I had an entirely different topic in mind for today, but one of the people I listen to suggested that, as the American around here, it would not do for me to not acknowledge and try to explain the violent chaos that engulfed my homeland over the weekend.

For the benefit of those who have not been following the news, the situation as of this writing (early Monday morning here in Manila) is this: Last Tuesday, an African-American man named George Floyd was killed by four policemen in Minneapolis, Minnesota in full view of the public and while the incident was being videoed by multiple witnesses. It was at least the third high-profile murder of a black citizen in about two weeks; just the latest in a string of innumerable incidents of racist violence in the United States, and it was one too many. Widespread protests over Floyd’s death, beginning in Minneapolis, grew in intensity until Thursday night when, greatly aggravated by a forceful reaction by police and incendiary rhetoric by President Donald Trump, they finally became violent.

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