TEHRAN (Iran News) –There is a proverb which can be exactly used for the contradictory behavior of the West as “the West talks the talk and walks the walk” because whatever it claims about humanity and human rights are void in practice and it itself does not observe its words.
If we have a glance at the performance or claims of the West about humanity we can see a bunch of controversies between what have been said and what have been done. In recent centuries, Western countries have tried to show themselves as the true supporters of equality and human rights but they have failed to observe what they have asked other nations to do.
Racism is one of the most important issue in the world which is currently on the rise in the Western countries who claim they are opposed to it. Everyday media outlets report some incidents about racist actions and offences in Western countries and even some international bodies have decided to fight it by approving punishment for racist acts but in practice, we see racism is on the rise in the West and especially in the U.S.
In the U.S., racism is one of the top issues which are ignored by the whites as African-Americans are victims of supremacy of the whites in this country and the blacks are not safe in the country any longer and once in a while we hear some report on misbehavior and even crime against the blacks.
In recent decades the U.S. has faced with many protests because of killing of the blacks and today this country is facing another critical condition because of the crime of police officers in Memphis and the killing of a black man has enraged the blacks and other races who live in this country which claims it is the land of freedom and freedom of expression.
According to reports, the specialized police unit that included the five Memphis officers charged with the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols was disbanded as more protests took place in U.S. cities a day after harrowing video of the attack was released.
The police department said in a statement it was permanently deactivating the SCORPION unit after the police chief spoke with members of Nichols’ family, community leaders and other officers. A police spokesperson confirmed all five officers were members of the unit.
Video recordings from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole showed Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, repeatedly screaming “Mom!” as officers kicked, punched and struck him with a baton in his mother’s neighborhood after a Jan. 7 traffic stop. He was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days later.
Five officers involved in the beating, all Black, were charged on Thursday with murder, assault, kidnapping and other charges. All have been dismissed from the department.
Nichols’ family and officials expressed outrage and sorrow but urged protesters to remain peaceful. That request was largely heeded on Friday when scattered protests broke out in Memphis – where marchers briefly blocked an interstate highway – and elsewhere.
Cities across the United States saw renewed nonviolent demonstrations on Saturday. In Memphis, protesters chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!” angrily catcalled a police car that was monitoring the march, with several making obscene gestures. Some cheered loudly when they learned of the disbandment of SCORPION.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in New York’s Washington Square Park before marching through Manhattan, as columns of police officers walked alongside them.
Taken together, the four video clips released Friday showed police pummeling Nichols even though he appeared to pose no threat. The initial traffic stop was for reckless driving, though the police chief has said the cause for the stop has not been substantiated.
This is not the first time that police forces brutally beat and kill some black man and this racist approach of the police forces is a simple example for existence of racism in this so-called land of liberty which lets the whites kill easily the other races in the country.
We have not yet forgotten what happened for George Floyd, a 45-year old black man, who was beaten to death by the police force in the city of Minneapolis in the U.S. as the incident led to massive protests in the U.S. and now the story is repeated for Tyler but the question is when racism will end in this country and in the West, claiming they are pioneers of liberty and considering themselves as role models for other nations.
As long as political systems in those states and especially among the statesmen fan the flame of racist acts, one cannot expect people in the society to stop racist acts because they follow what their statesmen and establishment promotes.
So Tyler is not the last victim of racism in the U.S. and in the West, and this cycle will be repeated every now and then as long as those countries continue their racist policies and bullies of the weaker persons. Of course racism is not limited to the U.S. and some Western European states are also cradle of racist acts that sometimes we see some signs of it mostly in the streets and in the sports events.
The West claims equality of man and woman and races but when it should act they pursue the proverb of “talks the talk and walks the walk.”
