By Md. Zillur Rahaman

Racist behavior by white police in the United States is not new. In 2020, a young black man named George Floyd died in police brutality. At that time, George Floyd said, "I can't breathe". His request drew a storm of condemnation from around the world. This time, 53-year-old Frank Tyson could not survive despite the same request. According to a US media report, this racist incident happened recently in a club in Canton, Ohio, USA. Body camera video of the police showed Tyson being pinned to the ground and his hands tied behind his back. Later, Tyson was seriously injured in a collision with the police. From there, Tyson was taken to the hospital where he died. The policeman involved in the incident has been sent on compulsory leave with pay.

Police body-camera footage released on social media shows a Canton police officer investigating a traffic accident when he found Frank Tyson at a bar called Amvest. The accident happened on April 18 around 8 pm. An electric pole was broken and a motorcyclist located outside the bar indicated to the police officer who went to investigate the incident that the person who caused the accident was inside the bar. A police officer's body-camera footage shows a woman opening the door and saying, 'Please get him (Frank Tyson) out of here now'. Then the police went inside the bar and tried to arrest Tyson. At that time, Tyson repeatedly tried to block the police. But at one stage the police caught him on the floor of the bar. Tyson kept saying, 'They (the police) are trying to kill me, somebody call the sheriff.'

The policemen pinned Tyson to the ground with his knees on his back and his arms pinned down. Tyson then told police he couldn't breathe. Recently, according to an investigative report by the AP news agency, at that time, Tyson said, "I can't breathe." At one point, Tyson became unconscious and a police officer was heard saying that Tyson had calmed down. But another police officer replied, 'He's probably dead.' Police officers later found Tyson no longer moving. Then they took him to the hospital.

It is known that racism in the US began in the sixteenth century. At that time black Africans began to be transported to America for use as slaves. After that, about 12 million black Africans were sent to the US as slaves. Of course, from the beginning, the police departments of the US were extremethe racistIn 1911, a black man named Samuel Bratton was appointed to the New York Police Department, but in the following period the number was very small. Later, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, 1964, racial discrimination in employment was largely eliminated, but blacks were largely neglected. After the 1970s, the blacks who got into the American police force, however, carried out widespread aggression and brutality in the black community themselves, as their main goal was to cement their position in the department.

About 12 percent of the total population of the US today is African American, but they were never born American. In the 16th century, Europeans brought Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the American lands to cultivate the uncultivated lands of the southern states. Almost all members of the present-day American white population are Europeans, who are truly outliers. Only the Red Indians are the true natives of America.

Conflict between African American blacks and white police intensified during the Great Migration, when black Africans moved from the rural South to the urban North in the post-World War II era. The influx of large numbers of blacks into the northern states was never well received by the white community and the white police department. There was always a misconception among them that blacks are inherently criminal, more aggressive and intimidating! As a result of which blacks are more closely monitored by the police as well as hindered in their movement. The main goal of the police became to protect the whites from the blacks. As white Americans migrated from the rural South to the surrounding cities in search of a better life, their persecution of blacks was supported by the police. Moreover, brutality and killings of blacks by the hegemonic and terrorist organization 'Klu Klux Klan' and the Citizen Council in the southern states were never stopped by the police.

In 1861, when Republican President Abraham Lincoln decided to abolish slavery, the seven northern states united with the power of the Union State in a bloody war against the 11-state confederation of the South. Abolition of slavery was the cause of the American Civil War. After winning the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln officially abolished slavery in America in 1863. But the conspiracy against him did not stop; As a result, he was shot dead in 1865.

Almost a hundred years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the civil rights movement against political- economic discrimination and affirming the human rights of black people in America was formed in the fifties of the last century under the leadership of black leader Martin Luther King Jr. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech in front of millions of people in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Then the intense movement led by Martin Luther King led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act for blacks in America in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. But radical whites of the time declared that they would not accept any laws that forced them to maintain relations with blacks. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead by white extremist terrorists. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s hope for freedom from oppression has not yet been fully realized in American society.

Although the US is very vocal about global democracy and human rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report titled 'The UN International Independence Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement' on September 28, 2023. The extremely negative aspects of the human rights situation in the interior have emerged.It says systemic or institutional racism permeates the US police and justice system.

The main victims of racism are blacks of African descent. The report was based on information obtained during a visit to the US by the UN Panel of Experts on Racism earlier last year. Experts interviewed 133 victims of institutionalized racism. They visited five concentration camps in five cities: District of Columbia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York. Not only that, they held meetings with civil society, government and police department officials of those five cities. One of the expert team members said, "In the cities we visited, we heard dozens of heartbreaking stories (of racism). Racism is a systemic or institutional problem that needs to be addressed systematically.'

Every page of the report depicts the horrors of racism in the US, which continues to carry the legacy of brutal slavery, the slave trade and centuries of legal apartheid. Even 150 years after the abolition of slavery, racial oppression, police killings and human rights violations are still widespread. Blacks of African descent are the biggest victims of this racism in the US. Blacks are three times more likely to be killed by police and 4.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites.

It has also been said that more than 1,000 murders occur at the hands of the police every year. It should be noted that a report published by the AP news agency in March of this year also said that more than 1,000 people have died in police custody in the past decade due to police torture and other reasons. However, US law does not grant any right to police torture. In contrast, only 1 percent of the police officers come under trial. The report warned that if US use of force laws or regulations are not reformed in line with international standards, such killings will continue for generations.

The writer is a Banker and Columnist