A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jonathan Bachman / Reuters

Black lives still don’t matter in the Obama era



‘America is not as divided as some have suggested,” Barack Obama said on Saturday, following a week in which two separate murders of innocent black citizens by white police officers sparked an outpouring of rage and, in one of the resulting demonstrations, five Dallas police officers were murdered by an African-American army veteran who cast himself in the role of an avenging sniper before being killed by police. Sadly, Mr Obama is wrong.

More sickening reminders come almost every day that the America in which black people live is an altogether different, and often quite terrifying country as armed white men, acting with the impunity that comes with a uniform, subject them to racist harassment and violence in the name of “law enforcement”. Any hope that Mr Obama’s election as America’s first black president marked a transition to a “post-racial” society have long since given way to explosive outrage at the steadily growing list of innocent black people killed by police officers. This week America was horrified by the killing of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile – respectively number 135 and 136 on the list of black people killed by police this year alone.

The brutal reality is that despite having elected a black president and annually honouring Martin Luther King, Jr, with a national holiday, the US remains as dangerous to the ordinary black man or woman going about their business as apartheid South Africa ever was. Often, black victims have been killed by police after being apprehended on some triviality or none at all.

Every parent of a black child in America faces the challenge of preparing that child for a world in which their appearance alone negates their innocence in the eyes of some empowered to wield violence on behalf of the state. Even if they survive physically, they carry the psychological scars of knowing that any of those victims could have been them, and that the perpetrators are rarely held to account. The slogan “Black Lives Matter!” is a challenge to a system whose actions clearly devalue black lives.

One of the more remarkable statements following last week’s tragedies came from Newt Gingrich, would-be Donald Trump running mate, who declared: “If you are a normal white American, the truth is, you don’t understand being black in America.” Mr Gingrich added that white Americans “instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk”.

That much is confirmed by a Pew study on American racial attitudes released two weeks ago. Only half of white respondents believe the US has fallen short and needs to do more to achieve racial equality; four in ten believed that enough changes had already been made. That’s compared with 88 per cent of black people who believe the US has more work to do. And after eight years of a black presidency in which there has been an unending stream of unarmed black people killed by police, 44 per cent of black respondents expressed doubt that racial equality will ever be achieved.

Only half of white respondents believe that police treat black people less fairly, compared with 84 per cent of black respondents. And one-third of white respondents held the rather astonishing view that Mr Obama has made race relations in America worse. Six in ten Republican voters also told Pew that too much attention is paid to the question of race.

Mr Obama has, in fact, seemed reluctant to take a lead on racial issues while in office. Technology is probably the reason there’s more conversation about racism and policing today than ever before: mobile phones combine with social media to make police violence impossible to hide. Phone video of Alton Sterling’s shooting by police who had him pinned to the ground was broadcast all over social media within hours. Castile’s girlfriend live-streamed her companion’s final moments via Facebook even as the killer cop pointed his gun at her.

The ugly reality is that were Mr Obama to have been travelling incognito down the street of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, last week in a car with a broken tail-light, he could just as easily have been Castile – shot four times by a white policeman while following the officer’s instructions, with his girlfriend seated beside him in the front seat and her daughter in the back seat.

Mr Obama is right that most Americans are united in revulsion at the killing of policemen in Dallas, but they are sharply divided when it comes to the Black Lives Matter cause. The Pew study found that 41 per cent of black respondents “strongly support” the movement, compared to just 14 per cent of white respondents.

The proverbial long hot summer awaits, in a political season that had raised the level of polarisation past boiling point even before the latest wave of Black Lives Matter Protests.

Mr Trump runs on an unashamedly bigoted ticket, his “Make America Great Again” mantras and attacks on “political correctness” – by which he means a civic attitude that forbids bigotry – offering a return to a more unapologetic era of white supremacy.

But young people of colour are no longer willing to tolerate the peril they face, and are taking to the streets rather than place their faith in the political system addressing the crisis. Mr Obama’s talk of an America united across racial lines remains nothing more than an aspiration. The country he leads is drifting into dangerous and entirely uncharted waters.

Tony Karon teaches at the New School in New York

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The specs

Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 715bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh1,289,376

On sale: now

10 tips for entry-level job seekers
  • Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
  • Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
  • Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
  • For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
  • Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
  • Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
  • Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
  • Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
  • Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
  • Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.

Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5

Get Out

Director: Jordan Peele

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford

Four stars

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')

Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE - India ties

The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner after the US and China

Annual bilateral trade between India and the UAE has crossed US$ 60 billion

The UAE is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India

Indians comprise the largest community with 3.3 million residents in the UAE

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first visited the UAE in August 2015

His visit on August 23-24 will be the third in four years

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited India in February 2016

Sheikh Mohamed was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January 2017

Modi will visit Bahrain on August 24-25

Results for Stage 2

Stage 2 Yas Island to Abu Dhabi, 184 km, Road race

Overall leader: Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)

Stage winners: 1. Fernando Gaviria COL (UAE Team Emirates) 2. Elia Viviani ITA (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) 3. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal)

Panipat

Director Ashutosh Gowariker

Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment

Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman

Rating 3 /stars

The finalists

Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho

Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson

Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid

Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola

The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands

The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands

50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias

Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match

WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura

Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe

United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos

Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho

Singles match John Cena v Triple H

Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba