Black Lives Matter.

Byline: Mohammad Zubair

Thousands of Americans are taking to the streets to protest about racism and most are doing so for the first time in their lives. The question is why the tragedy of George Floyd struck such a chord ? He is not the first African American who was brutally murdered by a police officer. Hundreds of African Americans have faced such brutality over the decades. In some cases it got the attention of mainstream media and political leadership but this time it is different and more sustained. Protest rallies have taken place all across America and even outside America.

America has a bitter history going back more than 230 years of discrimination against African Americans.

The present crises therefore needs to be seen in the historical context. Till the civil war in 1865 this discrimination was legal meaning slavery was a justified act in America. When Abraham Lincoln 16th President of United States abolished slavery it was resisted by the southern states and that led to the American civil war between 1861 to 1865. . Several Southern States decided to challenge the decision which resulted in a long battle between the southern states seeking to accede from United States. By 1865 Abraham Lincoln and his forces won the war that finally ended slavery for Black Americans - but only legally. Much worse was to happen in the next 150 years or so.

Actually the seeds of hatred were sown in 1787 when the United States constitution was adopted in the assembly in Philadelphia. It was a fantastic document by the likes of Madison Alexander Hamilton Thomas Jefferson and many others all intellectually powerful people. There was only one problem in that constitution - slavery was constitutionally permitted for certain southern states. It started with the same spirit of Declaration of Independence 'All men are created equal' but blacks in some states will be counted 35th of the white population. A serious fault line was created in an otherwise powerful document. This fault keeps erupting periodically even after 233 years and even after electing a black president in 2008. In 1857 a black (negroes as they were called) sued for his freedom. The final verdict of the Supreme Court was 'Mr Scott cannot sue for his freedom because he is not a person but a property'. Just one example of how bad the situation was.

After abolishing slavery through the 13th amendment there were 2 other historical amendments- 14th giving right of citizenship to blacks and...