George Floyd protests are a chance for the US to confront its racist history, not try to erase it

The Black Lives Matter movement is an awakening for the US. Facing up to institutionalised racism is long overdue. Slavery is a stain on America’s history. The task is to rectify this stain without erasing history

Michael Chugani

Published: 1:00am, 25 Jun 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

To understand America, you have to be an American or have lived there. There’s a lot to understand about this superpower, which is both reviled and admired. To understand it, you have to understand Democratic blue states, Republican red states, Deep South former Confederate states with their history of slavery and Jim Crow laws that institutionalised racism.

You have to understand the abortion rights Roe vs Wade case, the right to bear arms, the Electoral College that indirectly elects the president through a democratic process, why the United States largely finances a security umbrella for Western democracies and why it is the world’s largest magnet for immigrants.

Most importantly, you need to understand that what matters most to Americans is individual freedoms such as the right not to wear a face mask, democracy, unforced patriotism and religious freedom. The National Football League epitomises all this by now allowing players to take a knee during the national anthem.

I immersed myself in understanding America for my naturalisation test decades ago, even though it dealt mostly with the constitution, government and civics issues. I delved into US history because history fascinates me.

I took my oath of allegiance in Baltimore, an hour’s drive from the Washington suburbs where I lived. One of my proudest moments was being photographed holding my naturalisation certificate by an American flag.

03:10

Anti-racism and police brutality protests sparked by death of George Floyd continue around the globe

How different America was then. The country now has a president, in Donald Trump, whose trademark is to upend the old order. One of his 2016 election campaign slogans was “drain the swamp” – a promise to rid Washington of corruption and insider influence.

His critics say he has replaced the swamp with a murkier one through cronyism, abuse of power and cosiness with dictators. Whether Trump is an aberration, we will know in the November election. I have never seen the US as polarised. The only thing that now unites politicians and many people is a new-found loathing for China.

I am not sure if bashing China alone is enough to get Trump re-elected or for rival Joe Biden to win. It’s not as defining an issue as the coronavirus, the economy and the re-energised Black Lives Matter movement.

George Floyd death stirs Asian feelings on region’s own racial strife

The movement, just like Hong Kong’s democracy movement, was a volcano waiting to erupt. Its eruption – marked by peaceful protests, riots and looting – was a watershed moment that led to national soul-searching. As an American, I knew the police killing of George Floyd that sparked nationwide protests would finally force the country to look itself in the mirror.

How many times have Beijing loyalist politicians and commentators claimed that if last year’s Hong Kong protests had happened in the US, the police would have used live ammunition? That didn’t happen even though some of the US protests were more violent. In a few isolated cases, police who opened fire were dismissed or suspended.

Rather than killing protesters, many police forces across the country are reforming or rethinking tactics. Unlike Hong Kong, many have banned chokeholds. Yes, US police can be trigger-happy, but the victims are usually criminal suspects, not protesters. The right to bear arms means police have to assume suspects are armed.

Colonial-era statues are toppled and damaged in global Black Lives Matter protests

The Black Lives Matter movement is an awakening for the US. Facing up to institutionalised racism is long overdue, but confronting racism should not include erasing history. Some protesters have decapitated, destroyed or removed statues of long-dead racist military leaders and slave-owning politicians.

Vote-chasing mayors, governors and legislators have jumped on the bandwagon by backing the removal of historic statues. This is wrong. Toppling statues cannot erase America’s painful racist past.

Slavery is a stain on America’s history. The task is to rectify this stain without erasing history. The US loses moral authority to criticise countries that whitewash history, such as China for censoring the Tiananmen Square crackdown, if people destroy statues of racist leaders.

Don’t glorify the statues, but don’t destroy them either. Put them in museums. Keep history alive. Learn from it.

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host

Post