Black Lives Matter
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On May the 25th 2020 George Floyd, a 46 year old African American man, died after a white male police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for over 8 minutes. The images of this shocking event have been seen around the Globe and Floyd’s death has sparked a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Chauvin has since been charged with second degree murder His police colleagues who were seen to participate in the assault on Floyd, or stood by doing nothing to prevent his death, will be charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
This event has catalysed a chain of protests in the US and other countries such as England, Germany and Spain. People across the World are tired of police brutality that stems from deep rooted institutional racism and discrimination. The response by the authorities in the US and by some of the political elite in Washington has scandalised civil society across the World and served only to inspire further outrage and protest.
Here in the UK the statistics clearly show how black people are disproportionately affected in areas of crime, poverty, housing, health and education. Most recently a Public Health England Report on the COVID 19 Pandemic in England said black people are dying at up to four times the rate of their white counterparts, which is perhaps as much a harsh indicator of the socio-economic realities underlying this statistic as much as an indication of how hard the pandemic is bearing down on our BAME communities.
Miles & Partners has always been committed to equality and diversity and has actively promoted access to justice for all. Miles & Partners therefore supports the aims of Black Lives Matter and wish to express our solidarity with those who are currently protesting against racial injustice and intolerance across the World.
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.