I have been watching how the HK Police deal with the pro-democracy demonstrators and also how the police in Ferguson, Missouri dealt to Michael Brown and the unrest arising from the refusal of the grand jury to indict the policeman who shot and killed him.

 

The differences in policing methods between the two places cannot be more stark. The former use appropriate force to deal with unruly behaviour and a softly, softly approach to deal with peaceful demonstrations.

 

Even when obstructed, the Police in HK use minimum force. Pepper sprays and tear gas may be used but never firearms. I think this is the legacy of the best of British policing and I hope like hell it stays.

 

The Ferguson Police, and for that matter most police forces in the US, cannot wait to shot first and ask questions later. I assume that the premises for this kind of culture must be that dead men tell no tales so they can say what they like in front of the grand jury to justify the deadly use of force, with little risk of being challenged.

 

However, I suspect the roots of this trigger happy culture of the US police lie deeper and I am pointing the finger at institutional racism.  Blacks are second class citizens, blacks constitute the majority in prison population, in unemployment statistics, in depravity statistics, blacks have amuch higher chance of being harassed if not arrested, or shot altogether. An article in the Independent (UK) paint a gloomy picture of being black in the US – in all socio-economic and well-being indicators.

 

While it is convenient for the US presidents or politicians to bring up the issue of human rights abuse every time they meet with their China counterparts, why don’t the US look at itself in the mirror first, try to bring its own house in order before levelling un-called for criticisms at China?

 

Obama was elected to the US presidency with so much promise. As things have turned out, he has not been able to do much at all. He is obstructed at every turn by the Republicans. He is not helping himself either by sitting on his hands most of the time – he is indecisive to the point of paralysis and that emboldens the Republicans to put even more obstacles in his path.

 

Some political commentators are already writing his eulogy, ranking him as one of the most ineffective presidencies of all times.

 

All these tell me one thing about the US. Every is institutionalised – politics, racism, discrimination, inequality, extreme capitalism, militarism, policing method…you name it.

 

Don’t expect that to change any time soon.

 

China rocks and US sucks.