Protests erode US credibility and global standing

A Baltimore Metropolitan Police transport vehicle burns during clashes in the US. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan activated the National Guard to address the violence. [REUTERS]

It is not unusual to find Kenyans wearing clothes that mimic the American flag with stars and stripes.

Kenyan children with American names from Kennedy to Beyoncé are common.

We love watching American movies and listening to their music too. President Obama’s Kenyan connection added to our fascination with America.

Having relatives in the US and visiting them there is a badge of honour, cut above the rest. I have been asked several times why I came back to Kenya after six years in the US. I request Kenyans to go live there and get their own answer.

Few realise there are two Americas; the one you see in the media and the one you see when you live there.

Luckily, the two Americas have merged because of riots in Minneapolis and other cities as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlike us, Americans do not wash their dirty linen in public. They rarely talk ill of their country. That is why over the years, America has become attractive to immigrants, investors, tourists and more importantly, brains.

Add the fact that America never shies away in projecting her power abroad. Soft power through movies and charity. Hard power through war, from the Middle East to Vietnam and even Somali next door.

That image of the US, the shining city on a hill to quote Ronald Reagan is being undone by the failure to take lead in an existential crisis caused by Covid-19.

For us in the third world, including Kenya, we are asking how America can be ravaged by the same disease as the rest of the world. We are asking and longing for American leadership. The urge is reinforced by the belief that if you can’t make it in the US, you can’t make it anywhere else.

The credibility of US leadership is at stake. While the high number of Covid-19 cases can be seen as a badge of honour to quote President Trump because of more testing and one can add, more truth, the rest of the world may not see it that way with riots.

Mwende Kituma, a Kenyan business lady says that arising from George Floyd case, the US “is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Eng Lawrence Oloo, says, “Each of us deserves fair treatment, and justice regardless of racial, social status, and religious affiliation.” The best way for the US to redeem its image is to be the first to come up with a cure or better vaccine for Covid-19 and offer it to the rest of the world.

If China or any other country leads in getting a cure or vaccine and share with the rest of the world, then the US credibility and sense of invincibility will be attenuated further.

The US credibility and leadership are further threatened by racial riots in the cities starting from Minneapolis.

The black Americans, I found in my stay in Deep South that they prefer to be called African-Americans are on the receiving end, accusing police of killing their own for no good reason.

The social media has not made matters any better by showing a black man dying in the hands of white policemen.

Some ask if this is same America that lectures to other countries the virtues of human rights. Seeing this death through the lens of slavery can explain the exploding anger.

Some could argue almost to the point of persuasion that riots are a good distractor from the American failure to confront Covid-19 pandemic and historical injustice. A Kenyan lawyer suggests that the American leadership and its focus on elections is blinding them to the reality of life.

Riots, by chance or design, are shifting the focus from historical injustice to wanton destruction of property.

The highly-publicised launch of SpaceX rocket could be another distractor from the ravages of Covid-19 and racial tensions. Coincidentally, the race to the moon ran parallel with the civil rights movement in the US in the 1960s.

If you ever lived in the US, you understand better that the riots go beyond the death of George Floyd.

In a country where everyone is defined as either black or white, deep anger with roots in slavery remain among the black community.

I saw and felt it in my stay in Mississippi, the State with the largest proportion of African-Americans. I was once labelled a traitor for having lunch with a white man, a classmate.

The legacy of slavery still hangs over the world’s superpower with African-Americans having lower life expectancy, lower incomes, poorer housing, lower-paying jobs and lower life expectations - data from the US census show.

Affirmative action, it seems did not uplift the African-Americans economically as expected. It is no wonder in my six-years’ stay in the Deep South, and near South (Kentucky), African-Americans saw me as a competitor to their jobs and in whispers, women.

Death rate

Covid-19 has forcibly brought out the legacy of slavery and inequality with the rate of death among African-Americans being three times that of whites.

That is easy to explain, poverty leads to poor health espoused by diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDs and other pre-existing conditions that make you vulnerable to Covid-19. Some Africans feel the American riots have exposed our indifference. One Kenya, not willing to be named says “that black lives matter except in Africa.”

Reverend Moses Gaitara, a Kenyan living in Bedfordshire County, UK feels African governments have not condemned enough the dehumanisation of the African race in the US.

“They either do not see anything wrong with it or do not even care,” adds John Gachoki, Kenyan accountant who asked why the African Union is watching as mass protests go on without a common stand.

From afar, in Kenya, we all fear riots and the rising Covid-19 cases could mark the apogee of American power and influence.

The world, including Africa, is watching and wondering loudly if the Chinese moment has arrived prematurely.

Will the legacy of George Floyd be a more just society or shall we regress to the old ways as soon as demonstrators go home?

-The writer is an associate professor at the University of Nairobi