A makeshift memorial in honour of George Floyd marking one week anniversary of his death is pictured, on June 1, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (KEREM YUCEL / AFP)

The riots in the city of Minneapolis and across the nation could not have happened at a worse time for US elites.

While incidents of violence perpetrated against African-Americans by white police officers have happened a number of times before, this occurrence right in the midst of a huge health emergency that has already claimed more than a 100,000 lives and a related economic disaster that has robbed 30 million people of their jobs, is truly unprecedented.

If there is a lot of anger among thinking, caring Americans about the Floyd incident, it is mainly because they know that discrimination against African-Americans is still pervasive and is a manifestation of the larger marginalisation of that community

The mayhem and chaos the incident sparked have spread to a number of other cities across the United States.

What sparked outrage among thousands of Americans (and not just African-Americans) was the way in which an unarmed black civilian, George Floyd, suspected of using a counterfeit banknote, was killed by a white police officer.

The officer had pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded for him to stop, saying that he could not breathe before going silent and limp. The officer has now been charged with third degree murder, though a lot of the protesters are demanding that three other police personnel who were with him at the time of the incident should also be punished.

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If there is a lot of anger among thinking, caring Americans about the Floyd incident, it is mainly because they know that discrimination against African-Americans is still pervasive and is a manifestation of the larger marginalisation of that community.

True, through education there has been some mobility for groups within this minority, especially in the decades following the civil rights movement of the 1960s, but large segments remain trapped at the bottom of the heap.

The current economic devastation has underscored the vulnerability of these segments just as the coronavirus pandemic has also revealed how the poor and disadvantaged in the United States and elsewhere are more likely to be the victims of the disease than others.

That the United States is not really able to protect the well-being of the poorer and weaker segments of society is obvious when we look at the situation of another minority there, the Hispanics.

In the last few decades their economic and social burdens have been exacerbated by an irrational fear of their alleged demographic challenge of the white majority.

This fear was exploited successfully by candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and it will be manipulated again in the forthcoming November 2020 election through issues such as building a wall to protect the country’s southern border.

That the United States is not really able to protect the well-being of the poorer and weaker segments of society is obvious when we look at the situation of another minority there, the Hispanics

There is a third minority, better positioned than the first two, that is also the object of racist attacks from time to time. Broadly classified informally as “Asians”, they are often equated with Americans of Chinese origin.

Since the coronavirus crisis and President Trump’s attempt to pin the blame for the pandemic upon China, the harassment of Chinese and Chinese-looking Americans has escalated. Indeed, verbal and even physical abuse of members of the community has been going on for a while given the constant negative targeting of China by some US elites on a variety of issues ranging from trade and technology to alleged human rights violations and suppression of minorities.

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Although independent research has shown that there is a great deal of distortion and exaggeration in these allegations, they appear to have impacted upon ordinary Americans through their community and social media.

It is not difficult to understand why China is subjected to such vile treatment. The US elites and a section of the American media see the ascendancy of China as a challenge to US dominance and control of the planet – ie US hegemony – and are therefore determined to tarnish and subvert China. Other countries which are independent-minded and unwilling to submit meekly to US power are also often targeted.

Sometimes, prejudice against a particular religion or specific ethnic communities – this is true of the prevailing attitude of certain segments of American society towards Islam and Muslims – tends to warp inter-community relations.

The US pursuit of global hegemony has affected adversely the rights and interests of millions of Americans in a number of ways.

By spending so much on the military – in 2019 it was US$732 billion – and maintaining some 800 military bases encircling the world, the United States has sacrificed the essential needs of its people, such as well-equipped hospitals and schools.

Since the coronavirus crisis and President Trump’s attempt to pin the blame for the pandemic upon China, the harassment of Chinese and Chinese-looking Americans has escalated

Gross neglect of the economic and social rights of the people has emerged as a tragic reality for everyone to witness when the nation is confronted by a health and economic crisis of gigantic proportions.

Indeed, given its wealth, the American failure to enhance the rights of millions of US citizens, including the underclass within the white majority, is simply criminal.

In the domestic arena, as in international politics, it is the height of hypocrisy of the US political elite to present itself as a champion of human rights and democratic rule.

In fact, on a number of occasions in international politics – Iran in 1953, Chile 1973, Palestine 2006, and Egypt 2013 – the elite directly and obliquely participated in the suppression of democratic principles.

Today, through the two crises that have overwhelmed the superpower and the righteous anger vented in the streets of the nation by ordinary citizens of all shades – anger that stems from centuries of contempt and scorn heaped upon a people – the truth about the elites’ lack of respect for human rights and human dignity is exposed for all to see. Will this lead to some sincere soul-searching, especially among young Americans?

Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.