The riot flames from Floyd again remind us that our world no matter how far we as mankind have come, are with all our issues the fuel of every fire. Riots have occurred throughout history. The displacement of circa 14 million people during the 1947 partition of India caused deaths of up to 2 million people.
In America the riots of 1863 and 1968 though 100 years apart centred on the issue of colour. The New York Draft Riots of 1863 when people were drafted to fight a Civil War that helped abolish slavery and the 1968 riots led by Luther King that fought to bring the equal right of any African American, a battle that still goes on today.
In China the Tibetan Riots of 1959 led to the loss of many lives whilst the Umbrella riots of 2019 in Hong Kong seek to protect the freedoms of those that live there one nation two models. In Britain on the issue of money, tax and fiscal rights we have seen riots since the 12th Century and the London Poll Tax riots of 1990 a lifetime reminder.
At the coronation of Richard 1 in 1189 many Jews were massacred following riots and again mankind raised its very ugly head as did the Nazis in the 1940s. When the kitchens of the world get too hot the flames are ignited and the people say enough. To quell the flames leads to the display of counter force and as matters intensify only the intervention of leaders with peace and level head can dampen the situation.
It is clear that the causes of riot will never be solved, they will be dampened but the underlying issues remain there with potential to flare. Mankind’s different colouring should be no reason that all men should not be equal but History has showed us for example in Apartheid South Africa that when distorted leaders brains rule the outcomes are disastrous. Those leaders that rule as in China nearly 1 in 5 of the entire worlds people do so with iron glove herding people to single track and inevitably some will rebel.
In Britain we have laws created to rule the people created over 1000 years and today we as a people are looked at through cameras constantly. Laws that like taxes out there to test the people’s nerves from fines for parking a car to driving it too fast. Keeping people on single track is becoming increasingly difficult as the global populations swell towards 10 billion in the next 30 years.
Religion of course has caused more divides than any colour and the Hindu Muslim riots in India of 2012 saw hundreds die. From Spanish Inquisition to the Gordon Riots in Britain against Catholics mid 1800s show that what one believes in one can die for.
In Britain where we were normally 10 years behind America we are 10 years ahead of America with colour acceptance. The integration of colour and cultures in London where over 189 languages are spoken daily is a model that works. At times a black man has been wrongly dealt with but so have Asian men and White men at the hands of injustice. It is mankind that is cause and effect and the heart of man is often corrupt.
George Floyd was murdered of that there is no doubt, an over zealous White male Officer making a wrong decision at a wrong time over what seems to be the purchase of a pack of cigarettes. But America must remember that is was the white men Abraham Lincoln and from Britain William Wilberforce who saw the injustice and gave their lives to right it. It was Mahatma Gandhi that suffered for his brown colour in South Africa that fuelled his fire to seek justice and freedom for Hindustan. The African American President Obama did little to help his own in America and Oprah Winfrey as a successful black woman has done more. In fairness to America you can become President black or white and in Ireland an Indian leads the nation while in Britain we have had two whites female leaders and we have an Asian Muslim London Mayor. The riots must stop the flames must die but the flame that’s mankind will always flicker.
It was three black women whose IT and Mathematic skills that enabled America to reach the Moon. It was a black American runner in 1936 that fuelled the jealous flame of Hitler and it was the Greatest Boxer of all time Ali that proved that you can stand up for your beliefs no matter of the colour of your skin and that you can be The Greatest. It was the voice of Nat King Cole that wooed many and the preaching of TD Jakes in Texas that has saved many people in this life and life eternal. It was the music of Jackson, White, Knight, Warwick, Houston, Benson, Ross and Armstrong that brought such happiness to many. It was the black George Carver that brought us Peanut Butter and it was the many black Americans who fought for their nation in Vietnam and Europe that we need thank for where we are today. There must be no race riot but a race to change mankind and only that comes from above. We need to pray for peace and for peacemakers be they black brown or white.
qbitblogger 