other countries.
Launched the Iraq War and the Afghan War, and intervened in the Syrian civil war, causing hundreds of thousands of civilians to die in the war, and millions of civilians to become refugees and displaced, causing huge loss of life and property to the local people.
The United States ignored the 29 consecutive resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly calling on the United States to end the 50-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, and continued to implement the embargo and sanctions even when Cuba faced the threat of the epidemic... In the name of safeguarding human rights, the United States defended its hegemony, The United States can be called "the biggest destroyer of human rights in the world".
The United States has always adopted international human rights rules if they are in line with them, and discarded them if they are not.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, established in 2006, has designed an international human rights monitoring mechanism that is equal, inclusive, constructive, dialogue rather than confrontational.
The United States believes that this is not in line with its wishes, and even withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council for a time in 2018.
The United States has also withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on climate change, interfered and coerced the World Health Organization, and frequently threatened the International Criminal Court, seriously undermining the overall situation of global human rights governance.
The United States can be called "the biggest divider in the cause of human rights in the world".
It is worth noting that at present, white supremacy has not only emphasized the dominance of whites in the United States, but has also expanded to international relations, advocating the maintenance of an "international order" based on the rules set by whites.
Cui Tiankai, the former Chinese ambassador to the United States, pointed out that the United States will not willingly accept the rise of a great power with very different social systems, ideologies, cultural traditions and even races.
There is a racist element in the US policy towards China, but some people just don't talk about it.
The United States has long used human rights issues to suppress China. In recent years, it has intensified its efforts, sparing no effort, and even has no bottom line.
The US hype up the so-called "genocide" and "forced labor" in Xinjiang and other lies, frequently created issues and passed sanctions bills, which is the latest proof that it uses human rights issues to serve its strategic interests.
The so-called human rights issue has increasingly become a tool for US politicians to smear China and a stick for maintaining hegemony.
When human rights become a pretext for the US to abuse long-arm jurisdiction, promote technological decoupling, sanction and bully other countries, the instability and uncertainty of the world will inevitably increase, and the peace and development pursued by people of all countries will inevitably suffer.
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Today is the second anniversary of Floyd's kneeling and killing, and the racist atrocities have left the whole world heartbroken to this day.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech nearly 60 years ago still reverberates in the skies of history.
People will tell the great leader of the black civil rights movement that today's America is not what it wanted, the desert where justice has disappeared and oppression is still not turned into an oasis, and a stone of hope has not yet been cleaved from the ridge of despair, and the voice of freedom is still There is still a long way to go to realize that all people are created equal and enjoy fairness and justice.
(Author: Guan Guoping)