Slovakia has its George Floyds too

This country also needs to say its black lives matter.

The police raided a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou in the Košice Region in 2013.To date, the case has not been resolved.The police raided a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou in the Košice Region in 2013.To date, the case has not been resolved. (Source: Sme)

Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková is an anthropologist and a university lecturer

George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. It was one of the many police interventions that led to the killing of an African-American.

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Calm and violent reactions to Floyd's death have been met with a brutal response from the police and led to supporting protests in the US and in Europe. Protests are targeted to condemn police brutality and structural racism.

When we talk about structural racism, we talk about public policies, institutional practice, and cultural representation strengthening the inequalities among different groups in society. That is when institutions fail at providing professional services to all ethnic groups, for instance, if the police use violence more often against a particular ethnic group, or if such violence is not clearly condemned by respective institutions, it is a symptom of racism.

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Yet we do not need to go as far as the US to find examples. We've got George Floyds of our own. And there are not that few of them.

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