Mahama condemns murder of black man in US

Former President John Dramani Mahama has condemned the killing of African American George Floyd by a white police officer, saying; “Recent events in America have brightened the moral spotlight on the systemic prejudice and danger that black people there experience solely because of the colour of their skin”.

The flag bearer of Ghana’s biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said in a post on social media that: “The killing of George Floyd is the latest in a centuries-long series of moral outrages that are now more visible because they are being documented on film and through social media”.

“I condemn these injustices, in all their many forms”, he noted.

Mr Mahama said “moments such as this call for solidarity”.

“The systemic prejudices and injustices faced by Black people in America”, Mr Mahama said, are "based on racism – it makes no distinction on the basis of migration history, national origin, social class or educational attainment”.

“They are concerned, solely, with the colour of your skin”.

“That is because the issue at hand is not ‘respectability’, it is racism”, adding: “We must understand that the threats and dangers are as real for Ghanaians and other Africans in America as they are for African Americans”.

“We cannot look away, and we cannot be silent”, he noted.

“This new awakening also applies to unwarranted use of violence against civilians here at home (Ghana); and to our own prejudicial treatment of some Ghanaians and the socially disadvantaged”.

Floyd's murder has sparked protests, riots and looting in many states in the US.

The police officer who knelt on the suspect's neck for almost nine minutes till he died, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Black activists in the US are calling for the arrest and charging of the three other police officers who effected Floyd's arrest.