By Nyasha Chabururuka

US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien recently waded into a storm when he condescendingly accused Zimbabwe of fanning the violence that has rocked the United States.

O’Brien’s  statement follows a ‘painful, sad and infuriating week’ marked by demonstrations in the US, most of them violent, in retaliation to the brutal ‘assassination’ of George Floyd, an unarmed blackman accused of forgery (possession of a US$20 bill), who was subsequently brutally manhandled and suffocated while pinned to the ground by Derek Chauvin for an agonising eight minutes and 46 seconds in an encounter that turned fatal. 

The whole episode was captured on camera by onlookers, and the American establishment only sprung to action when the brutal murder went viral on social media and conventional broadcast media.

Protesters have since taken to the streets, staging peaceful demonstrations that have often turned violent after the police provoked them through the use of teargas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, water canons and other unconventional methods.

US President Donald Trump, on Monday, stunned the world when he called on his governors to take a more forceful approach.

“If you don’t dominate your city and your state, they’re going to walk away with you,” Trump said.

“In Washington we’re going to do something people haven’t seen before.”

The unapologetic racist Trump praised Minnesota governor Tim Walz (Democrat) for using an iron fist to deal with protesters. 

Trump praised the unrelenting law enforcers because they: “…knocked (protesters) out so fast it was like bowling pins.”  

Phil Murphy, another Democrat, got a pat on the shoulder because “…he did a very good job in New Jersey.”

Members of the fourth estate, the press, have also not been spared as they have been targeted by police.

The BBC reports: “Dozens of journalists covering anti-racism protests that have rocked the US have reported being targeted by security forces using tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray.”  

On Friday last week, a CNN crew was manhandled while on air in Minneapolis, epicentre of the demonstrations where Floyd breathed his last as a sadistic racist police officer ignored pleas by Floyd and onlookers to free him.

His death cry: “I can’t breathe,” has since turned into a slogan, and protesters’ anger has not just been ignited by Floyd’s recent slaughter, but the series of racially-targeted arrests and discrimination which mirrors the American establishment’s perception of people of colour.

Michael Brown’s murder a few years ago sparked the Fergusson unrest.

Before that, Trayvon Martin had been slain by George Zimman, who was acquitted of all charges, birthing the Black Lives Matter movement, a human rights lobbyist calling for an end to targeted police brutality, racial profiling and racial discrimination evident in the US judiciary system.

It remains a mystery if US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols missed the finer details of Floyd’s murder and thousands of other unarmed blackmen who have died as a result of police brutality in his homeland.

The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe shot himself in the foot when he tried to absolve his government of any wrongdoing, saying the Americans upheld human rights when dealing with protesters.

“The American people’s unwavering commitment to the welfare of Zimbabwe’s people has kept us their largest assistance donor. Remembering that commitment, today, I again urged Zimbabwe’s government to end state-sponsored violence against peaceful protesters, civil society, labor leaders and members of the opposition in Zimbabwe, and to hold accountable those responsible for human rights abuses,” read Ambassador Nichols statement.

“…peaceful protesters Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova were arrested, abducted, assaulted and left for dead. To those who deny America’s right to speak out on their fate, let me remind you, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly’.”

Without delving into the merits or demerits of Ambassador Nichols’ statement, a few questions are in order.

Tsitsi dzeyi tsvimborume kubvisa mwana wemvana madzihwa?

(What kindness drives a senior bachelor to wipe the nose of a single mother’s child? — loose translation)

How can the Americans care for Zimbabweans when they cannot guarantee the safety of the black folk in their backyard? Could you possibly spot a splinter in someone’s eye when a log is wedged in yours?

Why is it that black people are more likely to be killed by police officers than other races in your country?

What has the American government done to stem systemic racism?

If what happened to Floyd were to happen in Zimbabwe, how would the US have reacted?

All these questions beg answers, honorable Ambassador!

Most Zimbabweans have rallied behind the protesters because they can relate with their pain.

They know the effect the so-called ‘targeted sanctions’ have had on the general populace — they targeted the masses.

They have been side-lined in economic development.

Their blood, sweat and tears have been used to oil the machinery of capitalism headquartered in the US.

And how is George Floyd’s murder relevant to Zimbabweans?

The demonstrations in the US are an indication of frustration with white supremacists’ continued subjugation of people of colour.

He was an African-American — a black American to be precise.

However, I bet in the eyes of white supremacists, he was just another blackman.

He also died on Africa Day, May 25 — how poignant!

On this day, Africans celebrate their freedom from white domination, which was then referred to as colonisation.

On Africa Day, back in 1963, African leaders came together to fight racism clogged in colonialism. 

Yes, we remember!

The Organisation of African Union (OAU) was founded on May 25 1965 with the initial aim of decolonising Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

And while on the African continent guns were blazing as the black majority clamoured for freedom from mostly European colonisers, in the US, demonstrations were flaring as blacks called for an end to racial subjugation.

The Birmingham Campaign, for instance, led by Martin Luther King Jnr, was a non-violent direct action where young black students confronted white civic authorities, but their efforts were met with brute force.

In one touching 1963 image captured by Charles Moore, high school students staging a peaceful walk in Birmingham, Alabama, were hit by a high-pressure water canon. 

The image was published in Life and rallied international support for the demonstrators.

And history seems to have a funny way of repeating itself.

Floyd’s killing has defied the fear instilled by COVID-19 as people confront a deadlier enemy than a fast-killing virus — endemic racism.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence why many have equated the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests to the 1968 civil rights unrest.

One of Ambassador Nichols’ predecessors, Charles Ray, also torched a storm with his book titled Where you come from matters less than where you are going.

If former Ambassador Ray could have it his way, we ought to forget our past.

A past filled with the pains of slavery.

A past where blacks were lynched.

A past where the toils of slaves built the citadels that the white supremacists boast.

A past where the white settlers displaced the native Americans and relegated them to the dustbins of history and the bottom of the social perking order. 

A past where police killings indiscriminately target the African American population.

According to data compiled by Mapping Police Violence, a research and advocacy group, US police killed 7 666 people between 2013 and 2019, with the number of killings disproportionately affecting African-Americans.

According to Al Jazeera, despite making up 13 percent of the US population, black Americans are two-and-a-half times as likely as white Americans to be killed by the police.  

“Unsurprisingly, the three largest states – California, Texas and Florida – have the highest total number of killings of black people by police officers. Once these figures are adjusted for the population size and demographics, in nearly every state, African-Americans face a significantly higher risk of being killed by police officers than white Americans.

In Utah, the African-Americans comprise just 1,06 percent of the population but they accounted for 10 percent of police killings over the past seven years — a disproportional rate of 9,21 times. In Minnesota, black Americans are nearly four times as likely to be killed by law enforcement, with black victims comprising 20 percent of those killed, despite comprising only 5 percent of the overall population,” writes Al Jazeera.

It is funny that America posits itself as the champion of democracy while the safety of fellow American citizens cannot be guaranteed.

Ambassador Nichols, you live in a glass house and still want to throw stones!

Big brother Uncle Sam, why don’t you be the real big brother and lead by example.

No to racism!

No to subjugation!

No to imposing your will on sovereign countries! 

You ought to lead by example.