When I left Calabar High School, I first studied accounting before I realised I was unsuited for that discipline. I switched to marketing, but still didn’t ‘feel it’. I then started to study various areas of law enforcement.

These included criminology, criminal justice, special weapons and tactics (SWAT), and many other areas. It was almost like an addiction. It continues to this day.

I say that to underscore that with all my years of study in three countries over two decades and a lifetime of involvement with law enforcement, including serving in a police force, I can’t find anything to even remotely justify the actions of those police officers who effected the arrest of George Floyd, resulting in his death.

There are so many things wrong with it, I don’t know where to start.

There are also many questions.

First, let’s not discuss the murderer himself, because I am convinced that there has to be a back story to his actions. To knowingly murder someone, whilst being filmed, speaks to hate that goes beyond race. That was personal.

But, let’s discuss his colleagues, who swore to ‘protect’. Didn’t it seem obvious to them that something had to be done? They really stood there and let this clown send them to prison. They didn’t feel they had an obligation to protect Mr Floyd from that animal? I don’t get it! Protection is protection, it’s not conditional.

Okay, then there is the crowd that filmed it and shouted. I’m no fan of citizens obstructing the police, but come on, couldn’t someone have thrown a box juice or something to disrupt the cowards?

If it were Jamaica, what do you think would have occurred?

Let me tell you. They would first try to pull him from the cops and that would be followed by missiles being thrown at the police party. Both actions I normally condemn, but would support in this case.

The next question then is: why is it that Jamaicans feel free to interfere with arrests and this amateur film crew didn’t? And I mean really interfere.

This is because Jamaicans know that Jamaican police won’t kill them for obstruction, but Americans believe that their ‘protectors’ will.

Makes you wonder then if our cops are as bad as our people try to sell to the international community, why is it that we are less afraid of our police than Americans are of theirs?

So the elephant in the room is this: why in the hell are these people so central in determining our human rights policies, if they can’t even control their own cops?

I think a real examination needs to be done to evaluate why there is constant conflict between American police officers and black men in the USA.

So, let’s go.

Police-related conflict emanates from police contact. Police contact primarily occurs because of criminal activity. Criminal activity occurs largely within the lower income earners in the population.

Black males are over represented in this socio-economic group. Therein lies the issue. This is economic in origin. And why?

It begins with inner city schooling and poor rural schooling. Much like in Jamaica, it is almost set that you can’t use the school system as a stepping stone to higher level learning. So there’s the same cycle of generational poverty there that we have here.

You see, if you have children with more challenging circumstances than others — such as parental absenteeism or less access to learning tools — and then give them inferior schools, you are not trying to improve them, you are just cycling them through a process.

There are also operational issues in their policing. Although not germane to George Floyd’s case, the US adopted a policy in most states of using one cop per car. So, remember Starsky and Hutch? Well, now there would be no Hutch because he has his own car.

This one cop in a car results in one cop pulling over cars and responding to alerts. Others may come, but when? That is the question. So what manifests itself is an under-resourced police pull over.

When the occupants are black, it then also becomes a scared under-resourced police pull over. Scared men respond like scared men do. They panic.

Why then does this fear exist of black males and not all males? Is it relative to police/black male conflict history? I don’t think so. In fact, there are more shootings between white police officers and white people than police and black people. Bet you didn’t know that. You know why? Marketing.

It is marketing that hides that fact and it is marketing that projects black men as violent and anti-authority. So, how can we fix this?

First, go back to the partner system. In other words, bring back Hutch. The one-man tactic is flawed. Police units need to have at least two officers in each car.

Second, the international community needs to get involved. The United States tells everyone what to do; we must have standards they need to live up to as well.

Third, start a movement to finally get blacks out of the contact group. By this I mean the poor.

There is no reason that no one can come up with a plan to move the black community in the United States out of generational poverty. What is happening now is sort of like pretending, but it’s not an aggressive, workable plan. Sort of reminds me of when I was given a pole to pole vault at Calabar, but no sponge for practice. What outcome did they expect? Of course, I slid down the damn pole!

Fourth, change the recruitment process in USA policing. Start to radically hire black citizens to join the various police forces. It will change the engagement or at least the optic. Make it a profession that is symbolic of black presence instead of a token presence. This was done with the American Irish pre- and post-World War Two.

There are photos and videos that reset world thought and brought about change. The burning girl in Vietnam informed America of what was being done by their military and their napalm. The vulture beside the dying baby in Africa made us revisit our conscience, or lack of it.

The image, in full colour, of one man stripped of dignity being murdered by four must count for something. We as citizens of the Pan-American region must not accept this as OK. Our Government must speak out. We as a region and country are better than this.

We as humans are better than this.

Feedback: jasonamckay@gmail.com