Protest US police attack on Indian

The unprovoked assault by the police on an elderly Indian in the United States defies comprehension. Unarmed, vulnerable and new to that country,  57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel was walking on the pavement near his home at Madison in Alabama when he was accosted by two police officers and slammed face first on the ground, paralysing him. For a country that prides itself as a democracy like no other, preaches governments everywhere to respect individual liberties and goes strutting around the world interfering in the name of freedom, the US police force deserves condemnation for the unwarranted attack on the hapless Indian who erred in deciding to take a stroll around his son’s home.  Pray, how is this different from, say walking in North Korea which is projected by the US as the world’s biggest evil. Probably it is far safer to take a stroll in Pyongyang.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi preferably, or at least his representatives in the Indian government must go beyond the officialese and make the shock, dismay and displeasure of Indians known to American President Barack Obama and tell him in no uncertain terms that something is seriously wrong with race relations in his country. For, the assault on the Indian has come on the heels of the shocking, unprovoked killings of Afro-Americans in recent months – by white police officers. Given that there is massive movement of people around the world, especially into the US, it is time for the administration in Washington to take a relook at the security apparatus. The idea should be to sensitise the police to people of colour and give them space on par with the whites. Riots have been triggered in the US in recent times due to the harsh actions of the police and this is something that the state will do well to avoid, as it can open up old social fractures and deepen long-standing racial prejudices. 

In many parts of the world, especially in West Asia, the US is viewed as a bully which misuses its power to invade other countries on specious grounds and imagined evils. The attack on the Indian reinforces such an image. The reason given by the police officers is
untenable. They frisked him and ensured he had no weapons. He is then reported to have put his hands in his pocket when the officers attacked him. The point is they had already seen he had no weapon. Then, why the assault? The US government needs to do some soul-searching to figure out why people of colour are getting the rough end of the stick.