White coats for black lives: On George Floyd

The United States started burning after the news of the death of George Floyd spread like wildfire. Aged 46, George Floyd was arrested on the conviction of using counterfeited $20 bill at a convenience store. After the police officers arrested Floyd in response to the store owner’s charges, the lawmen claimed that Floyd was resisting the handcuffs. According to the crucial evidence and video surfacing the internet, Floyd is shown forcefully laid on the ground with Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressing his knees on the back of the neck of Floyd for nearly 9 minutes. Floyd can be heard rasping ‘I can’t breathe’ numerous times. People believe that for the last 3 minutes out of those, he was already dead.

Why Flyod’s death creates history?

The death of George Floyd created fire blazing the history of black people. It mourned the deaths of coloured people killed by white officers in the name of the law. Eric Garner’s mother, whose son died repeating ‘I can’t breathe’ almost 11 times, said, “It was déjà vu all over again. It’s like a reoccurring nightmare.” Protesters took to the streets everywhere in the U.S., despite the situation created by COVID-19. The protest was for humanity and racist killings. They stormed news houses and even the White House, due to President Trump’s controversial tweets. Hence, Trump, his family, and important personnel took refuge in the bunker of the White House. Doctors and medical practitioners took to the street creating the biggest ‘White Coats for Black Lives’ event.

What is ‘WhiteCoats4BlackLives’?

Never to back down in protesting for justice, on 5 June 2020, the medical students of Saint Louis University joined WhiteCoats4BlackLives, a medical student-run organisation born out of the National White Coat Die-In demonstrations that took place on Dec. 10, 2014. Their protests revolved around racial discrimination in healthcare, the careless and atrocious use of law by white officers, and the countless unjust deaths of African American lives that have left humanity appalling.

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Dibyasha Das

Originally published at https://globalshala.com.