ANC’s concern over US violence is the height of hypocrisy

Maybe America’s lunatic fringe Doomsday Preppers – those who stock up on food, water, guns and ammunition and hunker down in bunkers – might be on to something, because it certainly looks as though their country is going up in racial flames.

Riots across many major cities in the US were sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man arrested by police officers, one of whom pinned him down by the neck for more than five minutes.

Now, President Donald Trump has, in an extraordinary step, deployed armed soldiers to assist the police in quelling the protests, which have featured large-scale arson and looting.

Trump has promised to crack down hard on what he and his administration believe is anarchy … yet, they are accused of not saying enough to condemn the killing of Floyd, the latest in a number of high-profile acts of alleged police brutality captured by bystanders on cellphone video.

The reality for the US is that it is already a nation divided and that divide is growing deeper. The haves versus the have-nots is an age-old struggle but the latest rampages have shown that not all those protesting are black – there are many white people joining in. That is a sign that the anger with the Establishment – which will have been heightened by the massive job losses sparked by the coronavirus lockdowns – cannot be ignored.

It cannot continue to be business as usual in the Land of the Free … because many of its citizens aren’t.

Never an organisation to let pass an opportunity to piously comment on others’ woes, the ANC was quick to express its concern about the American crisis.

Yet, it ignored the deaths of people in this country who died at the hands of cops and soldiers during our own lockdown.

That is the height of hypocrisy.

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