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U.S. Embassies, Nations Cope with George Floyd Distress

June 1, 2020

By: Deborah Childress

This Monday morning, June 1 of the year 2020 is marked by continued protests scattered throughout the world in protest of George Floyd’s death at the hands and knees of Minneapolis Police Officer, Derek Chauvin.

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Fowler Ave Protester in Tampa Florida, Photo By Brian Burns

Notable is the quiet protest in Paris, France, as reported by Parisnews.com, where a small band of protesters were quickly gathered by Carolyn Williams.  With fifteen people making a statement in Paris’ streets, she said, “I’m very pleased with this turnout with the short time we had to get this together.  I thought I might be the only one here, but if I was the only one out here, I’d stand alone.”

Iran, of course, has been lambasted for its response, which was printed in Newsweek under the headline, “Iran Leaders Criticize US Racism After George Floyd Death:  Black Americans Not Sure They’ll Be Alive in a Few Minutes.”  Iranian leadership criticized President Donald Trump directly of being racist, but several GOP senators, according to the report, demanded Iran be removed from the Twitter social media platform entirely, where they expressed their views.

For anyone who ever doubted Susan Rice is capable of highly suspect remarks without the aid or blackmail of anyone else, RT News (formerly Russia News) ran her comments from a CNN interview where she blamed Russia for the organized rioting and looting in America.  She stated, “I would bet this is right out of the Russian playbook.”  Some evidence would nice, considering that movements of the far right and far left are known for past destruction in our streets.

Forbes.com casted doubt on CNN reporting that alleged murderer Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, knew George Floyd from working at El Nuevo Rodeo Club on a different shift.  This news has not been confirmed as of this writing, and the former owner of the club, Maya Santamaria who sold the establishment just two months ago, told Forbes that she didn’t necessarily think they knew each other because they worked different shifts.  She said Chauvin worked at her establishment for 17 years, and Floyd worked special urban venues for a year.

BBC News stated, “Outrage over George Floyd’s death also reflects years of frustration over socio-economic inequality and segregation…”  According to France24.com, London anti-racism demonstrators are taking a kneel, as are people in Copenhagen and footballers in Germany, waving “No Justice!  No Peace!” and “How Many More?” slogans on placards.  They marched past the House of Parliament, stopping at the U.S. Embassy where police surrounded the building.  Five arrests took place, according to the France24 report, while two police officers were assaulted.  Other placards were marked with “Silence is Violence” and “An Injury to One is an Injury to All” messages.  France24 also stated that Denmark protestors arrived Sunday at the U.S. Embassy with placards who pleaded, “Stop Killing Black People.”  The French news revealed that Germany’s leading Bild newspaper on Sunday published a shocking headline, “The Killer Cop Who Set America Ablaze,” while referring to “scenes like out of a civil war.”  Saturday night in Berlin the motto for Germans was “Justice for George Floyd.”  France24.com described scenes at Germany’s capital, with several hundred people gathered in Kreuzberg with slogans including, “Hold Cops Accountable” and “Who Do You Call When Police Murder!”

In the controversial Aljazeera, the headline, “America is Sick and We Need to Root Out Racism,” is displayed under a Black Lives Matter banner.  It also stated that “Without evidence, Trump and several top officials from his administration, including U.S. Attorney William Barr, have blamed Antifa and other groups it describes as agitators for taking over the protests in U.S. cities.”  The news source said the U.S. is viewed as being threatened by a deeper political divide that “drowns the underlying frustrations that triggered protests.”

An Associated Press report in The New Indian Express, spoke of a rare move by U.S. Embassies in Africa.  They spoke up on George Floyd’s death.  It stated, “(as) shock and disappointment in Africa grow, some U.S. embassies on the continent have taken the unusual step of issuing critical statements, saying no one is above the law.”  But according to the report, Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, was condemning, saying Friday the U.S. continuing practices of discrimination against black American citizens is rejected by the continental body.   African people were shocked by President Donald Trump’s tweet, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” with a Kenyan political cartoonist, Patrick Gathara asking “WTF?”  Trump has claimed the remark is being misunderstood.  But Africa has struggled with China recently over racism due to complaints that Africans are being evicted and mistreated in the Chinese city of Guangzhou amid the COVID-19 crisis.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated many Canadians of diverse backgrounds are watching the news of the United States in shock and referenced “anti-black racism” and “racism” in the U.S. as “real.”  But, he confessed, “It’s also in Canada, and we know…we have work to do.”  The Canadian Press headlines this morning indicate that Montreal protests have turned violent.  It wrote, “On Sunday, windows were smashed, fires were set and the situation slid into a game of cat-and-mouse between pockets of protestors and police trying to disperse them.”  Earlier, a march had started in downtown Montreal.

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