IN BRITAIN LIVE: BLACK LIVES MATTER STRONGLY MAKING WAVE

The “Black Lives Mat­ter” movement (BLM), which began in the United States of America (USA), has gradu­ally made its way to the Unit­ed Kingdom – and has been warmly embraced there. As SKY TV news de­scribed it, this summer was a “summer of protests” – not only in the USA but in the UK as the Black Lives Matter movement made its presence felt.

On September 6, 2016, Black Lives Matter activists in Britain gained access to a run­way at the London City Air­port, one of the three airports serving London, blocked one of its runways – and disrupted flights there. The Black Lives Matter activists were protest­ing against what they called “the U.K.’s environmental im­pact on black people.” The Metropolitan Police promptly arrested nine of the protesters and removed them from the runway – to face charges of aggravated trespass and breaching London City Airport bylaws. In August 2016, Black Lives Matter protesters also blocked major roads in vari­ous British cities – including London, Nottingham and Birmingham – leading to 19 arrests. The “Black Lives Matter” movement arose as a direct protest against the dispropor­tionate number of black per­sons, especially unarmed per­sons, who are killed in contact with the police and other se­curity agencies. The Black Lives Matter movement describes itself as a unique contribution that goes beyond the extrajudicial kill­ings of Black people by police and vigilantes.

--> As Wikipedia points out, BLM regularly organizes protests around the deaths of black people in killings by law enforcement officers and broader issues of racial profil­ing, police brutality and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2012 by three black commu­nity organizers: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, as a call to action for Black people after a 17-year-old black kid, Trayvon Mar­tin was shot dead by a police­man, George Zimmerman. Since then, the BLM move­ment has expanded their pro­ject into a national network of over 30 local chapters – and has spread abroad, including into the UK. Although the number of deaths arising from contacts with the police in the UK is reportedly very small, the general concern is about the disproportionate number of blacks who fall victims of such contacts with the police and sundry security agencies. At several cities in the UK during the summer of pro­tests, scores of people, blacks, whites, Asians, who share the concerns of our common humanity, could be seen on television chanting vocifer­ously: “Black Lives!” “Mat­ter!” “Black Lives!” “Matter!” “”What do you want?” “Jus­tice!” “When do you want it?” “Now…!!!” The scenes were very touching scene indeed. Al­though I could not attend any of the BLM protest marches while I was in the UK, I spent a considerable amount of time following up on the news on television – in my room. Among the recent cases of black deaths in contact with the police in Britain are the following: •Kingsley Burrell (Bir­mingham, 2011); and •Mzee Mohammed (Liver­pool, 2016) In the most recent inci­dent, Mohammed, 18, of Car­ibbean descent, was report­edly arrested on July 13, 2016, when someone called the police about a young man re­portedly behaving suspicious­ly around a shopping centre in the City of Liverpool. Policemen reportedly ar­rived and surrounded Mo­hammed. Within minutes, the unarmed young man was dead. An inquest is already going on to determine how it came to pass that Mohammed was dead within minutes of being surrounded by police­men and security guards… I watched Mohammed’s mother and his sisters weep­ing, on television – and the tears came to my eyes… Mohammed’s mother, Karla, vowed to take him back to Jamaica for burial – rather than lay him to rest in a city without a soul like Liverpool, where he was killed… The British Prime Minister Theresa May has already an­nounced a review of cases of deaths in police custody. Hopefully, the pressures of the Black Lives Matter move­ment, embodying the hon­est indignation of the British people and residents, and the political will of Prime Minis­ter Theresa May, will help to end the bizarre incidents of unwarranted deaths and ex­tra-judicial killings of blacks – or of any persons – in police custody in the United King­dom, in the USA or in Nigeria for that matter. Yes, Black Lives Matter. Indeed, All Lives Matter for God sake.


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