Bonjour, new guests from small-town India
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
As America heads to the polls in two months, there is no topic more on voters’ minds than how to reconcile support for Blacks while also recognising the service of law enforcement officers, who typically wear blue uniforms. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is America’s most powerful movement in 50 years. Since the brutal murder of George Floyd in May, there have been over 5,000 BLM protests for racial justice all over the country. Biden supporters, including many whites, are on the frontlines of these protests, organising and funding the movement.
Trump supporters argue that after fifty years of changes in government policy to help uplift African Americans and the election of a Black president twice, the idea that systemic racism exists is far fetched. Besides, peaceful protests are one thing but riots, looting, anarchy, and attacks against the police, as can be seen in cities such as Portland and Seattle, threaten the nation’s very fabric.
Corporations and organisations have fully supported BLM. Sports leagues prominently display BLM signage on their valuable real estate ensuring that the message is omnipresent on TV screens.
Speech codes are in full force. The Associated Press, whose style guide is used by millions, announced in June that the letter B has to be capitalised when referring to Black people. But the letter “w” has to stay small when referring to white people. Cancel culture is rampant with career-ending consequences. A radio station in Cleveland fired a news anchor last week for describing Kamala Harris as a “coloured person”. The preferred approach is to use the word as a noun: “first vice-presidential woman of colour.”
Roland Fryer, a Black professor at Harvard, has studied this question in great depth, using millions of datasets and advanced analytics. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he concluded that when police reported incidents, they were 53 per cent more likely to use physical force on a Black civilian than a white one. But on the crucial question of Black deaths, he said that “no matter how we analysed the data, we found no racial differences in shootings overall, in any city in particular, or in any subset of the data.”
Out on the streets, no one appears to care for such analysis. If anything, BLM protests have dared more Blacks to more openly confront the police when stopped, trolling officers to engage in even more dangerous interactions. The constant media attacks on the police have pushed officers to go on the defensive, making law enforcement less likely to go the extra mile to serve and protect communities. This disengagement has resulted in dramatic increases in shooting deaths in large cities such as Chicago and New York.
BLM’s call to eliminate racism is noble, but it won’t be easy. America has over 1,200 local police departments, with most forces having fewer than ten officers. People are a product of their cultural upbringing and police officers, who do not need a college degree to wear the uniform, are rarely exposed to a more liberal sense of tolerance and acceptance.
The November election will largely be about what Americans think as to where the country stands on the issue of race. If they think that BLM protests have gone too far — especially the cancel culture that punishes such expression — Americans will likely reward Trump with a second term.
The writer is Managing Director, Rao Advisors, Texas
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Citroen’s first vehicle sports a novel design and European interiors. It is also meant to be as comfortable as ...
The pandemic is only the tip of the iceberg that the country’s cash-poor airlines — both regional and national ...
The government is yet to specify the framework of its recently announced old vehicle scrappage policy
Here is a checklist that equips you to discern the market nuances
Sensex, Nifty 50 have witnessed sharp decline
The fund has consistently outperformed S&P BSE 100 TRI over one, three and five years
Returns are superior to immediate annuity plans, but SCSS can secure better rates for new investors sooner if ...
They are the health warriors who battled the Covid-19 pandemic on the ground, and are now the face of the ...
Creator of the world’s biggest art canvas hopes to help children in poorer countries
A book on Badri Narayan is a tribute — albeit a belated one — to an artist who did not enjoy the recognition ...
The country hasn’t had a quiet moment since the military seized power on February 1
Its name is the starting point of a brand’s journey and can make a big difference in the success sweepstakes
Sober spirits are the in thing
A peek into where ad spends went last year and where they are headed tomorrow
Can Swiggy Instamart disrupt the ecommerce groceries space, currently ruled by the Amazons and Big Baskets? ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor