I recall visiting America a few years ago and asking a few people whether they were proud of Obama as their first black President, and the impacts he has had on the country. The African American man I spoke to acknowledged that whilst it has been a great achievement, it has made little difference to the struggles they still face as people and the discrimination that is still rife.

In March, I wrote about the execution of Nathaniel Woods, an African American man who was wrongly sentenced to death for the killings of three white policemen despite no evidence to support this. Fast forward to May, George Floyd was killed by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. I say he was was killed, due to Derek continuing to press on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, despite his pleas that he could not breathe. And for what? Because he was accused of using a counterfeit $20 note.

The line in the sand has been drawn. Years following the Montgomery bus boycott, and years following the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles sparked by the beating of Rodney King at the hands of white policemen. The boycott lasted 381 days in protest of colour segregation on Alabama buses, with the L.A riots reaching 6 days.

It has sparked historical statues torn down by protestors from Belgium to Virgina as a stance against the slavery undertones that continue to taunt those that walk past these monuments. Slave trader Edward Colston was defaced and pulled down in Bristol after he enslaved and transported more than 100, 000 from West Africa in the 1600’s. This is in comparison to the 10-15 million Congolese that died during the reign of King Leopold II, with his statue also torn down in Antwerp. As we just touch on a week since the protests here in Australia for our own treatment towards Aboriginals, there has been some debate as to which statues will be targeted.

A wave of change has also flowed through various industries, with Anna Wintour apologising yesterday that US Vogue “has not found enough ways to give space and elevate black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators”. This was in conjunction for “publishing images or stories that may have been hurtful or intolerant”.

Editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport of Condé Nast’s food magazine Bon Appetit this week resigned after a photo of him dressed as black face resurfaced, and editor Christene Barberich of lifestyle website Refinery29 stepped down after reports of staff who experienced racial discrimination resurfaced.

However in some good news, the first African American editor-in-chief Samira Nasr has been appointed this week at US Harpers Bazaar after 153 years since the magazine began.

Despite the global pandemic, these are human rights issued that can’t wait until it is deemed safe to address, and has existed long before the virus. Protestors have taken aim that silence is racist, which prompted Blackout Tuesday on Instagram causing entire social feeds taken over with black squares. The global unity through protests have taken aim against colonialism, slavery and institutional racism from Rome to Israel.

Unfortunately it has taken another death of an African American in custody to spark a worldwide movement. However, George will always be remembered as ‘Big Floyd’ in his hometown of Houston for his rapping, with his 11th grade classmate Jonathan Veal revealing to him “I want to touch the world”. He has undoubtedly done so.

Whether we like it or not, social media has spread the global message that black lives matter as the issue still exists years beyond Martin Luther King. Although horrific, the world may never have witnessed the footage of Floyd pleading for his life. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe, this remains an issue that cannot be fixed through social distancing and requires cultural change.