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George says racism is 'greatest pandemic', calls for systemic change
Updated On: 02 June, 2020 12:48 PM IST | Los Angeles | PTI
The officer was arrested on Friday and charged with third-degree murder. In his essay, published by Daily Beast, Clooney called racism as the "greatest pandemic" of the US, lamenting that there hasn't been a "vaccine" for it even after 400 years.
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George Clooney
Hollywood superstar George Clooney has penned an essay in the wake of the protests over the death of George Floyd, the African-American man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis. Floyd died last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes. The officer was arrested on Friday and charged with third-degree murder. In his essay, published by Daily Beast, Clooney called racism as the "greatest pandemic" of the US, lamenting that there hasn't been a "vaccine" for it even after 400 years.
"This is our pandemic. It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine. It seems we've stopped even looking for one and we just try to treat the wound on an individual basis. And we sure haven't done a very good job of that," the 59-year-old actor said. He called for "systemic change" in the country to tackle the problem of racism. "The anger and the frustration we see playing out once again in our streets is just a reminder of how little we've grown as a country from our original sin of slavery. "The fact that we aren't actually buying and selling other human beings anymore is not a badge of honour. We need systemic change in our law enforcement and in our criminal justice system," Clooney said. The actor said that Floyd's death was reminiscent of the killing of Eric Garner's in 2014, since they both pleaded to the police, "I can't breathe."
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