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George Floyd’s murder should have been a watershed, but Britain has learned nothing | Afua Hirsch
Black Americans fleeing the racist violence symbolised by events two years ago have not found a sanctuary in the UK
Since the murder of George Floyd two years ago today, I have been anecdotally observing the phenomenon of African-American refugees: families I have met who have fled racism in the US and sought refuge in Britain. Their journey follows the arc of all that has happened since. This time two years ago, they were traumatised by the possibility of police violence against their own children. Little more than six months later they were tipped over the edge by the Capitol riots. Seeking another English-speaking home where they could obtain visas and avoid armed police, they came here.
As they have discovered, Black people here hardly perceive this country as a sanctuary. In the past week alone we were confronted with inquest evidence that Ian Taylor, a 54-year-old asthmatic, was told to “stop acting up” by police officers but then died from a cardiac arrest. The verdict found that police assessments of the risks he faced were inadequate. The timing finds us on Floyd’s anniversary absorbing another painful story of a Black man pleading in vain for help to breathe.
Afua Hirsch is a writer, broadcaster, and former barrister
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