When I was younger my mother made me watch a PBS documentary called, Eyes on the Prize. For a number of reasons, she had to force me to watch this program. I was only 10 or 11 years old at the time, but she sat there with me as I helplessly watched my history unfold in front of me. I remember watching that documentary and feeling the anger grow inside. I remember thinking that there’s nothing that I can do. I remember thinking, “What would I do if I was there?”. I was watching the police and civilians attack peaceful protesters with firehoses, batons and bricks. I saw the aftermath of church bombings and assassinations. You have to remember that the people who led these movements in the 1960s didn’t live behind a protective fence, they lived in open neighbourhoods, and when some decided that their time was up, they were murdered.

Why? To send a message to all black people that they were not humans. That they were not entitled to expect the same treatment as white people. The potential of equality was so dangerous to these people that they had to maim and murder to maintain their tenuous hold on society. Their reign of terror was just part of a centuries-old struggle between decent people and fascists.

This has been a hard week in America. The murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others have once again reignited that centuries-old fight. Year after year black people are murdered by the police and, year after year, we get the same excuses from their supporters. They are the same people who tell mothers to get over the deaths of their children when a school is attacked or to ban all Muslims from entering the country to prevent all terrorism. These are the same people who deride the protest but gladly mock the way a George Floyd died. These are the people who seek to propagate a system of inequality because they know that system will give them the most societal control. These are the people who delayed the adoption of federal anti-lynching legislation but happily support an impotent border wall. These people are not American, they are fascists. They seek to create a fascist state with them on the top and the rest of us dead or compliant.

Their actions have spoken louder than their words ever could as they support the police forces who creep ever closer to authoritarianism by attacking innocent bystanders and the free press and their leader backs them up to the hilt.

This has been a hard week in America but there were some signs of hope. As the President of the United States actively tried to destabilise his country, the people that oversee the most powerful military on the planet had to step into the spotlight. At this moment they could have backed the President’s calls to use the Insurrection Act to quell protests. Instead, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took to the streets to reaffirm his commitment to the Constitution.
He was followed by the Secretary of Defense, the former Secretary of Defense and Trump's former Chief of Staff who all challenged Trump’s plan to have the US Army attack, peaceful protesters. Some were very concerned that senior military personnel were on the streets at all but, those people knew what they were doing. In a move that is only seen in failing states, leading military figures emerged to declare their allegiances. In that moment both sides know who has the backing of the armed forces. Without directly saying it, these people sided with the Constitution, and the people of the United States of America, because the President of the United States of America would not.

That is where we are at the end of this week in America. COVID-19 is still out there and, despite this, age-old American problems have not died down but found new life. Despite the invisible killer being on the loose, there are still people who are more concerned with maintaining inequality than building a bridge to debate these issues civilly. We need to recognise there will always be people who seek to oppress others. There are always people who think that, by virtue of their birth, they have the right to rule over others. It has been a long time since I watched Eyes on the Prize but, those images have never left my mind. I have never forgotten the anger that I felt watching decent people get brutally attacked civilians and the police. I’ll never forget that it is part of my history, and I’ll never forget that the struggle is eternal.