Don’t make martyr of George Floyd, says Tapia - Black-rights movement must not lose steam, ambassador urges
Published:Thursday | June 18, 2020 | 12:00 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
While acknowledging that American George Floyd’s name will go down in history, United States Ambassador Donald Tapia has cautioned that the man whose life was snuffed out under a policeman’s knee should not be martyred.
Addressing a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s offices on North Street in Kingston, Tapia said that any black person could have been the victim of Floyd’s egregious killing.
“It’s not about George Floyd. He might have started it, but the movement right now, #BlackLivesMatter, should be to continue what has started over this murder,” he said.
“This movement is not about George Floyd, people. It’s about the ethnic black community that needs to have the same rights in the community that everyone has.”
Tapia argued that the massive protests against police brutality in the US represented a rallying cry against injustice.
The US ambassador indicated that many black people have been unjustifiably killed at the hands of police in the US in the past but noted that their names have been forgotten.
KEEP MOMENTUM FOR REAL CHANGE
Tapia said that movements such as #BlackLivesMatter should be sustainable.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement, said Tapia, was centred on reaction to tragic events but ought to maintain pressure on policymakers. He lamented that after the demonstrations, the passion of such movements generally “fades away”.
“The only way we are going to solve the problems that we have is that we have to keep the momentum going. It’s got to be embedded into the neighbourhoods and our children, equality, and the right of people to live their lives equally among whites, blacks, etc.”
Making reference to the leadership of the late Martin Luther King Jr, a 1950s and ‘60s civil-rights activist, Tapia said that the movement needed a defining voice.
“Today, there is not really, truly a black strong leader,” Tapia said.
“Martin Luther King Jr moved forward in a movement that brought people together,” he said, adding that he himself had participated in civil-rights marches.