The COVID-19 pandemic has strained underlying fault-lines and sharpened inherent contradictions of societies and polities. This is most seen in the United States. The raging protests across the country at the death of George Floyd, an African-American, on May 25, at the hands of the police, have continued for over a week. They are a manifestation of the pandemic’s impact on the people’s patience, worn so thin that all social distancing norms are being ignored by agitators. This, in the country most impacted by the virus which has taken away a lakh of American lives. Were that not so, such nation-wide demonstrations, rioting and looting, not seen after the 1960s, could not have happened. For, there have been numerous cases of police brutality in America against African-Americans since then but never an exhibition of such enormous rage.
The immediate cause of the protests is because of an individual police act graphically caught on video camera. However, for sizeable sections of American society, especially African-Americans, this was not an isolated incident; it was part of the pattern of racist behaviour of police forces in all parts of America. This is not surprising because African-Americans in particular and liberal groups generally have long complained of the discriminatory law enforcement authorities’ treatment of the country’s black minority. But the issues that the protests inevitably bring to mind about America go far beyond policing. They go, first of all, to racist sentiments in many areas of the country’s public life.
American society is a product of waves of immigration since the sixteenth century which has resulted in its diversity. Till the mid-twentieth century this immigration was mainly from Europe and hence, of Caucasians. As the United States expanded westwards in the 19th century the Hispanic population also grew. Asian immigration has also gone up over the past five decades. African-Americans who form the largest minority, around 13%, are mainly the descendants of slaves brought to America in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Slavery was abolished in the US 1862, resulting in a civil war to preserve the union. A century and a half later, racist attitudes in sections of the white majority population persist despite the civil rights legislation of the 1960s which aimed at a more equal society. African-Americans continue be socially and economically disadvantaged. There are individual exceptions: persons of merit who have risen to the top in different walks of life. This includes President Barack Obama. His election also shows the evolution of American society but it does not erode the truth of the continuance of racial attitudes in some sections of American society and in some state institutions.
The effect of COVID-19 has disproportionately fallen both health-wise and economically on African-Americans. According to a report of May 20th in the respected British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ across America “African Americans have died at a rate of 50.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 20.7 for whites, 22.9 for Latinos and 22.7 for Asian Americans”. The Trump administration has not reacted with sensitivity at this great disparity. It has attributed it to ‘underlying health conditions’ of African Americans overlooking the role of poverty and distress.
At a time when America needed a President who could heal the deep divisions in society and the political class it has in Trump a leader who is simply incapable of doing so. Over the past few months he has continued on his erratic path with a focus on the coming elections. He has blamed others for the slow US reaction to the pandemic despite the red flags raised by his own administration experts. And now instead of meaningfully reaching out to African Americans and announcing a set of measures to reduce the disparities he has asked the governors to undertake tough measures and indicated a willingness to use the military against the demonstrators. This is in contrast to the various police chiefs and forces in country showing solidarity with the protestors.
America’s COVID-19 situation, political discordance and now the protests have internationally raised inconvenient questions about the world’s most powerful country. Traditional critics of America are pointing to the countries flaws and infirmities. This is especially so in the case of China which Trump is relentlessly targeting for not alerting the world in time about COVID-19. Also, America has not only severely criticised China for the imposition of harsh security laws in Hong Kong and the steps taken to suppress protests but has announced a set of measures to translate its views into action.
China is asking Trump to look to what is happening in America instead of lecturing others. There is no doubt that with the ugly American social underbelly being exposed so dramatically the country’s emphasis of so-called American values of liberty and freedom will ring hollow in many parts of the world. America’s European allies are also unhappy with what is occurring there and with Trump and his mercurial ways. One recent example of his fickleness was seen in his pulling out of the World Health Organisation weeks before his own deadline of 18 days when there was no provocation to do so. This upset American allies.
With all this the fact also remains that America will continue to be the world’s most powerful and technologically advanced country. In the past it has shown great resilience i to overcome its internal difficulties and decisively influence the world. A rising China cannot be oblivious of this truth.