Protests against racial injustice have spread not just across the United States but around the globe, with people taking to the streets in Europe, in Africa, in Latin America and Asia.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a South Africa leader who was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country and is now an Under Secretary General of the United Nations, spoke with CBS News’ Pamela Falk from Johannesburg, and shared her thoughts about the George Floyd protests and where they might lead.
“People are feeling exhausted about us talking about racism. Try living it to know how exhausting it is to live it,” she said. “Those who cannot take talking about it, they haven’t lived it to know how much that it eats you from within. So, we need to make sure that we create conditions that will make people feel and touch the changes that are coming into their lives.”
CBSNews spoke w/Dr. Mlambo-Ngcuka @phumzileunwomen
“A knee on a man’s neck that kills the man is like the virus which is like a knee on the necks of black American people which is killing them.
..they are really under a pandemic of racism”
Johannesburg pic.twitter.com/GIphyybF4P
— Pamela Falk Correspondent United Nations (@PamelaFalk) June 3, 2020
Read more excerpts from the CBS News interview with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka below:
“A knee on a man’s neck that kills the man is like the virus which is also like a knee on the necks of black American people, which is killing them. So, they are really under a pandemic of racism, a pandemic of coronavirus, and of course, also a shadow pandemic of violence against women. All of these have to be fought together.”
“You just don’t only get angry, you have to get even, which means that you use a difficult moment to push forward, but you want the pushing forward to be real, not to be superficial.”
“I know that people in many cases want education, jobs, housing, and they don’t want to be incarcerated in masses. The things that are needed and the things that are hurting people are really very concrete, and people just don’t want to be killed. Period. Just don’t want to be killed so that has to stop.”
“We obviously want the situation to end up in peace because if you think of great resistance moments in South Africa like the Soweto uprising, it was a moment that brought about lots of changes for young people in education. That is the momentous change we are looking for.”