A Black American friend shook my perceptions when we broke bread over the weekend. He is very disappointed at what he calls the looting behaviour of some leaders of South Africa’s ruling political party. But says he’d never consider returning to the US because the country’s racial problems are so deep he reckons they’re insurmountable. That supports what I initially believed were outlandish views of “God’s Blogger” Jim Wallis who told me in Davos this year he is worried about an unravelling of the American Dream. This week’s rioting in Baltimore were sparked after yet another African American – this time 25 year old Freddie Gray – died in police custody from unexplained spinal injuries. Similar to what happened during the xenophobic violence in South Africa, a criminal element took advantage of the rioting. But as Gary Silverman of the Financial Times newspaper argues in this excellent piece, with the Baltimore riots, this time it really is different. Even to the events in Ferguson Missouri which unsettled Jim Wallis so much.
Source: BizNews.com | Alec Hogg