Akinbode's BLOG on Faith, Politics, Science, Engineering, Education and Health

The incident of the last few weeks has beamed the light on the law enforcement departments in the US as if policemen are all monsters and the racism in the system is peculiar to the police force alone. I agree we should start with the police force, where many have died in the hands of police officers because of a culture that gives the police power to harm suspect and in many cases, kill people who are otherwise innocent or would not have been sentenced to death if they were found guilty of the offense they are been arrested for - this excessive use of force has led to the death of people of all hue (color). Where this is a greater problem is that most victims are people of color. When you look at the statistics of people who are killed by the police, you will find more African Americans. Is the police force the problem or the racial issue in the society they live in? I do not believe the US police force is the sole problem. The underlining problem is racial inequality. Look at mortali...

Over the years, I have written about racial inequality I have experienced as a person of color in North America (not just US, but also in Canada, though most of my bad experiences have been in the US), and many of my African friends abroad that responded wondered what I was talking about. This speaks volume - until a critical mass (until we saw a caucasian policeman literally snuffed life out of a helpless black man) was reached even people who look like me could not empathize. I know African immigrants in the US who blame African Americans for their woes and I tell them, you came here from a free country as an educated person, you do not carry the stigma that these people have carried from birth, and have not witnessed racial injustice of seeing your father, auntie, brother, uncle shut off from the society because they rebelled, because they could not access the wealth of the land they live, they rebelled and some live a life of crime. We did not have to reach a critical mass to have ...

I have been writing on the subject of racism in the West (not just America) since I arrived in Canada 16 years ago. My conclusion was that if the "White" America does not acknowledge the issue of systemic racism, every other effort will fail to exterminate this cankerworm. There is a need for "White America" to acknowledge we are wrong, we have been wrong and we have not done enough to stop this evil culture of racism, then, the healing and equalization will begin. Before now, many caucasians have lived in denial of systemic racism and many of them have acted in racist ways unconsciously because this has been a culture they have known - like a lady in New York who called the police on an American African man in the park because he told her to put her dog on a leash, and she was faking a cry on the phone as she was calling 911. When she was interviewed, the first statement she made was that "I am not a racist" but the video of the interaction showed otherwi...