Black Lives Matter is America's ray of light this Independence Day
ON A day that celebrates the values this nation aspires to, it would be natural to mourn America’s fall as moral exemplar under a leader who shows contempt for democratic norms. His holiday plans, summoning crowds to endanger themselves for his greater glory, provide a sad reminder. But, in fact, much of the world has been inspired this year by a different sort of illumination from America, far brighter and more significant than the spectacle of a pyrotechnic show.
In a report in The Post recently, Brussels bureau chief Michael Birnbaum wrote: “Europeans have lamented that the United States has relinquished its role as a global moral leader under President Trump. But the proliferation of Black Lives Matter protests around the world has solidified belief here that American society remains a superpower of influence, even if its politicians do not.”
Mr. Birnbaum writes that while sympathy demonstrations have been held in many countries since the killing of George Floyd, nowhere has the movement “forced a more powerful reckoning than in Europe, where increasingly diverse societies have often done little to grapple with their colonial legacies and modern-day discrimination.”
“In Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Lisbon and cities across Britain,” he writes, “protesters have taken to the streets to express solidarity with Americans but also demand changes within their own countries.” Like many Americans, they are struggling to come to terms with the everyday toll of racial prejudice in their societies, and demanding another look at discrimination in employment, housing and pay, among other things.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/black-lives-matter-is-americas-ray-of-light-this-independence-day/2020/07/03/faba0330-bd36-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html
