Cops Who Take a Knee

US protests dominate national and international headlines. And social media is filled with endless images and countless videos of the upheaval that is plaguing the country.

Nevertheless, in some places, a sliver of optimism peeks through the clouds of teargas and a dash of hope rises above the din of angry chants. 

The reason I say this is because news reports had shone on a particular posse of people who joined in with protesters to show solidarity. Even if it involved only a handful. Even if it was only for a while. 

“We want to be with y’all, for real. I took my helmet off, laid the batons down. I want to make this a parade, not a protest”, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson was seen telling protesters in Flint, Michigan on Saturday, before he joined the assembled crowd to march, eliciting cheers.

He was not the only one.

Police chief Joseph Wysocki walked with protesters in Camden, New Jersey, and officers hugged and knelt with demonstrators in Houston and Miami and Kansas City in Missouri and Shreveport in Louisiana.

In Santa Cruz, California, Police Chief Andy Mills took a knee with protesters, with the department tweeting it was “in memory of George Floyd & bringing attention to police violence against Black people”.

Two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers – one white man and one black man – were photographed holding aloft a sign reading “END Police Brutality!”

In Fargo, North Dakota, an officer was seen clasping hands with protest organizers while holding up a sign reading “We are one race…The HUMAN race”.

And officers in Coral Gables in Florida took a knee in Floyd's memory.

So too, did officers in Ferguson, Missouri as cheers erupted from the protesting crowd. 

It's good to know there are still cops who know that they are a part of the community!

Footballers Support #GeorgeFloyd

Liverpool’s first-team squad took a knee around the centre circle at Anfield in a message of solidarity for #GeorgeFloyd. 

The picture featuring 29 Reds players came with the caption "Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter". Players reportedly requested the picture during training on Monday. 

And they are not the only ones. 

On Saturday, Schalke's US midfielder Weston McKennie (left) wore an armband in his team's defeat to Werder Bremen bearing the words "Justice for George". 

The following day, England footballer Jadon Sancho (right) showed his support when he lifted his jersey after scoring to reveal a T-shirt with the handwritten message "Justice for George Floyd" on the front. 

Regretfully, the winger was shown a yellow card for his gesture which came after he contributed the second goal for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn. 

Earlier, French striker Marcus Thuram (right) scored twice in Borussia Moenchengladbach's win over Union Berlin and took a knee too. He spent five seconds in this position before getting up again to continue. 

"No explanation needed", Gladbach said on Twitter with a picture of Thuram kneeling.

Protests in USA: A Beautiful Sight

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China tabloid Global Times, wrote on Saturday: “US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) once called the violent protests in Hong Kong ‘a beautiful sight to behold’…US politicians now can enjoy this sight from their own windows”! 

Hu is damn right! A front-row seat to all the action unravelling on city streets all across America! 

Indeed, the scale of the coast-to-coast protests rivalled the historic demonstrations of the civil rights and Vietnam War eras.

#GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter #AmericanHypocrisy

Thank You, Donald Trump: USA is No. 1!

Are we at war against the coronavirus? The everyday language so often used to depict the present pandemic would have us think so because it conjures an image of a deadly enemy and constructs a grim tableau of suffering and death. 

As of June 01, 2020, 13:10 GMT, the world has already witnessed 6,294,321 infections and 374,417 deaths. 

But one country stands head and shoulders above all other nations – the United States of America. 

With 4.25% of the world population, the country is home to the largest outbreak on the planet – with 1.8 million cases or 29.2% of global Covid-19 cases. That is 3.5 times that of the second hardest-hit country, i.e. Brazil. And 4.4 times that of the third hardest-hit country, i.e. Russia. 

Not only that but the US has the tragic distinction of accounting for 28.4% of pandemic deaths so far. 

Even more frightening is the fact that if we add up all the Americans who were sacrificed in four conflicts that the country has gotten itself involved in – the combined total still couldn’t match up to the tally of coronavirus fatalities: 

Americans can thank Donald Trump for this ‘achievement’. His brilliant leadership or rather, the lack of it puts his country in the unenviable position of being No. 1 for Covid-19. 

Methinks, Trump is simply unstoppable!

USA is No. 1 because Trump is No. 1! He's the BEST!

Latin America: One Million Cases and 50,000 Deaths

Latin America's coronavirus death toll topped 50,000 on Saturday. If that’s not bad enough, yesterday, its confirmed cases reached 1,011,726, which is 16.2% of the global tally. 

When we take a look at the Top 7 worst-affected countries, they combine to show a 94.1% share of Latin America's total and 15.2% of the world's total.

There’s no doubt about it – it is the new epicenter (as my May 24, 2020 post had trumpeted). Four countries continue to yield high daily infection numbers: Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico. 

I must single out Brazil in particular because the country is supposed to have already started using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine widely to treat Covid-19 – therefore, we should expect them to be able to rein in the disease, shouldn't we?

After all, these drugs had been proudly endorsed by two presidents, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, no less!

Yet, the country collected over half a million cases yesterday – 514,849 to be precise and it alone contributed 50.9% of Latin America’s total.

Russia recorded 9,268 cases which raised the national tally to 405,843 and still comfortably holding onto its No. 3 position.

Meanwhile, Iran's infections had breached the 150,000 mark and it's sitting in position No. 12.

A day earlier, Oman and Kazakhstan reported more than 10,000 cases and Nigeria followed suit on Sunday.

Protests Are Not Ending Anytime Soon

The #GeorgeFloyd protests are persisting. They're not ending anytime soon.

In fact, few corners of the country are untouched in the unrest – from demonstrators setting fires inside Reno's city hall in Nevada and police launching tear gas at rock-throwing protesters in Fargo, North Dakota, to demonstrators being clubbed in the face and legs by Los Angeles, California police officers and two police vehicles ramming into a group of unarmed protestors in Brooklyn, New York.

It does appear that things are going from bad to worse. 

At least 25 cities across 16 states had imposed overnight curfews – they included Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Seattle, Miami, Cleveland, Columbus, Portland, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City. 

Governors activated their state national guards in Colorado, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

And the upheaval again came to Donald Trump’s doorstep on Saturday as protesters clashed with the Secret Service and police outside the White House for the second successive day.

Police have made more than 1,400 arrests around the country during the protests, according to an AP tally, although the number is likely to be higher. 

Reporters are also not spared. Many faced assault and arrest while reporting on the widespread protests as they were unfolding. 

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, a Los Angeles Times journalist reporting outside the fifth police precinct in Minneapolis, said she was standing with about a dozen journalists when Minnesota state patrol “fired teargas canisters on us at point-blank range”. 

Ryan Faircloth, a reporter for the Star Tribune, said officers blew out his car window with some kind of rubber bullet. “The glass shattered into my face and body. I’m bleeding from the side of my face and down my left arm”, he wrote. 

Michael Anthony Adams, a Vice News reporter tweeted a video that captured him repeatedly shouting that he was press and showing his media ID before he was thrown to the ground, held down and pepper sprayed in the face by police. 

MSNBC journalist Ali Velshi said he was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet. “State police supported by national guard fired unprovoked into an entirely peaceful rally”, he said.

It appears that America is going berserk! 

And #GeorgeFloyd is making its way abroad too. 

The Minneapolis murder has pushed people to march against racism – in cities such as London, UK; Berlin, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Toronto, Canada – in solidarity with US protesters. 

#BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeace