Most of us must have been troubled by the news of what is happening in the US in the aftermath of the horrific death of George Floyd, who was killed by police officers. These must be worrying times for the people there — not just the pandemic and the economy but now, the protests in response to the horrific police brutality and callousness in Minnesota. These things happen all over the world, from time to time, but to actually see someone’s life being slowly snuffed out on video, almost in slow motion, to hear him uttering “I can’t breathe” and to see him gasping for life was something else. This callous murder is not something that happened overnight. Many others have died, victims of police brutality. For many African-Americans, this is the reality on the streets, especially in depressed neighbourhoods. Many of them dread being stopped by a police officer for any reason. There is a pattern here — the racism that lies beneath the surface, which goes back all the way to the slave trade. As the economy slides and after decades of neoliberal policies, many ordinary people are feeling the economic pain. It then becomes easier for unscrupulous politicians, some manipulating social media, to channel the people’s frustration towards “the Others”, the minorities in our midst — whether they are ethnic or religious minorities, the LGBT community, “liberals”, migrants, refugees … you get the drift.