As if there aren’t enough problems in the world already, another one was added to the list yesterday. This time one of police brutality and racism. Current Mercedes driver and 6-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton joined in the protests against the police of Minneapolis. Lewis’ rant on his Instagram story came mere hours after the video went viral. He indirectly demanded that the officers should be held accountable.
The aforementioned video clip shows the brutality of the police against a black man. In the viral clip, a white police officer was pinning down a black man by pressing his knee over the man’s neck while he lay on the tarmac. the police officer appears to have ignored the man’s pleas. The man, George Floyd then loses his consciousness as a result of having his airways blocked and dies as a result.
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This created a mass upheaval among the citizens of The U.S.A. Protestors clashed with the police in Minneapolis. They demanded justice for Floyd. They held up placards and signs like “Prosecute the police” in addition to signs like “I can’t breathe” which were Floyd’s pleas for mercy.
Lewis Hamilton asks who’ll be held accountable
Minneapolis Police kill a black man on 38th and Chicago.
He is screaming, “I can’t breathe” as police drive their knee on his throat for over three minutes. pic.twitter.com/1hhBLAqy8K
— Keaon Dousti کیان (@KeaonDousti) May 26, 2020
Lewis Hamilton also took to social media and threw his weight behind the protestors. The F1 superstar posted the video clip on his Instagram story and wrote,” The world we live in. Who will be held accountable? Not these two Police officers I’m sure.”
Lewis also posted another story taken from NBA superstar, LeBron James’ latest Instagram post about the same. In LeBron James’ post, he contrasts the police officer’s kneeling on the man’s neck to that of the ‘knee against police brutality‘ NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick took in 2016, during the national anthem.
Lewis himself has been a target of racism during his F1 career. He became the first and only black driver to have raced in F1 when he joined McLaren in 2007. One obvious example of racism against him was seen in 2008. In the Spanish Grand Prix, several Spanish fans wore black face paint and donned black wigs while heckling and abusing him.
Throughout his career, Lewis has fought back against racism and has been the biggest ambassador in the fight against racism on the F1 grid.
